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Looks Like Lou's in it for the Long Haul


DevilinLA

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Of course, nothing is written in stone - but it appears "early on" this season that Lou has little intention of making this season his last.

We'll see, but here' the quote.

According to Elliott Friedman of CBC, this will not be Lou Lamoriello's final season as President and General Manager as has been speculated by many different people. When Elliott Friedman asked Lamoriello if this is his final season as General Manager of the Devils Lou Lamoriello replied with:

"No, not unless you know something I don't."

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Of course, nothing is written in stone - but it appears "early on" this season that Lou has little intention of making this season his last.

We'll see, but here' the quote.

According to Elliott Friedman of CBC, this will not be Lou Lamoriello's final season as President and General Manager as has been speculated by many different people. When Elliott Friedman asked Lamoriello if this is his final season as General Manager of the Devils Lou Lamoriello replied with:

"No, not unless you know something I don't."

Well, Lou also said the same thing a few days before Jacques Lemaire said bye-bye and retired two seasons ago. What do you think he was going to say...

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I will always appreciate everything Lou has done with the organization, but I don't think he's entitled to keep the job for life as a result, or for as long as he sees fit. I was hoping that this would be his last season...guess not. But like others have noted...who really knows?

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I will always appreciate everything Lou has done with the organization, but I don't think he's entitled to keep the job for life as a result, or for as long as he sees fit. I was hoping that this would be his last season...guess not. But like others have noted...who really knows?

Sadly, it may not be his decision. I'd hope he steps down before he is asked to step down. I just think the time has come after this season.

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Lmao, Lou lies about what he had for breakfast in the morning. If Lou was wearing a red tie, and you told him he was wearing a red tie, he'd tell you it was a green tie. So I'm not buying anything Lou says about his job status a full 4 months before the end of the season.

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Sadly, it may not be his decision. I'd hope he steps down before he is asked to step down. I just think the time has come after this season.

Agree.

What worries me about Lou is that, for years, I think he had some kind of Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C...if his plans didn't always work out as hoped (like the Gilmour deal), you could see WHY he did what he did, and why it made sense.

For quite some time now, I think Lou, who's maintained a "strong, we will stay the course" public persona, has become a shaken man behind the scenes. When the kind of moves Lou used to make stopped working their magic, he seems to start throwing things at the wall, hoping to see something stick. Hire coaches. Fire coaches. Hell, I'll try coaching. Bring back ex-Devil after ex-Devil.

But the real "Lou lost his way" moment for me was when he signed Kovalchuk. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I never had a problem with Lou bringing him here. The team needed a spark at the time, and the price was cheap...I thought it was a no-brainer gamble. But based on what I saw once he got here, despite the point-per-game average, I thought Lou should have let him walk. Kovy just didn't seem to fit. And I think in past seasons, Lou would have let him go...hey, we gave it a shot, it didn't work out, at least we got a bad Oduya contract off our books, let's see what we can do with the money we saved. But it almost seemed like Lou (possibly with pressure from ownership, who knows) took a "well, I've never done THIS before, and nothing else I seem to do these days seems to be panning out, so what the hell, I'll do the 'sign a big-time free agent to a big-time contract'. What the hell?"

To me, the sign of a GM's run coming to end is when his moves - even the ones that make perfect sense - stop working out. In Lou's heyday, Zubrus would've been putting up 20-25 goals and 50-60 points per season, and we'd all be saying, "Man, what a bargain, size and some scoring ability for $3.5 million a year." Rolston would've done what he had done in four of the previous six seasons, and kept on popping 30 or so goals a year. Lou always had a certain magic with his moves (Corey Millen for Neal Broten is a great example), but it just seems like the magic is gone now, and really has been for a while.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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CR76 - the kovy signing (not trade) was very much pushed by ownership. that's not to say lou was totally against it but it was JVB's signing. it was, i think, equal parts hockey decision, marketing decision, parise-insurance.

also, saying that lou from earlier somehow gets more out of zubrus and rolston doesn't really work. perhaps i'm misunderstanding how you're putting it. while its clear lou has made plenty of missteps since the lockout it hasn't been 100% bad and in many cases, i'm not sure what else he could've done. we've discussed ad nauseum just about every player personnel decision and what were roadblocks.

if you want to point at something current, the janssen/boulton signings were signs of a guy not with the times.

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I still think that Lou, as much as he may be past his prime as a GM, is still our best option. Look at who other teams have gone through in recent years. Glen Sather? Neil Smith? Garth Snow? Bobby Clarke? This General Managing thing ain't easy. Lou's recent moves may not have him in the Kenny Holland league anymore, but he's still among the best.

