Islanders’ Lou Lamoriello named NHL’s GM of the Year

[msweet]

Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello added another acclamation to his Hall of Fame resume, being named winner of the NHL’s Jim Gregory GM of the Year award for the 2019-20 season.

It marks the first time Lamoriello has won the award, which began being given out in 2010.

The 77-year-old Lamoriello, who previously won three Stanley Cups as GM of the New Jersey Devils, edged out Tampa Bay’s Julien BriseBois and Dallas’ Jim Nill in voting done by a 41-member panel of GMs, NHL executives and media members.

Lamoriello’s key moves in his second season with the semifinalist Islanders were the free-agent signings of Semyon Varlamov and Derick Brassard, the re-signing of captain Anders Lee and others and the in-season trades for J-G Pageau and Andy Greene.

https://nypost.com/2020/09/12/islanders-lou-lamoriello-named-nhls-gm-of-the-year/

[nessus]

SterioDesign has left the chat

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

This award has only been around since 2010...would’ve been interesting to see how many times that Lou would’ve won it as the Devils’ GM.

Much like his hire of Jacques Lemaire gave the Devils on-ice structure and a blueprint for winning (as we all know, Lou had originally tabbed Herb Brooks to be that guy for the Devils, then realized after just one season that it wasn’t going to work), Barry Trotz has brought that to the Islanders.  Lou’s made some solid on-ice moves that have helped too, but I think the Isles’ success really starts with Lou seizing the opportunity to hire Trotz.

Hopefully some fans won’t now say “The Devils should have kept Lou.”  Regardless of what he’s doing now, it was absolutely time for him to go, and the reasons for that are well-documented.  His GM tenure with the Devils was actually the third-longest in NHL history.  

[vadvlfan]

I'm happy for Lou, but also OK with how things went w/ new staff Shero/Fitz etc.  (especially scouting staff). Lou brought Conte on board on LI>(wtf) 

[MadDog2020]

 

 

[NJDevils1214]

A change of scenery was necessary for both the team and him. Congrats to LL.

Edited September 13, 2020 by NJDevils1214

[Satans Hockey]

Did the voting include the fake playoff play in games and the actual playoffs? Because he wasn't winning this award if Covid didn't happen because they were most likely missing the playoffs. 

[HellOnICE]

They vote after round 2.

[eaglejelly]

On 9/13/2020 at 12:03 PM, Satans Hockey said:

Did the voting include the fake playoff play in games and the actual playoffs? Because he wasn't winning this award if Covid didn't happen because they were most likely missing the playoffs. 

Lou made Covid happen obviously

[mfitz804]

1 hour ago, eaglejelly said:

Lou made Covid happen obviously

That motherfvcker looks like he could turn into a bat, but I don't think he'd eat one. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

42 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

That motherfvcker looks like he could turn into a bat, but I don't think he'd eat one. 

Wrong.

He'd dip the entire bat in jelly, swallow it whole, whip the jelly jar against the wall and then belly-flop onto the broken glass.  

[mfitz804]

1 minute ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Wrong.

He'd dip the entire bat in jelly, swallow it whole, whip the jelly jar against the wall and then belly-flop onto the broken glass.  

Well if you're gonna dip it in jelly, anyone would do that. 

[themightyall]

This place is funny.  1976 can't even bring him or herself to just say congratulations to a LL.  Takes an Isles team that loses their best player in Tavares and leads them to the conference finals.

 

Congrats to Lou.  I love what he did for my team when he had the chance.  I hope we get there again soon.

[SterioDesign]

3 hours ago, themightyall said:

This place is funny.  1976 can't even bring him or herself to just say congratulations to a LL.  Takes an Isles team that loses their best player in Tavares and leads them to the conference finals.

 

Congrats to Lou.  I love what he did for my team when he had the chance.  I hope we get there again soon.

1976 is literally one of Lou's biggest supporter and apologist here lol Maybe you weren't paying attention outside of this specific thread but he didn't "need" to congratulate him in here on top of everything else.

 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

4 hours ago, themightyall said:

This place is funny.  1976 can't even bring him or herself to just say congratulations to a LL.  Takes an Isles team that loses their best player in Tavares and leads them to the conference finals.

