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Might it be the time for Lou to retire?


TravisZajac

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Maybe people want Lou to retire... So someone impatient can come in and trade away players when they dont score 2 goals a game. or maybe they want it to be more like NHL2010 video hockey and trade at will all over the league. :rolleyes::giggle:

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Maybe people want Lou to retire... So someone impatient can come in and trade away players when they dont score 2 goals a game. or maybe they want it to be more like NHL2010 video hockey and trade at will all over the league. :rolleyes::giggle:

This post insinuates that no one could do better. I don't think he should retire, but come on ... let's be a little bit honest.

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This post insinuates that no one could do better. I don't think he should retire, but come on ... let's be a little bit honest.

i think lou has been in a very, very difficult position and that it's pretty remarkable what he's been able to accomplish in spite of that. there've been a few mistakes along the way for sure.

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This post insinuates that no one could do better. I don't think he should retire, but come on ... let's be a little bit honest.

That post was oozing with sarcasm.

The GM can only do so much. The coach and players need to make it work on the ice.

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Lou remains one of the best GMs in the league. The Kovalchuk trade shows that he's aware some things need to change with regard to the dynamics of this team. Signing Josefson and Tedenby is a great sign I think that he knows he needs to get younger and faster. Devils have made the playoffs for 13 straight years, only team with a longer streak is Detroit at 19. Third longest is San Jose at SIX.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NHL_franchise_post-season_appearance_streaks

I would not feel better about the Devils if they were in another GM's hands.

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Great. The OP is another fair weather fan who loves Lou when we win and calls for his head when we lose. Lou is a great GM and as the above poster stated, the Devils have the longest playoff appearence streak in the Eastern Conference. Lou is still one of the 2 best GM's in the league.

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The OP is another fair weather fan who loves Lou when we win and calls for his head when we lose. Lou is still one of the 2 best GM's in the league.

Come on, you're a fair-weather fan if you think the game has passed Lamoriello by? Yeah, we keep making the playoffs, but you'd think there would be at LEAST one three-round run in there. Why isn't there one?

I think Lou has earned the right to find the right formula, but if fans believe we need a change at the top, that doesn't make them fair-weathered.

As far as Lou being a top-2 GM in the NHL ... a lot of people would disagree, based on results.

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Come on, you're a fair-weather fan if you think the game has passed Lamoriello by? Yeah, we keep making the playoffs, but you'd think there would be at LEAST one three-round run in there. Why isn't there one?

I think Lou has earned the right to find the right formula, but if fans believe we need a change at the top, that doesn't make them fair-weathered.

As far as Lou being a top-2 GM in the NHL ... a lot of people would disagree, based on results.

the devils haven't had a top 10 draft pick in the NHL draft since 1996. they haven't had a pick higher than 10 since 1991. the only team with even remotely similar success are the red wings, and if nicklas lidstrom retires, they may well be entering a period like new jersey where they are making the playoffs but not going deep in them.

Edited by Triumph
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the devils haven't had a top 10 draft pick in the NHL draft since 1996. they haven't had a pick higher than 10 since 1991. the only team with even remotely similar success are the red wings, and if nicklas lidstrom retires, they may well be entering a period like new jersey where they are making the playoffs but not going deep in them.

Why does that hurt us in the playoffs but not the regular season?

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Why does that hurt us in the playoffs but not the regular season?

the devils are excellent at 4 on 4 overtime and at the shootout. they are also great at drawing penalties relative to the number they take. brodeur playing a great deal of time has also helped. most of these things don't really matter in the playoffs.

they have gotten some pretty piss-poor luck in the playoffs, all things considered, but the playoffs are real short and a few bad bounces means you're out. they haven't vastly outplayed anyone in the last 3 years, but neither have they been vastly outplayed, either.

Edited by Triumph
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Why does that hurt us in the playoffs but not the regular season?

Because the playoffs have a lot of variance, due to smaller amount of games, while the regular seasons is a better representation of team quality, due to larger amount of games played.

Before 2000 Devils fans could of had a lot of the same talk. Devils had missed the playoffs the year after winning the cup and Lou had forgotten how to build teams that would win in the playoffs, regular season only wonders.

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Because the playoffs have a lot of variance, due to smaller amount of games, while the regular seasons is a better representation of team quality, due to larger amount of games played.

I'm ready for some of that positive variance. I think we all are.

Or it could be that the team isn't "built for the playoffs," whatever that entails.

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I'm ready for some of that positive variance. I think we all are.

Or it could be that the team isn't "built for the playoffs," whatever that entails.

