Is it time for Lou to get his walking papers

[NJ CUP*]

When Lou's got a successor he trusts. It's that simple.

its true that lou will get to pick his successor. that is such a scary thought.


hell i wouldn't put it past him to have his son (the ahl gm) take over

 

[NJ CUP*]

We made the cup finals because Kovalchuk and our 4th line carried the team on their backs. When Lou said pubicly that he wasn't a fan of the deal he gave to that same player who carried us to the finals, one would think that he wasn't the "mastermind" behind it all and was simply doing what he was told by our owner.

In regards to Parise bolting because he wasn't certain about the financial outcome of our team, then Lou should've maximised a asset that was on the fence about dedicating his future to the club who drafted, after we moved up to select him, since he was slipping out of the top #10 and top #15 at the draft. The simple fact that Lou tried to hammer out a deal with ZP during a entire summer, only to come out of those negotiations with the worst possible outcome, a one year deal that gave Parise his ticket to free agency, was the equivalent of Parise basically telling ownership, the organisation and the fans that he was looking for a new start somewhere else. We could've gotten a heck of a return for a player that had a entire year left on his contract and we would've "reloaded" on the fly, just like Lou wanted but he decided to gamble, lost and now we have to live with his decision.... the same type of dumb decision he took when keeping the 29th overall pick, that will bite us in the ass to the same degree Parise did, cause we need youth and talent but we'll have to surender a possible top #10 pick because of that idiotic move.

What are the odds that every single skilled UFA that has bolted from this successfull franchise, wanted to go back home? Why aren't we seeing more players from opposing teams do the same? What's in the water in Newark? Why aren't we seeing other stars head back home? I'll tell you why.... It's because the Gm's around the league are offering their top players deals they can't turn down and they don't wait until the last second to make it happen. If you don't have any money to offer, then maximise your asset by landing young talent, CHEAP talent, that will help you now and in the future as well. Are they going to help you as much as Parise, of course not, but what good does it do to your team if you can milk a single year of services out of a player you know won't be back? We're not talking about a 3rd liner we can replace off the waiver wire, we're talking about one of our better players, we couldn't afford anymore.

If you can name me just one team that has been losing soooooooo much talent threw free agency, I'll shut up about it and turn the page but since I already know you can't, I'll continue speaking my mind about how Lou does things.

The past is great and we did win our share of division titles but what good does it do when we kept getting crushed in the 1st round year, after year, after year. I'll take a 6th place finish at the end of the regular season and a couple of rounds of playoff hockey, if not more, versus a plain and ugly banner in the rafters followed by a nice ass kicking in the 1st round.

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww damn no you didn't!

:::::::::::::::::::nomination for post of the year:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

 

[NJ CUP*]

Brian Burke was just waiting in the wings... and now he's in Calgary, just waiting for Feaster to get his pink slip.

Again, Lou is such a control freak that I don't even think he'll be willing to admit to himself that he needs a successor. He probably thinks he can still do the job from his hospital bed, when he'll turn 89 or something.

Lou deserves all the credit in the world for doing what he did to this franchise but he shouldn't be the one calling the shots in regards to the job he currently has. That's the same type of logic DeBoer used when he asked Brodeur if he'd rather play against the Jets or sit his ass down for 2 1/2 hours.

thing thats funny is the people against him stepping down (i'm not even calling for him to get fired) seem to think this whole thing is based on the last 3 years. no no no no no this has been building and building.

 

[HellOnIce]

We made the cup finals because Kovalchuk and our 4th line carried the team on their backs. When Lou said pubicly that he wasn't a fan of the deal he gave to that same player who carried us to the finals, one would think that he wasn't the "mastermind" behind it all and was simply doing what he was told by our owner.

Lou made the deal. He's the GM. He may not have like the deal because he knew what the ramifications would be, but he signed it.