 

Congrats to Lou.  I love what he did for my team when he had the chance.  I hope we get there again soon.

Can you read?  I said Lou made a terrific coaching hire in Trotz and made some other good moves as the Islander GM.  I also wondered aloud how many times he would have won the award as the Devils GM (had it been in existence), because I’m sure it would have been multiple times.  Much of Lou’s run here was excellent, but it can’t be disputed that it did run its course...and as I pointed out, he had the third-longest tenure as a GM in the history of the NHL.  Even if things ended badly (and they did), it was still one hell of an era overall, and I’ve never said otherwise.  I have no idea what your issue is with what I posted.  

1 hour ago, SterioDesign said:

1976 is literally one of Lou's biggest supporter and apologist here lol Maybe you weren't paying attention outside of this specific thread but he didn't "need" to congratulate him in here on top of everything else.

 

I’m not a Lou apologist.  Basically it seems like anyone who doesn’t fully agree with you about Lou or isn’t willing to take a lot of digs at him gets put into that box.  You know how I feel about his MO...yes, I do think it can work (even though it’s not always easy to embrace) but it requires nailing draft picks, finding hidden talent, and having some key players who fully buy into what you’re doing.  It also means eventually realizing that when your top core players are aging and fading (as Elias and Brodeur were), you absolutely have to blow things up.  None of these things happened at the end, and yes, it got very ugly here, and if I was a true “apologist”, I’d be saying things like Lou should’ve never been allowed to leave, or look at how he’s getting the last laugh now.

Except I don’t feel that way one bit.  It was 100% time for the Devils to go in a different direction, and though Ray never got to see his plan fully through, he at least was creative enough to find ways to bring building blocks into the mix, when he had damned near nothing initially.  And it’s not uncommon for a good GM like Lou to get a second (or even third) shot with a new franchise, and enjoy some success.  Good for him, but it was never going to happen here...I think the time for a potential recovery/rebuild to be overseen by Lou had come and gone, and like I’ve said many many times, for all of the good things he did for the Devils, the last several years are very difficult to defend...VBK’s situation didn’t help, but at the same time, the new ownership was clearly willing to let Lou do his thing, to what turned out to be to a destructive degree.  If Lou had said “We need to take a couple of steps back here and undertake a true rebuild”, I doubt he would’ve dealt with any internal resistance...so it’s not like he was under pressure from Harris and Blitzer to “win now, or else” (if that were the case, then the litany of bad “Band Aid” moves he made would be a little easier to defend...though not much).

Sadly I’m starting to wonder if the current owners are starting to feel like they need to be more “hands on” now (I hope not).

Edited September 27, 2020 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[SterioDesign]

7 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

 

I’m not a Lou apologist.  Basically it seems like anyone who doesn’t fully agree with you about Lou or isn’t willing to take a lot of digs at him gets put into that box.  You know how I feel about his MO...yes, I do think it can work (even though it’s not always easy to embrace) but it requires nailing draft picks, finding hidden talent, and having some key players who fully buy into what you’re doing.  It also means eventually realizing that when your top core players are aging and fading (as Elias and Brodeur were), you absolutely have to blow things up.  None of these things happened at the end, and yes, it got very ugly here, and if I was a true “apologist”, I’d be saying things like Lou should’ve never been allowed to leave, or look at how he’s getting the last laugh now.

Except I don’t feel that way one bit.  It was 100% time for the Devils to go in a different direction, and though Ray never got to see his plan fully through, he at least was creative enough to find ways to bring building blocks into the mix, when he had damned near nothing initially.  And it’s not uncommon for a good GM like Lou to get a second (or even third) shot with a new franchise, and enjoy some success.  Good for him, but it was never going to happen here...I think the time for a potential recovery/rebuild to be overseen by Lou had come and gone, and like I’ve said many many times, for all of the good things he did for the Devils, the last several years are very difficult to defend...VBK’s situation didn’t help, but at the same time, the new ownership was clearly willing to let Lou do his thing, to what turned out to be to a destructive degree.  If Lou had said “We need to take a couple of steps back here and undertake a true rebuild”, I doubt he would’ve dealt with any internal resistance...so it’s not like he was under pressure from Harris and Blitzer to “win now, or else” (if that were the case, then the litany of bad “Band Aid” moves he made would be a little easier to defend...though not much).

