Lamoriello fails NJ again
Turner Stevenson just signed with the Philadelphia Flyers for 3 years. Now, If you’re a Flyers fan… rejoice, and if youre a Devils fan… get the picket signs ready.
From 2000-2004, Stevenson was a Devil like none other. He fought, he checked, he even scored sometimes… but most importantly, he NEVER gave up. He takes 30s and shorter shifts because he’ll die before he leaves any energy left on his shift.
Now where am I going? Here it is: I don’t care WHAT Lamoriello can do with trades, his free agency decisions SUCK.
The Devils have their highest scoring season since 1994 in 2000-01 (295 goals and the #1 PP). So what does he do in the off season? He lets Alexander Mogilny go to the Maple Leafs (a rival).
More members of the 2000 championship team to go, Vladimir Malakhov and Bobby Holik both go to the Rangers. Now, the Devils faired well without both of them, but Bobby Holik, at least, would NOT have hurt the Devils in 2002-03.
After the 2003 Championship, Lamoriello lets Joe Neiuwendyk go to the Maple Leafs as well.
We dont even need to mention Claude Lemieux either.
Lamoriello may make good trades that turn out well for a few months, or one season (Friesen). But then he comes up with stinkers like Jan Hrdina for Mike Rupp (what the HELL was he thinking???). Outside of John Madden and Brian Rafalski, his methods in the free agency season leave lots to be desired along with plenty of holes the Devils can’t possibly fill.
And if you thought the Devils were smaller in the 1st round, just WAIT until they play their first game next season (whenever that is). And apparently the Devils signed Darren Langdon… yeah, I bet he’ll knock Stevenson off the puck!
If Lamoriello lets any other free agents go, I think his time in NJ must come to an end, and soon!
35 Responses to Lamoriello fails NJ again
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How can you possibly critisize Lamoriello, after he has brought the Devils the Stanley Cup 3 times in the last ten years with a relatively small budget. Lamoriello, very quietly is maybe the best G.M. in hockey( next to Gainey of course).
You can’t possibly blame him for not bringing back Holik though. Sure if his price tag was smaller, but not when it was 8 mill. a season
STOP CRYING YOU *****. TRY GOING 30 YEARS WITHOUT A CUP. NOW THAT IS BEING LET DOWN!
yea im getting pissed with 10 years no cup i cant imagine how u feel
Crap its the stupid trap and the fact they got Broduer and Stevens.
First of all, after watching Stevenson play in Montreal for many years, the devils haven’t lost anything. He can’t skate, he can’t shoot, he can’t pass and for his size he can’t hit.
The Leafs aren’t a Devil’s rival.
The devil operate in a tight budget and UFAs don’t mean success(colorado?Rangers?Detroit?).
The only thing the Devils will need to change will be their style of play, the days of defensive minded teams winning cups are OVER!
so the leafs aren’t an elite team in the east? when you term rival, when it comes to player movement, it is who are you worried about playing in the playoffs… i think Toronto is that for NJ…
and if not in division is your basis… clearly you haven’t been watching the Flyers/Leafs games… they hate each other.
he really isn’t that great… he was just lucky enough to get Marty… good GM, but nothing amazing.
I don’t think that Lamoreillo should be subject to YOUR criticisim. He has proven that he is beyond that already.
Buddy, 3 cups in 9 years gets Lou a free pass for letting a 45 point winger go to Philly.
The problem in NJ is that their fan base is weak. Unlike the hapless Rnagers and the never-can-win-the-cup Flyers, the Devils can’t seem to fill their building. This isn’t good for business OR TV. Also the Devils have a new owner who clearly isn’t going after big signings early.
Even if the team isn’t trap-happy any more, the system that they made famous in the NHL continues to plague the league with lower scoring, no come from behind wins and an overall boring product that is NOT getting new fans to watch on TV. If you want to be mad with Lou about anything – be mad about that.
With that said, you still have Zach Praise coming up. He could be fun to watch.
Lou is one of the best at what he does, and absolutely THE best at being a professional businessman. You can criticize he stingyness all you want, but if the league had more thrifty and thoughtful GMs like him, there prob wouldn’t be a work stoppage coming up. The players will try to make as much as they can, its human nature. If the GMs hadn’t turned the league into an arms race by signing subpar players to ridiculous contracts, they wouldn’t be begging the players to take cuts now.
I went of tangent, but Lou is not the problem. We’re losing Stevens and maybe Nieds, and we have no 2nd scoring line. We ain’t winning a cup for a while, but Lou will keep the team competitive til the next Stevens comes around, cuz theres nobody on the team who can lead like he does.
Michael Moore has uncovered a topic and is planning to explore it further in his next book on conspiracy theories, one of which includes Lamoriello slowly aiming to build a team comprised of 100% Jews. The all-Jewish team is the brainchild of none other than supreme boss George Steinbrenner. The name of the team will be changed to the New Jersey Yiddishkeits.
What in the wide wide world of sports are you thinking?
Lou Liamorello is, hands down, the best team executive in all of hockey. You cannot trash him like this after the results he has brought to the swamp.
You’re going to piss and moan about losing Turner Stevenson? Stevenson is a third- or fourth-line winger AT BEST. I’m a Flyers fan, and I know and accept that. An organization such as New Jersey changes this type of player year in and year out.
Mogilny was let go because he wanted to be overpaid – he got it in Toronto. He also developed a bad back and hip that has seriously hindered his game and put his career in jeopardy.
Both Malakhov’s and Holik’s respective games went into the TANK when they defected to the Rangers. Neither of them were necessary for another Devils championship.
Nieuwendyk, decimated body and all, gets overpaid to go home to Toronto.