In regards to Parise bolting because he wasn't certain about the financial outcome of our team, then Lou should've maximised a asset that was on the fence about dedicating his future to the club who drafted, after we moved up to select him, since he was slipping out of the top #10 and top #15 at the draft. The simple fact that Lou tried to hammer out a deal with ZP during a entire summer, only to come out of those negotiations with the worst possible outcome, a one year deal that gave Parise his ticket to free agency, was the equivalent of Parise basically telling ownership, the organisation and the fans that he was looking for a new start somewhere else.

You're assuming a lot of things. Maybe the Devils weren't sure what they'd be getting after a guy just reconstruction surgery on his ACL/MCL. Maybe his agents weren't sure what they wanted to do, maybe the Devils weren't on good footing financially. The Devils were coming off a horrible year, maybe Zach wanted to see what would happen with the team too. It's all maybe maybe maybe.

We could've gotten a heck of a return for a player that had a entire year left on his contract and we would've "reloaded" on the fly, just like Lou wanted but he decided to gamble, lost and now we have to live with his decision.... the same type of dumb decision he took when keeping the 29th overall pick, that will bite us in the ass to the same degree Parise did, cause we need youth and talent but we'll have to surender a possible top #10 pick because of that idiotic move.

You're supposing the teams around the league during the summer of 2011 would've made a huge deal with a guy who missed an entire with a knee injury. HAHAHAHAHAAHHA.

During the next season....Yeah maybe we could have gotten a great return, much like how Winnipeg is living off the fruits of the Kovalchuk deal. How's Columbus doing with Dubi, Anismiov? A lot of those deals really don't pan out for the team losing the player.

Also, maybe Lou thought (you know the whole reason they play the game with the black thing) that hey maybe this team is good enough make some damage. (They were)...Maybe he thought the ownership situation would be different come negogiation time...ON TOP OF THE FACT it was the last year in the old CBA which really ****ed Lou even moreso. A lot of bad luck.

What are the odds that every single skilled UFA that has bolted from this successfull franchise, wanted to go back home? Why aren't we seeing more players from opposing teams do the same? What's in the water in Newark? Why aren't we seeing other stars head back home? I'll tell you why.... It's because the Gm's around the league are offering their top players deals they can't turn down and they don't wait until the last second to make it happen. If you don't have any money to offer, then maximise your asset by landing young talent, CHEAP talent, that will help you now and in the future as well. Are they going to help you as much as Parise, of course not, but what good does it do to your team if you can milk a single year of services out of a player you know won't be back? We're not talking about a 3rd liner we can replace off the waiver wire, we're talking about one of our better players, we couldn't afford anymore.

If you can name me just one team that has been losing soooooooo much talent threw free agency, I'll shut up about it and turn the page but since I already know you can't, I'll continue speaking my mind about how Lou does things.

Every single FA has left?

The greatest goaltender in history has played his entire career too.

Elias?
Travis Zajac says hello too. In the past Langenbrunner resigned, Scott Stevens finished his career here as well.

A lot of guys have stayed too.


Ottawa lost Chara
Minnesota lost Gaborik
Joe Sakic SIGNED an offer sheet with the NYR
Fedorov signed an offer sheet with Carolina
Shea Weber signed an offer sheet with Philly

So few guys play with 1 team for a career, we have two guys on the roster who are going to do it. That's amazing.

The Devils have developed a lot of good talent, some have left where people have wanted them to stay and really did nothing of note. Gomez, Gionta, Martin have been OK. Rafalski, the Devils thought wasn't needed with Greene, Martin still there for the money he got. They made an offer, but again he went home to Michigan to play with Lidstrom.

 

[HellOnIce]

still waiting on hells answer


when is it time to finally call for lou to step down? when will that time be FOR YOU?

Easy, when it looks like there's been a strong recent history of gross incompetence and bad decisions. We're not there yet, not by a longshot.

Lou just got us the goaltender of the future.
Lou has drafted and helped set us up with a great future defense where Merrill, Severson, and Gelinas were not even first round selections. Larsson is here, and our defense has been pretty good.

