What did Lou Lamoriello ever do?
Lou Lamoriello joined the Devils in 1987 after the NHL draft. Over the course of the next few years, a pattern would evolve. Firstly, you don't want Lamoriello anywhere near your draft. Of all 29 of his 1st round picks, only 10 have had any level of NHL success. The majority of those have spent minimal time with the Devils before being traded to another team. You see, here's the problem. Lamoriello is old. And old guys tend to like other old guys. Lou has based his entire management career on the acquisition of existing stars at the expense of rookies and draft picks. This asset management technique got him far. It got him Stanley Cups, basically right up until the point that balancing assets under a salary cap became a thing.
In 2004-2005, the NHL introduced a hard salary cap, and a GM could no longer stock-pile expensive proven veterans and treat draft picks as an afterthought. Unfortunately, a career spanning almost 20 years in NHL management had set Lou in his ways, and his inability to adapt really damaged the Devils, a team that is still reeling from poor drafting and some genuinely nefarious contracts. Ilya Kovalchuk comes to mind.
Lou is a guy that seems to have been an expert at acquiring veterans, which looks good on paper. However, he did it at such an expense to the future of his franchise. Other GM's must have looked forward to calls from him, knowing they would bolster their future and relieve their team of burdensome veteran contracts. In a league where a player hits their prime between 24-28, it can be exceedingly damaging to put a premium on players over 30.
It wasn't just at the draft that Lou failed his team's future, but in free agent contract as well. As far back as the 1990-91 off-season, Lou was mismanaging restricted free agent contracts, and happened to stumble in to Scott Stevens. This lucky acquisition - while at the cost of Brendan Shanahan, arguably a better asset - helped lead the team to Championships, looking back at the deal through rose-tinted glasses tends to overlook the fact that Lou tried to circumvent the contract structure put in place by the NHL. Not really smart there.
To summarize, Lou Lamoriello signed and traded for a lot of old guys, maybe in an effort to win, maybe in an effort to not be the only guy with a bald head at the company BBQ. Whatever it was, he sacrificed and decimated the future of a franchise, which before the salary cap wasn't a big deal, but after the salary cap, has relegated New Jersey to irrelevance. I just hope he isn't making decisions that can impact Toronto's future....like signing 40 year old wingers and defenceman to long-term deals.
Anyway, below is me showing some of my work. I posted the trades and draft picks that I though were relevant and graded each season.
Lou's overall grade: 160/300 or 53%
I feel I was generous to the old bastard in not grading his current season with the Maple Leafs and giving him some love for a team who got results - I believe - in spite of his best efforts to make them bad. With that said, that's a bad track record.
 |
| Young Lou. Mob, obviously. |
'87 Transactions:
Acquire: Tom Kurvers for 1987 (3) Andrew MacVicar & 1989 (10) Mark Astley
Lou acquires a guy that would be a leading defender on the Devils for years. Definitely a smart trade and one that improved the team.
So that's basically Lou's first year, probably not doing much paid off for the team...
Lou's Grade: 7/10
1988-1989: Devils tank....unintentionally - 27-41-12 (66 points, 5th in Patrick)
'88 Draft:
Lou drafter Corey Foster with a 1st round selection. Corey Foster would play 48 NHL games. He chose Foster over guys like Tony Amonte, Rob Blake and Mark Recchi.
'88 Transactions:
Acquire: Tommy Albelin for 1989 (4) Niklas Andersson
Really a nothing trade. Albelin was a reliable set up defenseman and would put up a career year his first with the Devils.
Acquire: Lyle Phair for Cash
Great move with a struggling franchise that has undergone 2 relocations on their existence....Smart one Lou. F.
Lou's Grade: 2/10
 |
| Lou at Providence, really not much hair |
'89 Draft:
The Devil's take Bill Guerin in the first round.
Every team passed over Nik Lidstrom, so I can't hold that against them.
'89 Transactions:
Lou Lamoriello traded Pat Verbeek for Sylvain Turgeon. Let's let that sink in....
Turgeon had a real mediocre career while Pat Verbeek was a point per game player. Turgeon would score 47 points for the Devil, the highest total for the rest of his career. Verbeek also had a career year, and then another, and another and 4 more 80+ point seasons for teams NOT in New Jersey.
Acquire: 1st round pick for Corey Foster.
That guy up there that played 48 NHL games after Lou drafted him in the 1st round...well, yeah, Lou managed to turn him into Jason Miller.
