When do we question Lou Lamoriello's legacy as a general manager?

[Stephen]

He's also creating another Milbury sized issue the longer he stays by refusing to get rid of players in the name of loyalty

I don’t know about that. The Islanders were an average team in the midst of a crisis when Lou came in and JT left and he brought your team on successful run over a number of years.

I said it at the time, I didn’t think the Islanders had the underlying foundation to get over the championship hump and they certainly weren’t building for the future. But now the team is back to its average state and soon someone else will have to rebuild it.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

‘Ask and the Hall of Fame exec doesn't need a moment to think back to 1990. Age 47 then and 71 now, Lamoriello can rattle off all the details from when Brodeur was heavily scouted by every bigwig in the Devils organization and then drafted a round before anyone expected.

‘“I think that the No. 1 attribute that you saw in him was his athleticism, then mechanics,” Lamoriello told NJ.com.

…

‘The Devils had the No. 11 pick in the 1990 NHL Entry Draft. Although the franchise already had two established young goalies -- Sean Burke, then 23, and Chris Terreri, then 25 -- Lamoriello wanted to draft a good one for the future.

‘In 1990, Central Scouting, which ranks draft prospects for the NHL, rated Trevor Kidd, Felix Potvin and Mike Dunham as its top three goalies.

‘Lamoriello's rankings were drastically different.

‘I certainly remember distinctly because we had evaluated a lot of goalies that year, and there was consensus that the No. 1 goalie that was going to be picked was Trevor Kidd," Lamoriello said. "And he was not our top goalie on our list at that time. We had three goaltenders, and I'll give you the order: It was Marty, Mike Dunham and Corey Schwab."

…

‘Brodeur, ranked around the 30th-best prospect, was a surprise pick. With just 21 teams in the NHL at the time, he was expected to last until the second round, but Lamoriello decided to take his guy at No. 20.

‘“At that time, Marty’s 17 years old and you don’t know what you’re getting, but we didn’t have the consensus goalie first,” Lamoriello said. “We had Marty first. We felt that he’d probably go later, but we didn’t take that chance.”

‘By then, the Devils’ entire management staff was sold on Brodeur, who had turned 18 the month before the 1990 Draft.

…

‘Still on the board as Devils options at No. 20 were several highly ranked forwards and defensemen, but "there was never a debate," Lamoriello said. "It was Marty."‘

Devils GM Lou Lamoriello on Martin Brodeur: All of the attributes you'd 'want to see in a son'

Brodeur wasn't ranked among top 3 goalie prospects in 1990 NHL draft by Central Scouting, but Devils took him 20th overall.

www.nj.com

 

[Voight]

I always have. He had a top-3 all time goalie on his team, and he manufactured a career out of it.



Brodeur did that. not Lou.

Brodeur isn't a top 3 goalie of all time, and even if he is, it takes more than one really good player to win a cup.

 

[PaulD]

I feel as if Lou Lamoriello is held up by his pedigree from the early 2000's at this point rather than what he's done lately. For a "hockey hall of famer", I feel like he's caused more damage for his teams than help. Do you agree?

Still has had more success in the last 30 years than all the Canadian teams combined. They keep trying.....why shouldn't Lou.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

He gave the Islanders fanbase probably the best hockey they've seen in a while, can't put a price on that if I'm being honest. That being said, as a Devils fan who saw his later career v the Cup years, he's never going to rebuild. That's up to the Islanders owners to realize and pull the plug, not Lou himself lol.

Most of his troubles can be linked to the salary cap, he's lost very good players in UFA and hasn't any sort of draft capital to replenish them properly + he hates tanking like I said above.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Lou never figured out how to adjust to the modern world of the salary cap.

 

[DavidHasselhoffsFist]

Not bad for a High School math teacher

 

[Mike C]

I don’t know about that. The Islanders were an average team in the midst of a crisis when Lou came in and JT left and he brought your team on successful run over a number of years.

I said it at the time, I didn’t think the Islanders had the underlying foundation to get over the championship hump and they certainly weren’t building for the future. But now the team is back to its average state and soon someone else will have to rebuild it.

Like all sports, it's a game of inches. Barzal had an empty net with Vasilesky out of position with roughly 5 and a half minutes in the 3rd period of game 7 with Montreal to play in the finals and he whiffed. Only short handed goal they gave up all season was that game when Gourde jumped off bench and nobody picked him up. 1-0 loss was the championship hump. Thin line.

 

[Mike C]

Still has had more success in the last 30 years than all the Canadian teams combined. They keep trying.....why shouldn't Lou.

Fair point

 

[Jumptheshark]

BTW

The questions of his abilities started late in his Devils run and continued when he moved to the leafs

 

[BlueSeal]

New Jersey Devils HOF and its not even close.

As for everything else, his legacy deteriorates more and more by the day for the past decade, if not more.

Just... please... retire. Or please let someone with, if not integrity, simple dignity, fire him and then not hire him.

 

[SeanAveryTheGreatOne]

Like all sports, it's a game of inches. Barzal had an empty net with Vasilesky out of position with roughly 5 and a half minutes in the 3rd period of game 7 with Montreal to play in the finals and he whiffed. Only short handed goal they gave up all season was that game when Gourde jumped off bench and nobody picked him up. 1-0 loss was the championship hump. Thin line.

Yeah, NYI-TBL was the real final that year, and everyone knew it. 100% believe NYI wins that SCF against MTL

 

[Mike C]

He gave the Islanders fanbase probably the best hockey they've seen in a while, can't put a price on that if I'm being honest. That being said, as a Devils fan who saw his later career v the Cup years, he's never going to rebuild. That's up to the Islanders owners to realize and pull the plug, not Lou himself lol.

