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10,000 Days working for Lou Lamariello


davieboynj

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I didn't see this posted here, and thought it was a good read, in the event that you missed it:

 

http://www.tsn.ca/10-000-days-working-for-lou-lamoriello-1.371951

 

Step out of line with Lou Lamoriello and he’s the stern father. Stay in line, and he’s the loving father.

“That’s probably a really good way to put him,” says David Conte, who served with Lamoriello for the bulk of his nearly three decades in New Jersey.

The former executive vice-president of hockey operations and director of scouting with the Devils, Conte actually joined the franchise before Lamoriello in 1984, staying at his side for all but a handful of his more than 10,000 days in charge. Conte never wanted to disappoint his father growing up and he “felt that way about Lou as a boss.”

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I mean Conte is a Lou guy so nothing Earth shattering in this article. 

 

Wish TSN would have asked a little more to explain some of the particular decisions made in the past 10 years.  One example is why he thinks Lou decided to keep the 29th pick in 2012 to select Matteau?  Did Lou see something in him that he couldn't pass it up?  Was he going off of Conte's advice?  Actually I would say this is the biggest question I have from him and Lou over the past 10 years.

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I mean Conte is a Lou guy so nothing Earth shattering in this article. 

 

Wish TSN would have asked a little more to explain some of the particular decisions made in the past 10 years.  One example is why he thinks Lou decided to keep the 29th pick in 2012 to select Matteau?  Did Lou see something in him that he couldn't pass it up?  Was he going off of Conte's advice?  Actually I would say this is the biggest question I have from him and Lou over the past 10 years.

 

Seems like a Lou pick. Low offensive upside defensive forward. But you know as time goes on that draft starts looking worse and worse so can't really blame anyone. After Maatta not much to be had.

 

We hit on #2

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I mean Conte is a Lou guy so nothing Earth shattering in this article. 

 

Wish TSN would have asked a little more to explain some of the particular decisions made in the past 10 years.  One example is why he thinks Lou decided to keep the 29th pick in 2012 to select Matteau?  Did Lou see something in him that he couldn't pass it up?  Was he going off of Conte's advice?  Actually I would say this is the biggest question I have from him and Lou over the past 10 years.

 

I highly doubt that the Devils kept the 29th pick with the thought that they would draft Matteau specifically (they had to notify the league prior to the draft if they were giving up the pick).  What I've heard is that they were hoping that one of Vasilevsky or Subban would still be around at 29.  The jury is still out on Subban, but Vasilevsky is looking like he's going to be a great goalie and relatively soon at that.

 

And I suppose I'm reading too much into it, but note that Conte said "you trade Bo Horvat" for Schneider, which is perhaps an indication that that's who the Devils would have taken at 9 if they couldn't complete the Schneider trade. 

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Lou was bigger than Blitzer and Harris in NJ, so that is why they needed to push through to another GM.  Shero, being directly hired by Harris and Biltzer, would need to follow their line and not vice versa.

 

Conte is very loyal to Lou, so I wouldn't expect to see him airing out dirty laundry to TSN.  It would be good, however, to get an open, honest, unfavored review of Lou by someone who may have some critiques about him and has had experience dealing with  - maybe someone like Claude Julien or Bobby Holik.

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I mean Conte is a Lou guy so nothing Earth shattering in this article. 

 

Wish TSN would have asked a little more to explain some of the particular decisions made in the past 10 years.  One example is why he thinks Lou decided to keep the 29th pick in 2012 to select Matteau?  Did Lou see something in him that he couldn't pass it up?  Was he going off of Conte's advice?  Actually I would say this is the biggest question I have from him and Lou over the past 10 years.

 

Like someone else said he didn't even know who was going to be on the board at 29 cause that decision had to be made before the draft.

 

The worst part of not giving up 29 might be having to go from 10 to 30 in 2014.  Even if Quenneville took a leap last year I still don't see him as anything more than prime Travis Zajac at best.

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Like someone else said he didn't even know who was going to be on the board at 29 cause that decision had to be made before the draft.