Jason Miller went on to play 6 NHL games. Oh my god.
Acquire: 1st round pick for Tom Kurvers
Lou traded on of New Jersey best defensemen for a 1st round pick. That pick would turn in to Scott Niedermayer, by far the best Devil's defender in franchise history.
Lou's Grade: 5/10 - That 1st round pick saved his ass.
 |
| Awkward legend |
It's important to note that up until this season, the New Jersey Devils have not seen any improvement in the outcomes of their seasons. 4 full seasons without any real change is often enough for a GM to be reconsidered.
'90 Draft:
The New Jersey select Martin Brodeur with the 20th overall selection. Legendary. This guy was passed on by 13 teams that didn't pick future all-stars. Good choice with this one.
'90 Transactions:
Brendan Shanahan is signed on an offer sheet by the St. Louis Blues and Devils receive a defenseman in return as compensation. That defenseman is Scott Stevens.
Ok, so the big one is the trade that landed them Martin Brodeur, and it's one Lou deserves a lot of credit for. New Jersey swapped 1st's with Calgary and both team were in the market for goaltenders. That means Lou was so convinced of Brodeur's greatness that he traded DOWN in the draft to get him. The team missed on Trevor Kidd, a good goalie in his own right, but no Brodeur.
Acquire: Claude Lemieux for Sylvain Turgeon.
Lou obviously realizes that Turgeon is not the player he thought and trades him for Claude Lemieux. Now, Lemieux has obviously since turned in to a pretty notable name, but his legend is more about longevity than production. He is, nonetheless an upgrade over Turgeon.
Acquire: Laurie Boschman for Bob Brooke & 1991 (5) Yan Kaminski
Trading for Laurie Boschman in 1990 is basically the same as trading for Laurie Boschman today.
Lou's Grade: 9/10 - Drafted the winningest goalie of all-time and realized a mistake. GM's don't do that anymore.
1991-1992: On the Rise - 38-33-11 (87 points, 4th in Patrick)
So the team has Scott Stevens, Martin Brodeur, Kirk Muller and old ass Laurie Boschman. What did Lou do?
'91 Draft:
This year the Devils had 2 - 1st round picks and used them on Scott Niedermayer and Brian Rolston, one of whom would go on to become the best defenseman in franchise history. The other is Brian Rolston.
Rolston would have his best year with the Devils in 98-99 with 57 points before being dealt. Lou passed over Alexei Kovalev and Marcus Naslund to select Rolston.
'91 Transaction:
In September of '91, Lou traded leading scorer Kirk Muller for Stephane Richer.
All signs pointed to Muller still being in the absolute prime of his career as a point per game player, and Richer would have a product few years in New Jersey, but never turned in to the player Muller was. Pretty much a draw short term, long term though, Lou lost this deal.
Lou's Grade: 8/10
1992-1993: The first sign of Lamoriello Island?
Lamoriello Island or 'Lou' Island is a probably fictional place that Lamoriello sends problematic players to disappear.
'92 Draft:
This was a pretty thin year and Lou took Jason Smith with his first round pick. Definitely not a bad player, but he could have had Michael Peca, Valeri Bure or Martin Straka.
'92 Transactions:
Acquire: Bobby Holik & 1993 (2) Jay Pandolfo for Sean Burke & Eric Weinrich.
Getting a 40 point forward for a goalie when you have Martin Brodeur is a fine trade. Good job you old bastard.
Acquire: Brian Lawton for future considerations
So, Brian Lawton never played hockey again....and as near as I can tell, there is no death certificate. Lamoriello would make many more players disappear.
Lou's Grade: 5/10
 |
| Brodeur, bowtie. |
'93 Draft:
Another first round bust. Second round, they select Pandolfo with the pick they got the year previous. Pandolfo was also a bad player. But he did play bad for a long time.
'93 Transactions:
Nothing of note. And why would there be, they were one win away....
Lou`s Grade: 8/10
1994-1995: Stanley Cup Champions - 22-18-8 (52 points, 2nd in Atlantic)
I will concede that a lock-out shortened season is still a hockey season, and the Devils won it all. Good for them. So, what did Lou manage to get done amidst all this excitement.
'94 Draft:
Again, they bust on their 1st round pick, but so did half the league. They did however manage to draft Patrik Elias, Sheldon Souray and STOLE Steve Sullivan in the 9th round.