It's his job til he doesn't want it anymore, IMO. In Lou I trust.

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I still think that Lou, as much as he may be past his prime as a GM, is still our best option. Look at who other teams have gone through in recent years. Glen Sather? Neil Smith? Garth Snow? Bobby Clarke? This General Managing thing ain't easy. Lou's recent moves may not have him in the Kenny Holland league anymore, but he's still among the best.

It's his job til he doesn't want it anymore, IMO. In Lou I trust.

Marty eventually retires and takes up a position in the front office, being groomed for a GM-job. Lou steps down...MARTY TIME*!

*refusing to sign butterfly goalies, amongst other things.

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CR76 - the kovy signing (not trade) was very much pushed by ownership. that's not to say lou was totally against it but it was JVB's signing. it was, i think, equal parts hockey decision, marketing decision, parise-insurance.

also, saying that lou from earlier somehow gets more out of zubrus and rolston doesn't really work. perhaps i'm misunderstanding how you're putting it. while its clear lou has made plenty of missteps since the lockout it hasn't been 100% bad and in many cases, i'm not sure what else he could've done. we've discussed ad nauseum just about every player personnel decision and what were roadblocks.

if you want to point at something current, the janssen/boulton signings were signs of a guy not with the times.

I wasn't looking/hoping for more out of Rolston. Status quo would've been just fine. It's like I said, that was a move that made a ton of sense on paper, and seemed like a perfect fit...all Rolston had to do was be the Rolston he'd been before signing here.

I was just saying in the past a move like Zubrus would've worked out and then some. Lou's moves had a way of working out like that, where people would've said "Wow, what an awesome signing Zubrus turned out to be", instead of the "meh" that it's been. Though clearly the Zubrus deal was on a different level, as John Madden was undrafted, think of a Madden-type, where the Devils got more out of him than anyone would've expected. Obviously that's not going to happen all of the time...but it goes back to the "losing the magic" thing. I think that just has a way of happening with GMs. It wouldn't surprise me if he found it again upon going somewhere else. There's no science in what I'm saying...more just a gut feeling that Lou has run his course here.

Edited by Colorado Rockies 1976
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I wasn't looking/hoping for more out of Rolston. Status quo would've been just fine. It's like I said, that was a move that made a ton of sense on paper, and seemed like a perfect fit...all Rolston had to do was be the Rolston he'd been before signing here.

I was just saying in the past a move like Zubrus would've worked out and then some. Lou's moves had a way of working out like that, where people would've said "Wow, what an awesome signing Zubrus turned out to be", instead of the "meh" that it's been. Though clearly the Zubrus deal was on a different level, as John Madden was undrafted, think of a Madden-type, where the Devils got more out of him than anyone would've expected. Obviously that's not going to happen all of the time...but it goes back to the "losing the magic" thing. I think that just has a way of happening with GMs. It wouldn't surprise if he found out upon going somewhere else. There's so science in what I'm saying...more just a gut feeling that Lou has run his course here.

Lou Lams exploited inefficiencies in the NHL free agent market that simply are not there anymore. If John Madden were in his senior year of college now, he'd have offers from twenty teams upon leaving.

The problems with the Devils over the last few years have been that Lamoriello drafted poorly from 2001-2007. Other than Parise and Zajac, the Devils got few useful parts in these years. Not having these sorts of parts compels a GM to make a deal like the Zubrus one - the Devils had no centers, and no pieces they could realistically move for a center. In all, the Zubrus deal is not particularly bad.

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Lou Lams exploited inefficiencies in the NHL free agent market that simply are not there anymore. If John Madden were in his senior year of college now, he'd have offers from twenty teams upon leaving.

The problems with the Devils over the last few years have been that Lamoriello drafted poorly from 2001-2007. Other than Parise and Zajac, the Devils got few useful parts in these years. Not having these sorts of parts compels a GM to make a deal like the Zubrus one - the Devils had no centers, and no pieces they could realistically move for a center. In all, the Zubrus deal is not particularly bad.

Didn't say Zubes was bad, but I've maintained that Lou thought he was getting more offense that he ultimately did with Zubrus. I've also maintained that he remained healthier than anyone had a right to expect. Like I said, I think Lou was hoping for 50-60 points, but would've taken 45 or so happily. At any rate, his deal is nowhere near the disaster that Gomez's was.

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