Sure, but I'm pointing out an example, every time between '95 and '00 where people could be saying the same exact things as now. A playoff miss and just absolutely dominant teams failing in the playoffs. In '99, people could have easily said Lou stunk and didn't know how to build teams for the playoffs, just look at the last 4 or 5 years.

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the devils just need to grow some balls and lou needs to stop it with the re-treads and nasty contracts to players like rolston (wink, wink)

yeah lou has been erratic lately but i like what he did getting kovalchuck at the deadline...

my biggest concern with lou is how he can let the team get so weak at center and the crummy defence...mottau getting top 4 ice time the last 2 years...WTF?

he clearly should have invested in Madden instead of Pandolfo... it just did not make sense.

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Lou as President and GM has brought in coaches that will follow his lead and his direction for the Devils. This has been proven wrong with three 1st rounds and your out. So it is time for Vanderbeek to tell Lou to be the President and deal with the business not the team and bring in a new GM that has full reign to staff as he see it for the future or the Devils will continue as they have since 2003 under Lou's leadership.

Lou resists change and because of that the team has failed badly for 3 years in a row. The Devils are losing money and if they continue in the same direction they will lose more money, empty seats will grow and financial issue with the City of Newark will continue and finally the Devils will leave NJ. Lou is old and has old thinking and it is killing the Devils.

Edited by LucifersDog
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My money is on Lou doing next to nothing this offseason. I think he'll add a few B-rated defensemen here and there, but I do not think he'll make any significant moves. Lou threw all his chips on the table with the Kovalchuk trade, I think he's done and will play it safe and conservative the rest of the way.

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Overall, I think my biggest objection to Lou is that he got away from his basic motive. Defense!! I think he's missed the point that during our great years, the offense was breach loaded. With 2 quick passes,we were out of the zone and up ice. When we got caught, we always had 2 heads-up defensemen and Marty to defend with. Now we stay stuck in the zone and pray that the forwards back check.

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Lou as President and GM has brought in coaches that will follow his lead and his direction for the Devils. This has been proven wrong with three 1st rounds and your out. So it is time for Vanderbeek to tell Lou to be the President and deal with the business not the team and bring in a new GM that has full reign to staff as he see it for the future or the Devils will continue as they have since 2003 under Lou's leadership.

Lou resists change and because of that the team has failed badly for 3 years in a row. The Devils are losing money and if they continue in the same direction they will lose more money, empty seats will grow and financial issue with the City of Newark will continue and finally the Devils will leave NJ. Lou is old and has old thinking and it is killing the Devils.

Might be the first post I EVER agree with you on! He is too set in his "old fashioned" ways. Time for YOUNG BLOOD. I would love to see Stevens emerge as the next GM. I think he would do a damn good job. As far as Lou being the President and "dealing with the business" goes....I do not want him to do that either. He just does not realize what the younger fans (20-40ish- a group who definitely spends lots of money!) want. He was probably anti Retro Night the whole way. I appreciate everything LL has done for the franchise, but I think it is time for him to ride off into the sunset.

Paging the next Theo Epstein??!?!? (hockey version)

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I have to concur on this. The BIGGEST problem in NJ is LOU's interference with the on ice operations and if I was the ref that's 2/5 and 10 for the same infraction since the lock-out, see ya Lou!

Lou it's a business BUT it's a GAME! The military style approach doesn't work anymore, even though Newark feels like a war zone it's no IRAQ/AFGHANISTAN!(SHOUT OUT'S TO ALL THE MEN AND WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES) Everyone is suppose to have fun in Devil hockey not make fun of Devil hockey!! as we yet again, get shipped out in the first round!

Lou needs to worry about finding his replacement(GM 1st than Pres.) and it better not be his son! That person needs to be able to run the organization without interference from Lou and hire a coach he trusts to do the only thing that matters and that's winning the Cup by any means necessary. YZERMAN/MESSIER/GRETZKY etc. are all guys who would be capable and would bring instant credibility, attract the right coach and players that would WANT to play here.

Is it needed? yep, Do we want it? yep, Will it happen? That my friends IS, the true definition of a COLD DAY 'N' HELL!

On a side note, Johnny Mac should NOT be the next coach, it too should be from outside the organization and NOT be spelled HITCHCOCK(sorry Langs)/RENNEY/GAINEY/HARTLEY or KEENAN!!!!

DEVILS FAN FOR LIFE, DEATH TO LEAF NATION! :horse:

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I think he's done an OK hiring coaches btw. Sutter was fine, but then wanted to go home. Lou possibly knew that was coming, but hindsight is hindsight - he led them to two very good regular seasons. When he was hired, it was called a dynamite signing - and many people here were excited.