'94 Transactions:
The pick New Jersey used for Sheldon Souray was acquired from the Calgary Flames.
Lou also acquired Neal Broten from Dallas for Corey Millen. I guess they thought both these guys were good at the time. They weren't. Ok, Broten was....but that was before he was a Devil.
Lou's Grade: 10/10 - He won the Cup. That Matters.
1995-1996: Makin' History - 37-33-12 (86 points, 6th in Atlantic)
Lol, they missed the playoffs after winning the Cup. First time a team had done that since the 1969-70 Canadiens. So, that's historic. Was Lou resting on his laurels or totally sleeping on them?
'95 Draft:
Lou drafted Petr Sykora. Brian Boucher and Wade Redden were both 1st rounders this year, so he did as good as anyone.
'95 Transactions:
Lou traded for Esa Tikkenen and quickly got rid of him 3 weeks later. Though he did turn him into a 2nd round pick from a 3rd, so that is a result.
Lou also acquired Phil Housley, and Dave Andreychuk, two guys who are called hall-of-famers.
This is also the year Lou got rid of Chris Terreri, Brodeur's backup.
He didn't get fleeced on any of these trades, but they were all done to get the team to the playoffs and it back-fired hilariously.
Lou's Grade: 3/10 - He did stuff, but it was bad stuff.
1996-1997: Holy shit he's been around forever... - 45-23-14 (104 points, 1st in Atlantic)
Alright, so big bounce back year for the Devils. They were 1st in the league in goals allowed, which is good, but this is when they basically ruined hockey. So....
'96 Draft:
Another year that the Devils blew it in the first round. Only player of note is Willie Mitchell in the 8th round. He played for a long time.
He played 18 games with the Devils and they passed on guys like Marco Sturm, Marty Reasoner and Daniel Briere.
'96 Transactions:
Acquire: Lyle Odelein for Stephane Richer
So here Lou traded a depth winger for some depth on defense. Perfectly respectable trade, so I think this is a break-even.
BLOCKBUSTER ALERT
Acquire: Doug Gilmour, Dave Ellet & 1999 (3) Andre Lakos for Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan & Alyn Macaulay
Oh yeah! Dougie Gilmour, good Canadian boy. A legend, right on Lou. Well, it turned out Gilmour would only stick for two seasons before leaving as a free agent. Let's still chalk this up as a win for Lou. It's ok to go win-now.
Lou's Grade: 7/10 - Amazing result, great bounceback and they added a legend, if even for a short time.
1997-1998: Atlantic Champs Again! - 48-23-11 (107 points, 1st in Atlantic)
Riding high on the talent of Martin Brodeur, Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens and the recently added good Canadian Boy Doug Gilmour, the Devils cruised to the Atlantic Division Championship.
Brodeur's GAA was 1.89. That's dumb.
'97 Draft:
Again, the Devils first round pick, goaltender Jean-Francois Damphousse, played 6 NHL games. The only other players of any note from this draft were Sasha Goc and Scott Clemmenson, two marginal NHL players.
The Devils could have taken Brenden Morrow, instead they wanted to take a goalie....while having Martin Brodeur and Mike Dunham in net. Remember, it's 1997-98, and Martin Brodeur isn't old and fat yet.
'97 Transactions:
Acquire: Doug Bodger & Dody Wood (Great name) for John MacLean and Ken Sutton.
So, Bodger was an aging defensive defender that would be out of hockey in 3 years, playing a total of 49 games for the Devils and Dody Wood never played a game in the NHL after this trade. On the flip-side, John MacLean had 3 more seasons as a depth producer before becoming irrelevant and Ken Sutton was more of a Minor-League depth player. Tough as shit though.
This was a case of Lou getting out of the MacLean business, and it was at a good time.
Acquire: Jason Arnott & Bryan Muir for Bill Guerin & Valeri Zelepukin.
Jason Arnott and Bill Guerin are the best players in this trade. In Guerin, Lamoriello gave up a 50-60 point player that would continue at that rate for 15 years, putting up a career total of 856 points in 1263 games. Arnott was a similar producer, but wouldn't have his best season until after leaving the Devils.
Lou's Grade: 6/10 - Great season result and some "hockey trades." Another TERRIBLE draft
1998-1999: Out in the First Round - 47-24-11 (105 points, 1st in Atlantic)
Devil's three-peat...or more? I've lost track as Atlantic leaders. But they get the hard boot in the first round in the playoffs.