Most of his troubles can be linked to the salary cap, he's lost very good players in UFA and hasn't any sort of draft capital to replenish them properly + he hates tanking like I said above.

Great points! I wouldn't trade the Cup runs. Only issue I really have is that he bagged Trotz after the Covid year. I feel Barry deserved to coach with a level desk of cards after the Covid issues, long road trip to open season, etc

I'll always believe that Barzal made it known, likely through his agent, that he wanted to stay but didn't prefer playing for Trotz. After losing Taveras the way it happened, I feel Lou didn't want to see Barzal go. I think the "Barry lost the room" excuse is what we used to call in the school yards of Brooklyn, bullfreakingshit

 

[fahad203]

His legacy is more than fine.

He shouldn’t be a GM or POHOPS in the league anymore.

And not because he’s 82, but because he just isn’t good enough anymore.

Great hockey mind to have around. But his GM touch is out dated

Good for building an organization and structures

But even the best gets outdated. It's life

 

[Bleedred]

Great points! I wouldn't trade the Cup runs. Only issue I really have is that he bagged Trotz after the Covid year. I feel Barry deserved to coach with a level desk of cards after the Covid issues, long road trip to open season, etc

I'll always believe that Barzal made it known, likely through his agent, that he wanted to stay but didn't prefer playing for Trotz. After losing Taveras the way it happened, I feel Lou didn't want to see Barzal go. I think the "Barry lost the room" excuse is what we used to call in the school yards of Brooklyn, bullfreakingshit

The Trotz firing was weird, as he was replaced with his right hand man Lane Lambert, who was really no upgrade. I didn’t quite get that move.

I would have if it weren’t for Lane Lambert of all people. And as soon as they started to struggle under Lambert and it became reality that they could miss the playoffs if they kept him the rest of the year he was really quick to pull the plug on him.

 

[JianYang]

His legacy is cemented with that run in new jersey for a good 15 years or so. That doesn't go away even if he hasn't had the same success again

He still has a certain aura about him and it goes back to his glory days.

 

[Mike C]

The Trotz firing was weird, as he was replaced with his right hand man Lane Lambert, who was really no upgrade. I didn’t quite get that move.

I would have if it weren’t for Lane Lambert of all people. And as soon as they started to struggle under Lambert and it became reality that they could miss the playoffs if they kept him the rest of the year he was really quick to pull the plug on him.

Indeed. And the team is absolutely zero better under Roy, who I happen to like. Handsome Lane was no Fred Shero but sane players, 3 different coaches, if we include Trotz' last season? Hmmm. We're smart guys. Let's do the math!

Old legs that can't finish games consistently and zero toughness.

I can't remember who it was but a few games ago, somebody was in deep and tried to showboat going between his legs. Shot went wide if I recall but I remember saying to myself "that guy should get knocked on his ass"

Team needs an edge, an agitator. Hate to say it but this squad as constructed is pure and simple gutless which when combined with a limited array of skill adds up to the Parcells adage which I wholehearted subscribe to

You are who your record says you are

Merry Christmas brother!

 

[Chainshot]

Started when he was in Toronto, continue now on the Island.

 

[Mike C]

His legacy is cemented with that run in new jersey for a good 15 years or so. That doesn't go away even if he hasn't had the same success again

He still has a certain aura about him and it goes back to his glory days.

To me, the kicker is what he did to successfully bring Fetisov over. When examining his body of work in the future, those are the things that will stand out, not the silly contracts to the Engvalls and Mayfields

 

[Bleedred]

Merry Christmas brother!

Thank you! Merry Christmas to you also!

Started when he was in Toronto, continue now on the Island.

I've been saying this for years, but I don't think he was in charge of Toronto the way he was in New Jersey or New York. They did adopt some of his policies like the no facial hair thing and not allowing TV and radio crew to travel on the team plane, but he was answering to Shanny, who was really pulling the strings and calling the shots. If Lou was calling the shots the tanking wouldn't have happened that first year.

Lou never had to answer to anyone in hockey ops in New Jersey, nor do I believe he has to in New York. Just the owners.

 

[WhataKnight]

His legacy currently sits at finishing off by displaying an inability to get the Islanders over the top and an antiquated approach to team development that went stale a decade ago.

Running the team like the Primus song “Sgt. Baker” backfired.

I applaud the guy’s history, but current relevant effectiveness is different. He didn’t evolve in ways that the rest of the hockey world did - despite high-magnitude accomplishments.

 

[PaulD]

Lou never figured out how to adjust to the modern world of the salary cap.

Would that apply to all seven Canadian teams and their multitude of GMs? Or have they all enjoyed less success than Lou in the last 3 decades for other reasons?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Would that apply to all seven Canadian teams and their multitude of GMs? Or have they all enjoyed less success than Lou in the last 3 decades for other reasons?

Again, I am not talking about the 90s and early 2000s Lou, so I am not sure why you bring up 3 decades. The Salary cap came into effect in 05-06. What success has Lou had since then? The 2012 Devils made the Finals, sure.

The Isles went on a run during the Covid year IIRC.

Otherwise?

 

[WhataKnight]

It may be more effective to let one’s players “be themselves” than to rigidly establish whatever hierarchical structure and adherence to identical being as LL likes these days.

 

[Perfect_Drug]

I dunno.

Lou seems like Sather in New York.


Best work was behind him. But its not all bad.