The worst part of not giving up 29 might be having to go from 10 to 30 in 2014. Even if Quenneville took a leap last year I still don't see him as anything more than prime Travis Zajac at best.

A player as good as prime Travis Zajac at 11 would be a very good result.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

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Like someone else said he didn't even know who was going to be on the board at 29 cause that decision had to be made before the draft.

 

The worst part of not giving up 29 might be having to go from 10 to 30 in 2014.  Even if Quenneville took a leap last year I still don't see him as anything more than prime Travis Zajac at best.

 

My question is why take the risk?  Did Lou really think we would be a cup contender the next year?  I mean he probably had an inkling that there was a good possibility that Zach would be gone by July and even with Kovy still in the fold as well as everyone else, did he think they could repeat 2012?  I am not trying to bash Lou here but wondering if that was his thinking.

 

If it was me, I would just have given it up in 2012 just to get it over with.  I mean what would be the worst case scenario then?  They win the cup the next year and select 30?  Doesn't really make sense to me even with the people Lou tried to target.

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But you know as time goes on that draft starts looking worse and worse so can't really blame anyone. After Maatta not much to be had.

 

We hit on #2

 

Yup, pretty bad year, REALLY bad year actually, when you compare 2013, 2015 and possibly next year.

 

Yakupov at 1st pick is pretty underwhelming. Galchenyuk and Forsberg are the only ones that jump out.

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My question is why take the risk?  Did Lou really think we would be a cup contender the next year?  I mean he probably had an inkling that there was a good possibility that Zach would be gone by July and even with Kovy still in the fold as well as everyone else, did he think they could repeat 2012?  I am not trying to bash Lou here but wondering if that was his thinking.

 

If it was me, I would just have given it up in 2012 just to get it over with.  I mean what would be the worst case scenario then?  They win the cup the next year and select 30?  Doesn't really make sense to me even with the people Lou tried to target.

 

I didn't understand it at the time, and it definitely set us back a bit.  The only plausible explanation to me is the thought that they could steal Vasilevsky at 29 with the trend of teams not picking goaltenders in the first round.  That way they would not have needed to make the Schneider trade, would have kept Brodeur around as the starter and likely brought in a FA backup or 1A to be a stop gap until Vas was ready to step into the starter role, which seems to be this year for TB absent his health issue. 

 

Otherwise, Lou was probably using his "if you have time, you use it" mantra which never seems to work out well for him in the end.

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My thoughts in Lou keeping #29 was that he either thought one of the goalies would be there still or he honestly thought they would get their normal pick back the next year without the #30 penalty

 

Both are valid but also risky.  Lou only got that 30th pick back because the team was sold to the new owners and were Subban and Valislevky that highly regarded that he would risk them being available at 29th?

 

I know that the draft is a gamble but I think he took the riskier of the options presented to him. 

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Both are valid but also risky.  Lou only got that 30th pick back because the team was sold to the new owners and were Subban and Valislevky that highly regarded that he would risk them being available at 29th?

 

I know that the draft is a gamble but I think he took the riskier of the options presented to him. 

 

Goalies are virtually never "highly regarded" in the sense that there's never really a can't miss one at the draft.  Vasilevsky though would have been a home run at 29 or it sure looks that way right now. 

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Both are valid but also risky. Lou only got that 30th pick back because the team was sold to the new owners and were Subban and Valislevky that highly regarded that he would risk them being available at 29th?

I know that the draft is a gamble but I think he took the riskier of the options presented to him.

Oh I don't think it was a good idea. I think it was too risky. I was just trying to figure out the logic he was going for.

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Goalies are virtually never "highly regarded" in the sense that there's never really a can't miss one at the draft.  Vasilevsky though would have been a home run at 29 or it sure looks that way right now. 

 

It does, but he didn't get him so it's neither here and there.  I think we all agree that Lou should have given up that 29th pick, but even finding the logic as to why he didn't still seems at best a pretty big gamble.

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