'98 Draft:
This year, The Devils drafted two franchise defining players in Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta. Yes, Scott Gomez was good at a time.
Important to note that the Devils acquired both of these picks via trade. Obviously, they didn't want to waste their won highly valuable draft picks on good players.
'98 Transactions:
Acquire: Ken Sutton for 1995 (5) Niko Dimitrakos.
Mostly a nothing deal, but they did give up a draft choice for a nothing player. Not exactly good, but indicative of poor asset management.
Lou's Grade: 7/10 - Why get crazy when your championship team is already built? And great drafting.
 |
| Scott Gomez, Stanley Cup Champion |
Patrik Elias led the team to a Stanley Cup Championship. Lou's second.
'99 Draft:
Lou drafted Mike Commodore in the 2nd round and blew their 1st round pick. Commodore wasn't good, but he is a funny follow on twitter.
Lou's first round pick, Ari Ahonen, would never play in the NHL.
'99 Transactions:
Acquire: Ken Sutton....again for future considerations.
As far as I can tell, the future consideration cheque was never cashed. But c'mon man, hold on to a player if you want him bad enough to deal for him every other year.
Acquire: Claude Lemieux for Brian Rolston
Another case of Lou going back to the barrel. Lou got 70 games out of Lemieux this time around, and I'm sure his 38 points helped with the cup win, in place of Rolston's 22. Good enough deal.
Acquire: Alexander Mogilny for Brendan Morrison & Denis Pederson
Mogilny rules. He only played for 2 years with the Devils but was over a PPG player and produced 7 points in the Cup run.
Lou's Grade: 8/10 - If only he could draft someone these years.
 |
| Avs legend, Ray Bourque |
New Jersey would lose the Stanley Cup Championship series 4-3 to the Colorado Avalanche. Let's look at Lou's work.
'00 Draft:
Lou took defenseman David Hale with this 1st round pick. Hale would contribute 9 NHL points over the course of his Devils hockey career.
The next closes thing he took to a hockey player was tough guys Michael Ruop and Deryk Engelland. Both are bad at hockey.
Another total draft bust. Jesus Christ.
'00 Transactions:
Acquire: Sean O'Donnell for Willie Mitchell
O'Donnell posted 1 point in his Devil's career and would put up career number (though nothing exciting) after leaving the Devils in free agency.
Willie Mitchell would leave the Devils to be a key defender in Vancouver and LA cup contending teams. Loss here for Lou.
Acquire: John Vanbiesbrouck for Chris Terreri
The Devils also gave up a 9th round pick in this deal but I can't be bothered to write the guys name down.
JVB would play 9 games for the Devils over 2 seasons before retiring. Terreri's career would also play 9 more games before retirement. So, why make a trade and give up a draft pick. Another loss for Lou.
Lou's Grade: 6/10 - The players won the games, in spite of Lou's deals and years of poor drafts
2001-2002: 20 Years of Devils - 41-28-9-4 (95 points, 3rd in Atlantic)
Devils kind of came back to reality this year, and honestly it isn't surprising with Lou's terrible drafting history. You can't rely on trading for aging good players, because they don't last forever.
'01 Draft:
Another year of a Devils first round pick never playing in the NHL. Adrian Foster was his name and going to play in Europe was the game. Lou passed over Tim Jackman, Derek Roy and Fedor Tyutin. No superstars, but serviceable NHL players.
'01 Transactions:
Acquire: Joe Nieuwendyk & Jamie Langenbrunner for Jason Arnott, Randy McKay & 2002 (1) Daniel Paille
Nieuwendyk was winding up an incredible career and would turn in to a great producer for the Devils. McKay was at the end of the road and Arnott was about to have the best years of his career.
I'm gonna call this a draw. I like Arnott a bit more than Langenbrunner, but Nieuwendyk (at this point in his career) was a better - even short term - asset than McKay. Giving up a 1st round pick is just bad, but what would Lou do with that.
Lou's Grade: 4/10
2002-2003: Another Cup! - 46-20-10-6 (108 points, 1st in Atlantic)
Well, they did it again. And with Scott Stevens, Martin Brodeur, Scott Gomez - when he was good - and Scott Niedermayer, it isn't a surprise. Lot of old guys on that team though....oh boy.