Sadly I’m starting to wonder if the current owners are starting to feel like they need to be more “hands on” now (I hope not).

You're the ONE poster here that when i'd either directly (referring to his actions/moves) or not even really talk about him but rather bring up how bad the roster was in 2015, which was not really a dig at Lou, just a reality that Shero had to deal with and give context. You'd always take those comments as a "dig at Lou", reply and get on my case about it, defending him and trying to make sense of some of his decisions. You turned the corner in recent years admitting some stuff but it wasn't the case back then. It was definitely not.

When he was still here almost everyone here "agreed" with his moves trying to find ways to justify them. 

He's an amazing GM when he has a solid core of players and just need to built and patch around them. He's a win now GM. Not one to build a team anymore.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

To your final point, I think it’s fair to say that we may never know if Lou could be ever be a “build a team from near-scratch” GM, because he’s never truly had to be that.  He inherited some nice pieces to work with everywhere he’s been (including here).  

[Devil Dan 56]

1 hour ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

To your final point, I think it’s fair to say that we may never know if Lou could be ever be a “build a team from near-scratch” GM, because he’s never truly had to be that.  He inherited some nice pieces to work with everywhere he’s been (including here).  

He might not have had to build a team from scratch, but I don't think it's fair to say he's only an amazing GM when he has something to build and patch around. He was instrumental in bringing in all but one of the numbers in the rafters and they were clearly the central pieces that were built around. 

 

Edited September 27, 2020 by Devil Dan 56

[SterioDesign]

2 hours ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

He might not have had to build a team from scratch, but I don't think it's fair to say he's only an amazing GM when he has something to build and patch around. He was instrumental in bringing in all but one of the numbers in the rafters and they were clearly the central pieces that were built around. 

Well with the way he's running things, it's systematically the only way he showed he could do it in the new NHL (which we all know is a completely different animal than in the 90s). And drafting players is also quite a crap shoot. Chicago just happened to be in a position to draft Kane and Toews, who were a perfect mix for their team. Give the same GM 2 different years to draft and they probably don't have their cups. Lou literally run teams like someone dying from wtv sickness gambling at the casino, completely disregarding the future and hoping for the best for a last run. Many of you made the argument that it was because Brodeur was still here and all, i get it, but still a bad move. In NJ, most of his moves we're aimed at making the team just good enough to compete NOW, you know this. Not putting young pieces together, building a team to win the cup down the line. In Toronto he signed Marleau to a bad contract because he wanted him that one year, ended up costing them quite a bit to get rid of him cause it didnt fit the long term plan. That's just how he systematically do things. He was clear he wasn't down for a real rebuild. It's not that he's a "bad GM" but he's a GM with that mentality and it only works with team structure in a position to get to the next level like this, it's fine if you have a strong roster. But he showed that he couldnt recognize that he didn't in NJ and he should have change his ways but we sure know he didn't.

Now, how many solid "core players" did he bring in since say the last 10 years in NJ ? Compared to how many he lost for nothing? How did the prospect pool looked?  Is that a sign of someone good to build a team from scratch in the new NHL? That's how you systematically run a team to the ground.

Like i said the Islanders were a perfect match for him. He had good players to work with, a roster good enough that they could lose one of the NHL best player and still trend up. He was able to bring in Tortz. For him too the Islanders were a good match and it's not like he had a thousand options. Maybe 2-3 teams top needed a coach then and they were the better team and they still had Tavares when he took the gig i believe.

 

Edited September 27, 2020 by SterioDesign

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 hour ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

He might not have had to build a team from scratch, but I don't think it's fair to say he's only an amazing GM when he has something to build and patch around. He was instrumental in bringing in all but one of the numbers in the rafters and they were clearly the central pieces that were built around. 

 

Oh no argument here...I wasn’t agreeing with that part of SD’s statement.  One thing that Lou did very well in building the team was turn the pieces he inherited into other pieces that wound up figuring heavily into championships.  There’s GMs who definitely find ways to screw up what they’ve been given to work with.  

