NEW YORK _ Lou Lamoriello stayed true to his word.
The Islanders president and general manager said recently he would have all his restricted free agents signed in time for September's training camp. He completed that task on Wednesday when the team announced forward Anthony Beauvillier had agreed to a two-year deal with a reported annual average value of $2.1 million.
The Islanders announced deals for their other two RFAs, forwards Michael Dal Colle (two years, $1.4 million) and Josh Ho-Sang (one year, $875,000), on Aug. 19.
Beauvillier, 22, was coming off his three-year, $2.775 million entry level deal and, like Dal Colle and Ho-Sang, did not have arbitration rights.
He had 18 goals and 10 assists in 81 games last season _ including his first hat trick in a 7-5 win over the Rangers on Nov. 15 _ and added a goal and an assist in eight postseason games, his first trip to the NHL playoffs.
Beauvillier will have an opportunity to earn back a spot among the top six forwards in training camp after finishing last season on the third line. But he could also potentially develop chemistry with fellow French-Canadian Derick Brassard, who signed a one-year, $1.2 million deal on Aug. 21 to replace Valtteri Filppula as the third-line center.
There's also the possibility that Lamoriello's offseason work is not over. Depending on how the Islanders' young defense prospects perform in training camp, Lamoriello may still opt to move a defenseman for more scoring help up front.
"As we've always said, it never stops," Lamoriello told Newsday on Aug. 15. "When you can get better, you get better. But you don't do something just for the sake of doing something. Our priority after the season was to sign all of our players and we will have them all signed."
