from Andrew Gross of Newsday,

Lou Lamoriello still believes in his core players and in coach Barry Trotz and insisted he has not made up his mind yet on whether he wants to be a buyer or a seller heading into the NHL trade deadline on March 21.

But the Islanders president and general manager is not willing to "sugarcoat" the disappointment of his team’s performance so far.

"To answer a lot of things that transpired, whether it’s giving up late goals or slow starts or [being] different teams during the same game or periods, those are questions that certainly are fair questions and questions that certainly I wish I had answers for you at this point," Lamoriello said Tuesday during a sitdown with traveling media. "But I don’t and, really, you cannot dwell on it. You have to try to not think that [the issues] are going to go away by themselves.

"I have a real strong belief in this core, there’s no question of that. But you have to have performance, without question. We’ve had some players this year have some slow starts in areas they have to be proficient in. We’ve got scorers who are supposed to score. We’ve got other people who are supposed to play different roles. We haven’t had that on a consistent basis. It’s obvious and I’m not going to sugarcoat it and for us to be successful, that’s how we’re built."

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