Despite Lamoriello’s comments today, @NHLDevils new owners Josh Harris & David Blitzer “strongly encouraged” him to move in this direction

Of course if Lou was nudged upstairs, nobody’s going to want to admit it publicly to sully the legacy of a HOF GM (not to mention the new owners don’t want to risk the Jerry Jones firing Tom Landry type publicity).  It does appear that after three straight seasons of missing the playoffs even the job of the most decorated GM in the league was eventually put on the griddle.  While I’ve had many criticisms of Lou’s last several years as a GM I felt with the way he’d remade up our defense and goaltending in recent years that he deserved at least one more year to accellerate the retooling and finally be able to address the offense with three high draft picks this year.  At least new ownership let Lou pick his successor, that much seems to be agreed upon.  And Shero’s a ‘family member’ given his dad once worked for the organization as a color commentator.

Maybe tomorrow or later in the week I’ll have a seperate blog on Shero and my concerns over his hiring, but the story to me today is Lou.  Ever since I first became a casual fan of the Devils during the ’87-88 playoff run, Lou was the GM then and has done things for the organization and pro/college hockey far beyond winning three Stanley Cups.  I won’t speak to his days at Providence College since that was way before my time, though he’s about as respected at the college level as he is at the pro level.

Certainly Lou was a pioneer in helping bring Russian hockey players to the US in the late ’80’s legally with his role in signing Slava Fetisov, Alexei Kasatonov and Sergei Starikov.  Many of Lou’s trades that set up the Devils’ run of success from 1994-2003 are already well-known, like trading defenseman Tom Kurvers for what turned out to be the #3 pick and Scott Niedermayer.  Or trading down in the draft and picking some French-Canadian goaltender named Brodeur.  Lou also had an edge to him that he was going to toe the line for what he wanted, like when he went to court to get an injunction for then-coach Jim Schonfeld to go behind the bench after the infamous shouting match with referee Don Koharski during the 1988 Eastern Conference Finals.  Not to mention holding out for defenseman Scott Stevens as compensation from the Blues when they were found guilty of tampering with Brendan Shanahan.

Despite all of that, perhaps his best move was convincing Jacques Lemaire to come and coach the team in 1994.  And in typical Lou fashion, nobody got wind of Lemaire coming before he was introduced at the presser.  While the Devils had been for the most part a perennial playoff team during the first several years of Lamoriello’s tenure they hadn’t yet come close to matching their Cinderella playoff run of 1988.  During Lemaire’s first season the Devils became a serious contender in 1994, taking the eventual Cup champ Rangers to a Game 7 OT in the Eastern Conference Finals – then won it all in 1995 during a run that arguably saved hockey in New Jersey during the midst of all the rumors of an impending move to Nashville.  That was the team that got me and I’m sure countless others into New Jersey Devils hockey.

By the time the Devils won their second Stanley Cup in 2000, ownership had changed hands for the first of what would be several times during Lamoriello’s last decade and a half but through all of that, and all of his coaching changes – some controversial, some completely out of his hands – he and his beloved goaltender Brodeur remained the constants of the team for an entire generation.  Although the Devils haven’t won the silver chalice since 2003, and defensive mainstays Stevens (retirement) and Niedermayer (FA) both departed the team kept on winning division titles and piling up 100-point seasons.   While the end of 2009-2010 and the beginning of 2010-2011 provided the first blip on Lamoriello’s tenure, the team rebounded to finish strong in 2011 and then made a run all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2012, beating both its bitter rivals in the Flyers and Rangers after squeezing out a Game 7 OT win at Florida in the first round.  It seemed as if Lou had done it again and provided the foundation for the next generation with a deep forward core and a prospect pipeline filled with defensemen.

However, the financial issues under Jeff Vanderbeek’s ownership combined with the sudden dual departures of star wingers Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk crippled the forward core, and while the team has been integrating its young defensemen in the lineup the last couple of seasons – and even found a successor for Marty with the 2013 draft day trade for Cory Schneider – the dual losses of Parise and Kovalchuk (combined with losing many other players to age and attrition) proved to be the straw that broke the camel’s back, and the organization hasn’t made the playoffs since.  The Lou naysayers get to have their day I suppose…if you keep speculating about someone being gone long enough, eventually you’re going to be right.

Certainly Lou wasn’t always fan-friendly with policies that restricted player access and availability (no Twitter, no open practices, being secretive about the most minute details like injuries) and wasn’t always an object of affection by certain jaded members of the fanbase even in the good times because of all that and his gruff nature during the glory days, so when things turned south the last three years those ungrateful fans were the quickest and the loudest to complain about a GM that while he certainly had his issues, also had a record nearly unmatched in the last 25 years of hockey.  To the end Lou was true to his nature:

Matt Loughlin ‏@MattLoug 38m38 minutes ago

Pretty amazing how none of this leaked out. Then again, it would have been amazing if it had. #DevilsWay

Yes nobody gets a lifetime pass because this isn’t the Supreme Court, Lou himself proved that with the trade of Schnieder to replace Marty.  Whatever you may think of Lou personally or his last few years though, if you have any soul you’d better give thanks tonight that the man has given our organization 28 years, many of them good-great ones.  For the ones crying for change the last few years, well you got your wish – let’s see how it goes.  If you were hockey fans during the beginning of Lou’s tenure perhaps you’re familiar with how Bill Torrey got forced out on Long Island after his own distinguished HOF career in 1993 after some down seasons.  The Islanders are still looking for their first playoff series win since 1993.  Don’t take any success for granted.  Hopefully the fanbase will be a little less spoiled now, but I’m not counting on it.

Just remember these numbers…3 Stanley Cups, 5 Eastern Conference Championships, 9 division titles and 21 playoff appearances.  If Shero or any other future GM tops those numbers not only will we be incredibly fortunate but I’ll be very old by then.