Islanders won't allow any unvaccinated players this season, GM says

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New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello said he won’t allow any unvaccinated players on his team, adding that a minor leaguer who refused to get vaccinated will be assigned to another league. 

Lamoriello spoke to reporters ahead of the start of training camp on Tuesday. He said while the decision to get vaccinated is entirely voluntary, players on his team will need to get the vaccine. 

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"Everyone in our organization — that is, staff, coaches and players — are vaccinated, including minor-league staff, coaches, except one player," he said, via ctpost.com. "That is his voluntary decision not to get vaccinated."

The NHL is not mandating that players get vaccinated but is allowing teams to suspend unvaccinated players without pay when they are unavailable to participate.

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Lamoriello did not say which minor leaguer declined the vaccine but said the team is hoping to relocate him.

"We will try to help progress his career. We’re looking into possibly assigning him to Europe, but that has not been finalized yet," the general manager said. "We will not allow any player in our organization to participate unless they are vaccinated."

He continued: "We will be taking every possible precaution that we can ... to keep our players, our staff, our coaches as healthy as we possibly can, and their families."

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The Columbus Blue Jackets fired assistant head coach Sylvain Lefebvre earlier this month after he declined to get the vaccine. Under the league’s new protocols any person whose job requires them to have personal interactions with the players must be vaccinated.