'02 Draft:
Lou dealt their first round pick for Joe Nieuwendyk, which contributed to their Cup win.
They took no players of note in the draft.
'02 Transactions:
Acquire: Maxim Balmochnykh, Jeff Friesen & Oleg Tverdovsky for Mike Commodore, Jean-Francoise Damphousse & Petr Sykora.
Friesen would provide two seasons of depth production, however Petr Sykora was the better player changing hands.
Lou made no other deals of note. He traded for Steve Kariya....but that's not exciting.
Lou's Grade: 5/10 - Another year of no success at the draft and nothing deals.
**IMPORTANT REMINDER: We are judging Lou's work, not the success of his players. The season result can only account for a part of the evaluation of the General Manager's performance
2003-2004: Injured Defenseman - 43-25-12-2 (100 points, 2nd in Atlantic)
Valuable defenseman Scott Stevens and Brian Rafalski were injured for a good part of this season, resulting in the team's disappointing playoff exit. They had 4 or more goals scored against them only 7 times. That is incredibly boring ass hockey. Nice.
'03 Draft:
Lou's first round pick was Zach Parise, a franchise calibre player.
They took Petr Vrana (I don't know) in the second round, passing over Patrice Bergeron, Shea Weber and Corey Crawford.
Amazing 1st round selection though. Bravo. Again, a 1st round selection that the Devil's traded for.
'03 Transactions:
Acquire: 2004 (1) for 2004 (1) & (3)
This was a good trade, we will get to it.
Lou`s Grade: 7/10 - A franchise changing draft choice AND trade.
2004-2005: There's no hockey. (Lock-Out)
'04 Draft:
Lou selects long-known Devil's Devil player Travis Zajac. A face of the post-lockout franchise.
The Devils did not have another selection until the 5th round and took no other players of note.
'04 Transactions:
The Devils would make no noteworthy trades. This is the beginning of the cap era.
Lou's Grade: 6/10
2005-2006: Winning the Atlantic Again - 46-27-9 (101 points, 1st in Atlantic)
First year after the lockout where salary actually matters and managing a team has become more vital to it's success than ever. Because you can't pay all the superstars all the money, drafting has become more important...
'05 Draft:
Lou takes Nicklas Bergfors. Bergfors played one season with the Devils and was out of the NHL after 5 seasons. He had 83 points.
Lou passed on TJ Oshie, Andrew Cogliano, Matt Niskanen, and James Neal. This is widely considered one of the greatest draft classes of all-time. Lou missed.
The Devils also took Jeff Frazee, Mark Fraser and Mark Fayne. Frazee played 1 NHL game, Fraser has 22 career NHL points (cuz he is a bad player that likes to fight) and Fayne has played a role as a defensive defender, but contributed little to any New Jersey success and now plays in the Minor-League AHL.
`05 Transactions:
Lou made no transactions of note.
Lou's Grade: 3/10 - Points for the Team Result.
2006-2007: Lamoriello Fired Claude Julien so He Could Coach - 49-24-9 (107 points, 1st in Atlantic)
First round draft choice would break-out as the team's leading scorer.
'06 Draft:
Matt Corrente. First round Devils draft choice.....oh god those are nails directly in the hockey career coffin. Corrente played 34 career games and had 6 points. That's so bad.
Player's Lou passed on include Nikolay Kulemin and Milan Lucic. It was thin pickings once the Devils got their pick, but there were far better players, and nothing in Corrente's amateur career pointed to him being valuable at the NHL level.
'06 Transactions:
Lou made no transactions of note.
Lou's Grade: 2/10 - Firing a Hall of Fame coach, busting at the draft and doing nothing to improve your team. Maybe Lou's worst season.
2007-2008: Moving to the Prudential Centre - 46-29-7 (99 points, 2nd in Atlantic)
According to Wikipedia: The Devil's were shutout a league high 11 times. That's bad.
'07 Draft:
Holy fuck I could do this all day. Lou's first choice, Mike Hoeffel never played an NHL game and is now in Europe.
Nick Palmieri is the closest thing to an NHL player that Lou selected. He played 87 NHL games.
Lou passed on Nick Spaling and All-Star Wayne Simmonds.
Not having draft picks doesn't help you add prospects...
'07 Transactions:
Acquire: Bryce Salvador for Cam Janssen
Janssen was very bad. Bryce Salvador was slightly better. Win for Lou.