We need offense. We do, we have one offensive prospect, and he's a maybe at this point. So they need to focus on getting some offensive talent. It takes time, and it takes stop gaps along the way like Brunner or Ryder.

A lot of teams have mediocre parts in D or G. We don't have that. We are in a good position moving forward, especially with new ownership. Maybe that means scouting staff expands, maybe they invest in new technology to evaluate players, maybe that means if Paul Stastny hits FA we have the financial wherewithal to sign him.

 

[NJDevs26]

You're assuming a lot of things. Maybe the Devils weren't sure what they'd be getting after a guy just reconstruction surgery on his ACL/MCL. Maybe his agents weren't sure what they wanted to do, maybe the Devils weren't on good footing financially. The Devils were coming off a horrible year, maybe Zach wanted to see what would happen with the team too. It's all maybe maybe maybe.

Yeah that's quite honestly what I thought at the time, then again I suspect most of us were giving Zach more credit than he deserved in hindsight by thinking if we were going in the right direction (and with a system he liked) that he'd want to stay. A lot of people even wanted Mike Eaves to be the coach at the time cause he was supposedly close to Zach lol. Or at least wanted a coach who'd play an up-tempo game.

Good post all around, but of course the know-it-alls will continue to say Lou should have known everything as unimpeachable fact.

Lou made the deal. He's the GM. He may not have like the deal because he knew what the ramifications would be, but he signed it.

Or Lou just didn't like the deal itself (term, total money) but that doesn't mean he didn't want the player per se. He did trade for him after all. I still think if Jeff had really forced him to do that deal Lou wouldn't be the GM today. He probably nudged him to doing it but Lou's not going to stay in a place where he gets dictated to.

 

[NJ CUP*]

Lou made the deal. He's the GM. He may not have like the deal because he knew what the ramifications would be, but he signed it.



You're assuming a lot of things. Maybe the Devils weren't sure what they'd be getting after a guy just reconstruction surgery on his ACL/MCL. Maybe his agents weren't sure what they wanted to do, maybe the Devils weren't on good footing financially. The Devils were coming off a horrible year, maybe Zach wanted to see what would happen with the team too. It's all maybe maybe maybe.



You're supposing the teams around the league during the summer of 2011 would've made a huge deal with a guy who missed an entire with a knee injury. HAHAHAHAHAAHHA.

During the next season....Yeah maybe we could have gotten a great return, much like how Winnipeg is living off the fruits of the Kovalchuk deal. How's Columbus doing with Dubi, Anismiov? A lot of those deals really don't pan out for the team losing the player.

Also, maybe Lou thought (you know the whole reason they play the game with the black thing) that hey maybe this team is good enough make some damage. (They were)...Maybe he thought the ownership situation would be different come negogiation time...ON TOP OF THE FACT it was the last year in the old CBA which really ****ed Lou even moreso. A lot of bad luck.



Every single FA has left?

The greatest goaltender in history has played his entire career too.

Elias?
Travis Zajac says hello too. In the past Langenbrunner resigned, Scott Stevens finished his career here as well.

A lot of guys have stayed too.


Ottawa lost Chara
Minnesota lost Gaborik
Joe Sakic SIGNED an offer sheet with the NYR
Fedorov signed an offer sheet with Carolina
Shea Weber signed an offer sheet with Philly

So few guys play with 1 team for a career, we have two guys on the roster who are going to do it. That's amazing.

The Devils have developed a lot of good talent, some have left where people have wanted them to stay and really did nothing of note. Gomez, Gionta, Martin have been OK. Rafalski, the Devils thought wasn't needed with Greene, Martin still there for the money he got. They made an offer, but again he went home to Michigan to play with Lidstrom.

you say maybe maybe maybe yet your arguing the same maybe's but you don't seem to notice that?


its funny because you would think that gm's are pretty responsible right? yet 2 lockouts in 10 years time proves otherwise. bet you never thought gomez would've got traded too right? never say never your also making it seem like we are living in the 1950's with medicine today i would def put my money on a player coming back if they said he would come back

none of the players on your list even remotely equals the talent level this team has bled.