[Devil Dan 56]

1 hour ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Oh no argument here...I wasn’t agreeing with that part of SD’s statement.  One thing that Lou did very well in building the team was turn the pieces he inherited into other pieces that wound up figuring heavily into championships.  There’s GMs who definitely find ways to screw up what they’ve been given to work with.  

Yeah I agree. He did a good job of adding the right pieces for the Isles as well. Going from no playoffs to conference finals in 2 years is a nice jump. I really would love to see us make that kind of jump too but sadly I think it's gonna be a lot longer than 2 years. 

I liked Shero and his ideas but unfortunately a lot of his moves just didn't pan out right. I'd really like to feel like we aren't just spinning our wheels soon. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

31 minutes ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

Yeah I agree. He did a good job of adding the right pieces for the Isles as well. Going from no playoffs to conference finals in 2 years is a nice jump. I really would love to see us make that kind of jump too but sadly I think it's gonna be a lot longer than 2 years. 

I liked Shero and his ideas but unfortunately a lot of his moves just didn't pan out right. I'd really like to feel like we aren't just spinning our wheels soon. 

Right now these Devils are about where the mid-80s Devils were...now it’s about some of the kids turning into legit NHLers (and hitting on at least two of these three first rounders).  When you’re starting from near rock-bottom (Shero definitely was), and high-profile UFAs aren’t really an option for you, you can only expedite the process so much.  To Shero’s credit, he was very creative and proactive in trying to make things happen with very limited resources.  It’s definitely a shame that MoJo’s 2016-17 turned out to be a career year...I really thought he was going to be another Palms, in terms of becoming a solid contributor here.

It does feel like with the right moves (and better luck than Shero had), this team isn’t too far away from being competitive.  Really crossing my fingers.

[Nicomo]

4 hours ago, SterioDesign said:

Well with the way he's running things, it's systematically the only way he showed he could do it in the new NHL (which we all know is a completely different animal than in the 90s). And drafting players is also quite a crap shoot. Chicago just happened to be in a position to draft Kane and Toews, who were a perfect mix for their team. Give the same GM 2 different years to draft and they probably don't have their cups. Lou literally run teams like someone dying from wtv sickness gambling at the casino, completely disregarding the future and hoping for the best for a last run. Many of you made the argument that it was because Brodeur was still here and all, i get it, but still a bad move. In NJ, most of his moves we're aimed at making the team just good enough to compete NOW, you know this. Not putting young pieces together, building a team to win the cup down the line. In Toronto he signed Marleau to a bad contract because he wanted him that one year, ended up costing them quite a bit to get rid of him cause it didnt fit the long term plan. That's just how he systematically do things. He was clear he wasn't down for a real rebuild. It's not that he's a "bad GM" but he's a GM with that mentality and it only works with team structure in a position to get to the next level like this, it's fine if you have a strong roster. But he showed that he couldnt recognize that he didn't in NJ and he should have change his ways but we sure know he didn't.

Now, how many solid "core players" did he bring in since say the last 10 years in NJ ? Compared to how many he lost for nothing? How did the prospect pool looked?  Is that a sign of someone good to build a team from scratch in the new NHL? That's how you systematically run a team to the ground.

Like i said the Islanders were a perfect match for him. He had good players to work with, a roster good enough that they could lose one of the NHL best player and still trend up. He was able to bring in Tortz. For him too the Islanders were a good match and it's not like he had a thousand options. Maybe 2-3 teams top needed a coach then and they were the better team and they still had Tavares when he took the gig i believe.

 

Holy wall of text man. This is really hard to read on mobile lol

[SterioDesign]

15 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Can you read?  I said Lou made a terrific coaching hire in Trotz and made some other good moves as the Islander GM.  I also wondered aloud how many times he would have won the award as the Devils GM (had it been in existence), because I’m sure it would have been multiple times.  Much of Lou’s run here was excellent, but it can’t be disputed that it did run its course...and as I pointed out, he had the third-longest tenure as a GM in the history of the NHL.  Even if things ended badly (and they did), it was still one hell of an era overall, and I’ve never said otherwise.  I have no idea what your issue is with what I posted.  