Lou's Grade: 3/10 - How hasn't someone intervened with Lou's miserable draft history at this point?
2008-2009: 1st in Atlantic - 51-27-4 (106 points)
Somehow, drafting worse than anyone and not making any notable trades, the combination of Parise, Zajac, Langenbrunner and Brodeur has kept Jersey relevant.
'08 Draft:
Lou's first round choice, Mattias Tedenby played 120 games in the NHL, accumulating 30 points. Players passed over include Tyler Ennis, John Carlson and Roman Josi.
Lou did select Adam Henrique in the third round. Henrique is a 40-50 point player for the Devils. A great selection in the third round.
'08 Transactions:
Lou made no trades of note.
Lou's Grade: 5/10 - Adam Henrique selection is out of character
2009-2010: How bad is the fucking Atlantic... - 48-27-7 (103 points, 1st in Atlantic)
Lou brings back Jacques Lemaire. Yippy.
'09 Draft:
Lou's first round selection Jacob Josefson has 60 points for the Devils in 276 games. Lou passed over Marcus Johansson, Ryan O'Reilly and Jakob Silfverberg.
Lou's two other noteworthy selections, Eric Gelinas and Alexander Urbom are largely considered busts.
'09 Transactions:
Acquire: Ilya Kovalchuk, Anssi Salmela & 2010 (2) Jonathon Merrill for Niclas Bergfors, Patrice Cormier, Johnny Oduya, 2010 (1) Kevin Hayes & 2010 (2) Justin Holl.
Short term, this was an amazing deal for Lamoriello. Kovalchuk is a generational Russian player, however he would only play 2 full seasons for the Devils before abandoning his contract - one that was rejected by the league in it's original form for not being compliant with the CBA. Should probably get familiar with that Lou.
Lou's Grade: 4/10
2010-2011: Missing the Playoffs - 38-39-5 (81 points, 4th in Atlantic)
Ok, so it was a good run. The Devils missed the playoffs for the first time since 1995-96. All the legends (except Martin Brodeur) have left and the team is running on Lou's draft and recent free agent acquisitions, which have been lackluster.
'10 Draft:
Again, the Devils are without a first round choice, so their first selection in the Draft comes in the second round in the form of Jon Merrill.
We are kind of getting close to the point where draft picks may not have shown us everything they're going to, but Merrill, another defensive defenseman has had a marginal impact in the NHL. Players taken after him include: Martin Marincin, Tyler Toffoli, Radko Gudas and Jordan Weal.
Basically, the point here is, a team that finished as poorly as the Devils did this year and are riding 3 players (Zajac, Kovalchuk and Parise) as hard as they are needs to be able to improve at the Draft. Lamoriello has proven quite profoundly that he is unable to perform at this aspect of the job.
'10 Transactions:
Acquire: Jason Arnott for Matt Halischuk & 2011 (2) Magnus Hellberg.
Jason Arnott would give the Devils 24 points before being dealt at the deadline. His career was coming to an end. Matt Halischuk is the quintessential 5th line player. He has had sporadic scoring at the AHL and NHL levels and most recently played in Europe. Hellberg has had some limited success as a goaltender for the New York hockey Rangers.
Another deal where Lou got older and gave up potential prospects in favor of familiarity. I will call this a draw as Halischuk projected as a 4th line depth forward and Arnott was coming off a 46 point season and the massive drop in points likely was more than anticipated.
Acquire: Dave Steckel & 2012 (2) for Jason Arnott
Lou saw all he needed and let Arnott go. So here's the hard part, is Dave Steckel and a 2nd MORE valuable than Matt Halischuk and a 2nd. I say no. Steckel is a special kind of bad hockey player.
There is more to this trade....
Lou's Grade: 3/10
2011-2012: The Pete DeBoer Effect - 48-48-6 (102 points, 4th in Atlantic)
That point total and standing is insane. The Atlantic was good this year. So anyway, Lou hires Peter DeBoer and we find out that Peter DeBoer like to win big in his inaugural season.
The Devils went to the Cup final and then Steve Bernier took a 5 minute major and cost the team the Stanley Cup. Sort of....it was a bad penalty either way.
'11 Draft:
The Devils took defenseman Adam Larsson with the 4th overall pick.
In an admittedly weak draft, this one has yet to really pan out and MOST of the value in Larsson being drafted came when Lou's replacement Ray Shero traded him..... one-for-one to Edmonton for Taylor Hall.