 

[NJDevs26]

I don't know who he is but he is making a couple of valid points. It's a breath of fresh air (for me), compared to all the ass kissers we have around here who keep on saying that Lou can't do no wrong, despite the piss poor track we've had over the past decade.

Again, everything's always black and white with you. People don't claim Lou can do no wrong, Lou's been heavily criticized in recent years for a number of things.

People just think it's foolish to expect new owners to fire Lou when there is no clearcut replacement out there anyway. Brian Burke was never going to be it unless it was initiated by Lou himself, he was never going to replace his mentor after a palace coup.

GM's don't get fired all that much in the NHL, certainly not long-tenured GM's. It took Buffalo forever to can Regier. Rutherford in Carolina seems to have a job for life and they had one fluke Cup in 2006 and a bunch of nothing around it. Sather's been to the third round once as a Ranger GM, Poile I don't think even went that far with Nashville. McPhee hasn't been that far since 1998 (I think he was the GM back then anyway). Now if those guys ain't getting fired, it's pretty darn unrealistic to think a guy with Lou's pedigree should be fired.

 

[NJ CUP*]

Easy, when it looks like there's been a strong recent history of gross incompetence and bad decisions. We're not there yet, not by a longshot.

Lou just got us the goaltender of the future.
Lou has drafted and helped set us up with a great future defense where Merrill, Severson, and Gelinas were not even first round selections. Larsson is here, and our defense has been pretty good.

We need offense. We do, we have one offensive prospect, and he's a maybe at this point. So they need to focus on getting some offensive talent. It takes time, and it takes stop gaps along the way like Brunner or Ryder.

A lot of teams have mediocre parts in D or G. We don't have that. We are in a good position moving forward, especially with new ownership. Maybe that means scouting staff expands, maybe they invest in new technology to evaluate players, maybe that means if Paul Stastny hits FA we have the financial wherewithal to sign him.

parise leaving?
29th pick?
urbom?
a train not bought out?
salvador contract?
clowe
brunner
ryder
zubrus contract was bad imo too

 

[NJ CUP*]

Again, everything's always black and white with you. People don't claim Lou can do no wrong, Lou's been heavily criticized in recent years for a number of things.

People just think it's foolish to expect new owners to fire Lou when there is no clearcut replacement out there anyway. Brian Burke was never going to be it unless it was initiated by Lou himself, he was never going to replace his mentor after a palace coup.

GM's don't get fired all that much in the NHL, certainly not long-tenured GM's. It took Buffalo forever to can Regier. Rutherford in Carolina seems to have a job for life and they had one fluke Cup in 2006 and a bunch of nothing around it. Sather's been to the third round once as a Ranger GM, Poile I don't think even went that far with Nashville. McPhee hasn't been that far since 1998 (I think he was the GM back then anyway). Now if those guys ain't getting fired, it's pretty darn unrealistic to think a guy with Lou's pedigree should be fired.

so because other teams keep their gm's we should too? i like your thinking!

 

[Benedict Parisechuk]

parise leaving?
29th pick?
urbom?
a train not bought out?
salvador contract?
clowe
brunner
ryder
zubrus contract was bad imo too

PLEASE tell me what YOU would have done differently, since you apparently have some perfect master plan that every decision you make would end up being great. Go back over the last 10 years and find me ONE GM who hasn't given out bad contracts or made bad trades. Your going to be looking for a while.