JL perhaps wasn't - but I never thought he was brought in here to win a cup. I thought he was here as a bridge for someone younger, and was here briefly to teach the Zachs and Zajacs nuances of the game that someone with his smarts could do. I hope he did that. At least earlier in the season, we heard a lot about that.

Julien? ClusterF.

About the Rangers style rebuild - those teams traded horribly and badly drafted. Lou hasn't made that many bad trades, we can go back and forth on Kovy if you want. Drafting sucks when you are #24 every year, but somehow we have Zach, Travis, Josefson, Tedenby, Urbom, and others coming. He's doing a good a job as he can.

Besides, you're going to see Lou help pick his successor. It may even be Chris.

I really don't see this team needs to crash-course rebuild. Alter its style of play, probably. Change the direction, yes. But a rebuild? What a strange word. Does rebuilding mean trading all of the good players away for picks?

We have a very good core here. Up front we Parise, Zajac, down the middle soon we're going to have Zajac, Josefson, and Henrique (this is all, from what we've seen - most likely? no?). If we sign Parise long term - we have our captain for the next decade at least.

On wing, we have a decent guy in Tedenby hopefully, and if they decide to sign Kovy then he'll be here for a period of time as well. Wings are usually easier to sign and trade for.

We need to rebuild the defense a little bit, but it's not like our D is complete garbage. Martin is in his prime and is an excellent D. Green is serviceable. White, Sal are good cogs (they really are people). We have a few good D in the wings. We, without a doubt, need a major impact Defenseman - that will let our D who we have now all be slotted correctly and not have to do things they can't do in crunch time. They need the #1 guy - which is the hardest thing to get in hockey - so it maybe a while.

You can't just actively burn the house down. No one does that on purpose. It's the bad decisions that always lead teams losing, then deciding "we are going to start over." Well - the Devils don't need to do that.

The playoff failures mean something, absolutely. But so does the division championships. For my money, it means we're closer to winning a cup, then having to rebuild.

This. Additionally I can't see anyone wanting to suck to get high picks. Who's to say those top 5 picks don't end up being busts then where are you? I'll take consistently making the playoffs and having a shot--it won't work every time regardless. Also like the quote from the interview with Vanderbeek “We made the playoffs for 19 of 20 seasons, we set a record for the longest number of years over .500 of any active team in the four leagues, so it’s 132 teams,” Vanderbeek says. “That doesn’t come by accident. We’re going to continue to do whatever it takes to make this team the best it can be with the goal to win the Stanley Cup. If you come see us, that’s what you’re going to see. Rock Solid

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so we have messier, gretzky, yzerman, and stevens as possible GMs. how about larry robinson or nicklas lidstrom or joe sakic?

Sarcasm aside, NJ could do much worse than Yzerman or Gretzky and seeing how Yzerman is being taught by THE BEST G.M IN THE GAME in Ken Holland, he'd be a more than capable replacement for LOU-asaurs REX! Messier at least is learning the role, while Stevens/Robinson/Lidstrom and Sakic haven't even started the first day of G.M school!

I understand your point about ex-players with virtually no experience running a team having their names thrown out there to replace LOU and i may have stretched it a bit including Messier with the other 2 BUT i see Yzerman, in particular, as a very viable replacement and learning from Holland in Det. and Lou here, he'd have the potential to be every bit as good as them and better.

DEVILS FAN FOR LIFE, DEATH TO LEAF NATION :horse:

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I don't think Lou has any plans of going anywhere any time soon. Unless Chris's time in the AHL represents the replacement training program, I haven't really seen any successor being groomed. It would be very un-Lou to step down without making sure the team is in extremely capable hands.

These next two or three offseasons are absolutely massive in terms of the future of the franchise. I wouldn't want anyone but Lou at the helm for them.

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I'm still lost on the whole 'this guy was a great player so he will be a great GM' deal. Someone mentioned Stevens a few posts up. Why? What has Stevens ever done that makes people think he can put together an NHL team?

Lou will be retired within the next 3 years, assuming that he and Marty retire at the same time (which is something Brodeur had mentioned in his book.) At that point, we can all see what kind of crazy wacky things our new GM does. I'm sure we'll get a nice hideous 3rd jersey, and rush prospects to the NHL, and sign players who don't fit the team, and all that great stuff we are missing out on. Hey, maybe we can even an ACTUAL bad season, so some people here can see what it's like. Sorry, losing in the first round after finishing 1st a few years in a row isn't 'bad'. Unfortunate maybe, and it's definitely a huge letdown, but about 15 teams would kill for that.

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