Lou passed on Dougie Hamilton, Mika Zibanejad, Mark Scheifele, Sean Couturier and a few other players.
This season the Devils also took Reese Scarlett....who has a cool name.
'11 Transactions:
Acquire: 2012 (4) for Dave Steckel
Ok, so for Jason Arnott, Matt Halischuk and a 2nd round pick, Lou Lamoriello managed to take home a fourth round pick. That is some bad fucking trading.
Acquire: Marek Zidlicky for Kurtis Foster, Nick Palmieri, Stephane Veilleux, 2012 (2)
Marek Zidlicky was a 40 point player for his entire career and would give the Devils one of those sandwiched between two 20 point seasons. Lou gave up no players of value, but the draft pick was a bit much. Call it even, because I don't want to come off like I'm TRYING to make Lou look bad.
Lou's Grade: 5/10 - great coach hire and a non-bust 1st round draft pick
2012-2013: Senior's Tour - 19-19-10 (48 points, 5th in Atlantic)
Lock out shortened season and Devils come out with 1 point per game. Not good enough to make the playoffs. That kind of shit performance will get you a decent draft spot though!
'12 Draft:
Stefan Matteau......Ok, so this is the kind of the guy that scored the Stanley Cup winning goal against the Devils for the Rangers in 1994. Good choice. Lou passed on Tanner Pearson, but who cares.
Lou took Damon Severson in the 2nd round, who has become a very decent NHL player. Good job here by Lou.
He then took Ben Johnson and Ben Thompson with his next 2 picks, presumably because he couldn't remember the Ben than he wanted to take. The Ben he wanted was Ben Hutton. But Vancouver took him in the 5th round. Nice try though.
'12 Transactions:
Acquire: Andrei Loktionov for 2013 (5)
Anytime you can get an NHL player for a 5th round pick, you win. Great exchange of assets here.
Acquire: Alexei Ponikarovsky for 2013 (7) & 2014 (4)
Like the Loktionov deal, getting an NHL player for a 7th rounder or a 4th rounder is a great addition.
Acquire: Cory Schneider for 2014 (1) Bo Horvat
This is a complicated one for me. I'll say this, New Jersey got the better player and won this deal. But, Lou and subsequently, Ray Shero have done such a piss-poor job of putting players in front of this goalie, they run the risk of wasting his prime. Lou wins the trade, but fucking make something happen for this kid.
Lou's Grade: 5/10 - Good enough draft, some decent veteran additions
2013-2014: Missed the Playoffs again - 35-29-18 (88 points, 5th in Metropolitan)
The Metropolitan part is new. Means the same shit basically. This would be Martin Brodeur's last season with the Devils before signing a deal in St. Louis. Ilya Kovalchuk would also bolt for the KHL.
'13 Draft:
When you are eating a plate of shit, most good GM's stockpile draft picks. Maybe because Lou knows where his weaknesses are, he traded the 1st rounder in this draft. Now, he got Cory Schneider and the pick was used on Bo Horvat. What could he have had though?
Basically nothing....ok, good trade!
'13 Transactions:
Lou made no deals of note
Lou's Grade: 4/10 - That Schneider deal likely saved Lou his job.
2014-2015: Lou Steps Down - 32-36-14 (78 points, 7th in Atlantic)
After serving as horrible drafter and old guy lover, Lou steps down at the end of this season. He was able to do the following though...
'14 Draft:
Lou used his 1st round choice on John Quenneville, nephew of Blackhawks coach Joel. Quenneville was the best available player at this point in the draft.
Lou and the rest of the league basically missed on the remainder of their picks, but that's how it goes.
'14 Transactions:
Lou made no trades of note.
Lou's Grade: 3/10
Ok, so this is when Lou joined the Toronto Maple Leafs as General Manager. A few quick points:
2015-2016: The Matt Hunwick era begins - 29-42-11 (fuck that's bad)
Ok, so Lou is hired along with Mike Babcock to whip the Toronto Maple Leafs in to shape, how did he do it!?
'15 Free Agent:
The Leafs, up until this point referred to as the 'Laughs', acwquired Matt Hunwick, PA Parenteau and highly coveted Russian and known irritator of Don Cherry, Nikita Zaitsev.
Hunwick has been largely miscast by Babcock and is a serviceable 3rd pairing guy. Parenteau is an analytics hearthrob, a great signing by Lou and Nikita Zaitsev would join the team a year later.