 

[Devils Trap]

parise leaving? (Parise himself said he would have re-signed if Suter didnt sign in Minny. Lou couldnt have done anything)
29th pick? (Cant really defend that , but lets see what he does this year in terms of trying to get it back and lets see what Matteau becomes)
urbom? (He isnt that good. Not like we lost a super valuable piece there. Dime a dozen Dman)
a train not bought out? (Vanderbeek was broke, couldnt afford to pay a player like that)
salvador contract? (Great locker room guy, and leader. Still a solid Dman, no problem here only this year and next left. Overpaid by a bit but coming of a cup run you dont want to lose a leader like that)
clowe (Nothing wrong with it, he is a solid player only injury prone. If injured and on IR he doesnt hurt the teams ability to sign anyone at all. If healthy and playing, he may be overpaid by 700k or so, but nothing major)
brunner (2 year deal at only 2.5 million. How does this hurt the team again ??? Please he is a good player.)
ryder (Again a 2 year deal at 3.5 . How is this a bad deal ? He isnt bad, just struggling)
zubrus contract was bad imo too (How is it bad ? Zubie is a great 2 way guy, locker room player and fits like a glove in Deboer's system.)

Soo what else would you have done ?

 

[HellOnIce]

parise leaving?
29th pick?
urbom?
a train not bought out?
salvador contract?
clowe
brunner
ryder
zubrus contract was bad imo too

A train bought out? Why? He's played well this year. He can still be bought out too you know. Same for Sal. I don't love those contracts, but they aren't handcuffing the team in not being able to do anything else. That's how bad contracts are seen. Bad contracts aren't bad contracts unless they prevent you from doing something else. Which it hasn't. Also, thank go we had capable NHL defensemen this year with all the injuries. Also, who knows if Anton would've been able to be bought out...because remember, the NHL was running decisions financially and may not have allowed it.


And what is this bringing up Larry Robinson leaving for SJ? He said it himself, his wife wanted to move closer to the grandkids, he's not a kid anymore. Listen to his interviews recently when the Devils went out west, but if I still had the podcast with Bobby Holik, he mentioned it (I believe) towards the last broadcast when Larry left (or it might have been to me over the phone) that "It must've been because of the grandkids, they've been based out there since the 90s"



Urbom? What about him? They lost him...it happens. I don't like it much either, but where was he to go? He had to be put on waivers to start the season. We've had Gelinas and Merrill, and almost Helgeson recalled already. There's not been a point this year where we have been like OH MAN WE NEED URBOM.

29th pick has been beaten to death. I agree with the corner of bad luck where Lou couldn't have forseen how bad it was going to get. Even if he saw Zach leaving, if Kovy had stayed this team would be drastically different.

You're tossing Brunner, Ryder out there like they were atrocious signings. How? How are they bad signings? They haven't had a great 25 game start? OK, again, I'll lead you to the point of who would you have replaced them with to start the season. I see NHL players that are struggling. Those guys aren't here, who would the wingers have been? Sislo? Carter on the 2nd line? Gionta on the 3rd line? Barch in the lineup everyday? Those guys are being paid minimally and are stop gaps, and who knows if either of them are even in NJ until the end of the year. Will you be upset if somehow those guys start to do well and Lou decides to trade them for picks?

Clowe looks bad now, but again, it's 25 games. Relax.

Show some patience.

Zuby's underrated, fantastic and would be on any other of the 29 NHL teams. He's consistent, plays hard, plays smart. What's the problem there?

 

[Uli Hiemer]

NJ CUP:

Lou hasn't performed well IMO in the last decade, but you're going way overboard

parise leaving? He made the right move. The Devils got as far as they could possibly get without winning.
29th pick? There is no excuse for this....it was a **** move
urbom? **** happens. I didn't like it. But I'm sure Deboer had a say in this and kept his son Petey Jr.
a train not bought out? Impossible when Vanderbeek had pennies in his pockets. Harris & Blizter came on board after buyout period
salvador contract? 1 year too many
clowe - still too early...not looking great, but early
brunner He hasn't looked good for the last several weeks. give him some time though, if not he can be traded.
ryder He's not being utilized correctly, i'd like to see him with Elias for a few games. He can also be swapped for something
zubrus contract was bad imo too- he's been one of the best players the last few weeks. i would have limited the contract to 2 years. he has slowed down considerably, but he's doing all that he can to contribute and that's a lot compared to some other guys right now.