I’m not a Lou apologist.  Basically it seems like anyone who doesn’t fully agree with you about Lou or isn’t willing to take a lot of digs at him gets put into that box.  You know how I feel about his MO...yes, I do think it can work (even though it’s not always easy to embrace) but it requires nailing draft picks, finding hidden talent, and having some key players who fully buy into what you’re doing.  It also means eventually realizing that when your top core players are aging and fading (as Elias and Brodeur were), you absolutely have to blow things up.  None of these things happened at the end, and yes, it got very ugly here, and if I was a true “apologist”, I’d be saying things like Lou should’ve never been allowed to leave, or look at how he’s getting the last laugh now.

Except I don’t feel that way one bit.  It was 100% time for the Devils to go in a different direction, and though Ray never got to see his plan fully through, he at least was creative enough to find ways to bring building blocks into the mix, when he had damned near nothing initially.  And it’s not uncommon for a good GM like Lou to get a second (or even third) shot with a new franchise, and enjoy some success.  Good for him, but it was never going to happen here...I think the time for a potential recovery/rebuild to be overseen by Lou had come and gone, and like I’ve said many many times, for all of the good things he did for the Devils, the last several years are very difficult to defend...VBK’s situation didn’t help, but at the same time, the new ownership was clearly willing to let Lou do his thing, to what turned out to be to a destructive degree.  If Lou had said “We need to take a couple of steps back here and undertake a true rebuild”, I doubt he would’ve dealt with any internal resistance...so it’s not like he was under pressure from Harris and Blitzer to “win now, or else” (if that were the case, then the litany of bad “Band Aid” moves he made would be a little easier to defend...though not much).

Sadly I’m starting to wonder if the current owners are starting to feel like they need to be more “hands on” now (I hope not).

 

7 minutes ago, Nicomo said:

Holy wall of text man. This is really hard to read on mobile lol

I appreciate the compliment but Colorado Rockies 1976's post here was longer. Give credit to him too

[SterioDesign]

3 hours ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

Yeah I agree. He did a good job of adding the right pieces for the Isles as well. Going from no playoffs to conference finals in 2 years is a nice jump. I really would love to see us make that kind of jump too but sadly I think it's gonna be a lot longer than 2 years. 

I liked Shero and his ideas but unfortunately a lot of his moves just didn't pan out right. I'd really like to feel like we aren't just spinning our wheels soon. 

He did fine but I honestly don't see the genius though. If we're looking at the big picture... sure it's a great headline to say "went from no playoffs to the finals in 2 years... but they were already basically there with the same roster the 2 years before that. The Islanders as been a playoffs/bubble team since like 2013. Look at the Islanders roster from this season. Out of the top 15 in points, its basically all players that's been in the islanders system for years. Brassard and Komarov are the only 2 Lou brought and they were not part of the top top scorers either.

Lou came in in 2018. Got Tortz, which was a great move but how many options did Tortz really had? Then got filpula, komarov, sbisa and martin... lost Tavares, De Haan, Halak and Wagner. If we're honest, on paper is that really a good trade off in term of roster moves? Not a soul on earth would pick Filpula and Komarov instead of Tavares and De Haan? lol

Then this season he got Greene, Pageau, Varlamorv and Brassard. Lost Lehner, Filpula and Sbisa. This year is a better trade off but is it like... that crazy?

I don't know, I mean Tortz is a big help obviously and Varlamorv too. But other than that, i see most of the success they are having due to Barzal developing very nicely, same with Beauvilier and Pullock. Which were all there when Lou came in. Then players like Nelson, Lee (who Lou let walk), Eberle, Bailey etc etc... all their top players who were also already there.

I don't want to sound like im taking to take away credits from him. He did good. But i'm just challenging the whole "Lou brought the team to the conference finals".. like he made insane moves and reshaped that team completely. Like what sort of acrobatic paper moves, loopsided trades, amazing team friendly/amazing value signings or cap bending moves did he do? Honestly? They were going to be good no matter what. Just take out barzal of that team and we're not having the same discussion right now too

Edited September 28, 2020 by SterioDesign