'15 Transactions:
Acquire: Michael Grabner for Carter Verhague, Chris Gibson, Tom Nilsson, Taylor Beck & Matt Finn
This was a great deal to get some contract and cap space, and the Leafs did so while getting a very good player back - commensurate to the assets they gave up.
Acquire: Jeremy Morin for Richard Panik
At the time of this trade, I thought Richard Panik was old. Turns out he wasn't. He was actually a young guy entering his prime and about to have a career year. Jeremy Morin will never play in the NHL. Bad deal.
Acquire: Jared Cowen, Milan Michalek, Colin Greening, Tobias Lindberg & 2017 (2) for Dion Phaneuf, Matt Frattin, Casey Bailey, Ryan Rupert & Ben Smith
I hate this trade. While Dion Phaneuf is obviously past his prime, he at least had one, and is still worthy of 2nd or 3rd pair minutes. He is cursed with a bad contract, but the Leafs, in a rebuild can afford to have bad contracts. For christ's sake they traded for Nathan Horton. The Leafs didn't get anything back that they can use for their future outside of a 2nd round pick, which would be fair for Phaneuf alone.
Acquire: Alex Stalock & Ben Smith for James Reimer & Jeremy Morin
Smith for Morin is a one-for-one deal. Both suck, ok. Reimer for Stalock is robbery. The Leafs opted to keep Bernier and let their workhorse go. I HATE this fucking trade.
Acquire: Brooks Laich, Connor Carrick & 2016 (2) for Dan Winnik & 2016 (5)
Good solid trade for Lou. Laich is a favor, and Carrick looks like he'll be a good bottom pairing guy.
Lou's Grade: 4/10 - It's also hard to know his involvement.
2016-2017: Drafting first overall is easy - 40-27-15 (that's fuckin' good!)
Leafs would draft Auston Matthews first overall and he owned ass!
'16 Free Agents:
Lou signed Matt Martin, Roman Polak and Jhonas Enroth while losing PA Parenteau and Michael Grabner. That is enough said.
The team also claimed Curtis McElhinney off waivers, the worst SAV% of any starting goalie over the previous 5 years to be their backup. Nice.
'16 Transactions:
Acquire: Frederick Anderson for 2016 (1) & 2017 (2)
Anderson is the goalie of the future, but for fun, what did the Leafs pass up on in the draft...
No-one. Good trade.
Acquire: Eric Fehr, Steve Oleksy & 2017 (4) for Frank Corrado.
This is a case of Mike Babcock being a whiny bitch and not liking Corrado for some reason. He never got a chance to play and they got fleeced in this deal. Corrado wanted out, and I don't blame him.
Lou's Grade: 6/10 - Adding a franchise goalie is a big deal. That's about it.
2017-2018: Free Agent Fuck Ups-a-Plenty
Lou Lamoriello over the year previous and this year has obviously taken over the reigns when it comes to hiring free agents. None of the signings seem to fit the Leafs rebuild plan, nor do they look good in a win-now plan. Anyways, let's look at them...
'17 Expansion Draft:
The Maple Leafs opted to protect Matt Martin, a tough guy with 9 points on the season over Brendan Leipsic and Kerby Rychel, the two leading AHL scorers. Of course, they would lose Leipsic and the 51 points in 49 games he posted at the AHL level. So fucking stupid.
'17 Free Agents:
Lou signed the following to help with the Leafs youth movement:
Ron Hainsey - age 36 - 25 career playoff games (winner) and .27 PPG including 17 points the previous season.
Dominic Moore - age 36 - Put up a career high 41 points....10 years ago...as a Maple Leaf.
Patrick Marleau - age 37 - Was really fucking good. Isn't anymore.
Realistically, Moore can help out int he way Brian Boyle did the year previous, and his 1 year $1 million deal is fine. However, Patrick Marleau signed for 3 years at an AAV of $6.25 million dollars. That means Patrick Marleau is the highest paid Leafs forward. He is also the worst.
That deal is one that can tank a team. They had no need for a 37 year old winger that can't play anymore, and if they did then they could have used Nathan Horton or Joffrey Lupul, who are both under contract with the Leafs....
So fucking bad.
Lou also let the following players go:
Antoine fucking Bibeau....
At least they 35 year old Curtis McElhinney for another 2 years. Oh my god.
Comments
Post a Comment