Now Lou did construct this team, so he does deserve the criticism. Drafting/ development needs to be better. I don't like this patch up job either, but I doubt he's going to be fired anytime soon. He doesn't believe in rebuilds, but that's what this team may need in order to get back to what they once were. He'll step down and resign eventually.

title of the thread should probably just be changed to "lou lamoriello" to discuss his job, etc.

 

[glenwo2]

well if they really do care about this team staying in nj....

I stopped reading after this. I was like


Staying in NJ?

You do know that they have a lease(a very very long one) with the Prudential Center, right?

There's no way in hell the Devils get moved for the next decade or so(or ever, actually).

Unless you actually want that to happen. Hmmm.....who are you again?

 

[NJDevs26]

A train bought out? Why? He's played well this year. He can still be bought out too you know. Same for Sal. I don't love those contracts, but they aren't handcuffing the team in not being able to do anything else. That's how bad contracts are seen. Bad contracts aren't bad contracts unless they prevent you from doing something else. Which it hasn't.

Financially they won't...but people will be bit**ing about the Volch-Sal contracts when Fayne/Larsson go back to being healthy scratches assuming everyone's healthy at the same time. Those deals (particularly Sal) are worse cause they take up a roster spot more than because of the actual cash. Last year we played 8 D the whole year and that didn't help anyone. We started with 7 this year but with Gelinas' emergence we're up to 8 again, and that's not even counting Merrill who's also in the lineup over Harrold and getting good minutes.

 

[tailfins]

I actually think Lou's done a mediocre job in free agency, managing the draft, and managing the AHL team over the past 10 - 12 years. That said, he built a team that went to the Cup finals two years ago. Even if you go back five (actually six) years, there are only eight teams that have made it to the finals.

Those that argue that Lou's performance isn't up to the "standard of the New Jersey Devils," should:

a) remember that Lou created that standard
b) show us what they've done to earn the right to criticize

As we all know, Lou built a Cup finalist two years ago. There are 22 other GMs who've performed worse. If you'd rather be a fan of a team like the Sharks, Ducks, etc. that's entertaining in the regular season then folds in the playoffs, I'm not sure what to say.

Again, I see material room for improvement in key areas. But, unless there's an obvious replacement and/or Lou bungles things to a great extent, I don't see how Lou doesn't get to decide when it's time to go.

 

[Bleedred]

Who the hell cares about Urbom anymore? I could give a kazoo about Urbom. If we had Urbom still, Gelinas probably isn't called up. Gelinas has been much more useful than Urbom would have been, and has been for Washington.

 

[ghoti]

Still no.

 

[sbresistor]

imagine an interview with the owners when asked why they fired Lou:

"He's a legend, but I couldn't sleep knowing we lost Alex Urbom for nothing"

 

[NJDevs26]

Who the hell cares about Urbom anymore? I could give a kazoo about Urbom. If we had Urbom still, Gelinas probably isn't called up. Gelinas has been much more useful than Urbom would have been, and has been for Washington.

Yeah seriously...Gelinas and even Merrill have shown more in their limited time than Urbom ever did here.

 

[NJ CUP*]

guy should be fired bottom line.


last 10 years nuff said

 

[DEVILS ALL THE WAY*]

If we can just come up with a list of pros and cons, the kool-aid drinkers might vomit their last pitcher straight onto their keyboard.

 

[NJ CUP*]

dont need a lit the last 10 years of personnel moves speaks loud enough and is all the proof i need

 

[glenwo2]

dont need a lit the last 10 years of personnel moves speaks loud enough and is all the proof i need

Hi there.


There's a reason why this thread isn't getting much action. It's because Pete will go before Lou does(if ever).