Lemieux is a whore – everyone in the game knows that.
Don’t ***** about Rupp for Hrdina – you say you want offense from your team then rip your GM for getting a more offensive-minded player for a grinder.
Lighten up.
how are you THAT mad about losing Turner Stevenson? He was a great guy to have on the team but is not worth a 1.5-2 million. he is a 4th liner who plays only 60 games because he is always injuryed. He has heart but his body wont be able to handle this shit anymore. Lets see if Langdon can bring to the team what McKenzie brought a couple years ago. Go Devils!
just a thought, why is it that if a gm wins a championship or two does he automatically get exscused from any mistake he ever makes in the future? I think thats a little skewed vision. Sure LAmarillo is a good GM, hes proven it by building three winning teams, but does that mean he can never make mistakes? Looking back on some of the decisions he has made the past four years or so, id say he did alright in spite of his mistakes, however he can no longer rely on Brodeur to win all the time anymore, and Stevens is not there anymore is he even still going to play at this point?) I think the more bad moves he makes now will cost him as brodeur gets older and stevens is no longer there.
Just a few deals hes done that were wuestionable were Teverdovsky LEttin Neiuwendyk go knowing what kind of an asset he was at that point, LEmieux (hate him but give hium props for his play) and Letting Malakov go (i dont care what anyone says, his game is still there). Now they had not hurt the devils because stevens was still in the lineup and brodeur was king at the time, but look what happened to them this year. Brodeur looked second rate in the playoffs and the defense was partly to blame withought their captain. It can only get worse i think as time goes on
i’m pissed with 7 years and no playoffs
Hmmmmm who drafted marty?
IDIOT
27 point winger… and hopefully we will let Parise do his thing, not do what we did to Gomez in 01-02…
Dude you are seriously overreacting with this. First of all you have to look at the big picture. The Devils lost 20 million dollars 2 seasons in a row!!! You cannot survive as a business when ownership is taking those kinds of losses! Now with the new arena coming that will become less and less of a problem, but still, you have to see that the Devils are trying to shed salary, and spending 2 million dollars on a 4th liner just isn’t very fiscally smart. Besides that we didn’t really need him anyway.
To all the people that say “the Devils will never win untill they abandon the trap”, I have to inform you that the Devils have one of the top 5 prospect corps in the entire league, and arguably the best (most balanced/talented) group of forward prospects in the league! Such names as Parise, Suglobov, Pihlman, Foster, Vrana, Tallackson, and Zajac stick out as being potential top LINE (not top 6) forwards! In 4-5 years the Devils will be back to their old offensive ways, so don’t go and ***** about the trap because it is about to be forgotten. With the kind of talent the Devils have in their system it would make no sense to say a trapping team, although they will always stay a “defense first” team.
Darren Langdon rules!!! 😉
3 cups in 9 years with the budget he had to work with…
And you are *****ING COMPLAINING??!!!!!!
I’m happy with 12 years of existence and 7 consectuive playoff appearences (and going). Plus, the average age of my team is probably like 26!
Seriously… if my team won the cup once, I’d be happy and stfu when it comes to petty things like 4th line grinders signing with other teams.
Typical Flyers fan. I’d like to point out that Philadelphia has 5 or 6 guys that are being horrendously overpaid, and you claim Toronto’s overpaying players.
He never said anything about his own team dude, chill out, he’s just giving his opinion on the article which has very little to do with the Flyers!
Lou Lamoriello is without a doubt one of the most elite GMs in all sports combined. Of all the players you mentioned that he let go through free agency, only Alexander Mogilny would have been worth anything near 3 to 4 million, because of his chemistry with Scott Gomez. I am probably one of the biggest Mogilny supporters, but even I agree with Lou’s decision to not offer him more than the Leafs did, because with the Devils’ budget, it would have not been wise.
Hrdina is a QUALITY and proven player, Rupp had a lot of grit and power, and will eventually be a really good playmaker or scorer, but Hrdina is a much smarter player.
I will agree that losing Stevenson because of his work ethic is a loss, but that’s all. With Pat Burns returning as coach, health permitting, he can probably mold Langdon into a more dimensional player, and if not, he still adds SIZE to our team, which is desperately needed.
With Scott Gomez, Brian Rafalski, and Scott Neidermayer yet to be signed, Lou needs to make the right decisions to make sure there will be money to offer these guys, and he has made the right ones so far. With Zach Parise possibly entering the Devils’ roster for the next season, there is no MAJOR need for Lou to sign a blockbuster free agent that wasn’t a Devil this previous season. If anything, he’ll make another smart trade next season if things need to be shaken up.
If there ever was an argument for rivals besides the obvious philly/to rivarly, then the devils/leafs have to be considered rivals. They’ve played each other as much Philly/TO has in the last 8 years. Not near as nasty, but a rivalry none the less.
the horrendous contracts on the flyers… only one is from their pen… traded for Amonte… unless you think Roenick is “horrendously” overpaid, but i don’t really think he is for what he does when healthy…
Clarke has freely admitted they have overpaid in the past for players… they tend to be 35-minus in philly thankfully at least.
I’m glad somebody is pointing out the prospects that the Devils have. The River Rats have not faired so well over the past season, but the players are taught so well. Whenever they are called up, they play on an NHL level right away. Devils defense prospects seem to have been a hot commodity in the NHL for trades, and for good reason. We’ve seen what Paul Martin and David Hale have done as rookies, and Willie Mitchel for the Wild has became a major force for them, and Commadore is fitting in nicely with the Flames. As far as offensive players, Elias and Sykora were bred in the Devils system, and we have all the other great forwards you mentioned like Parise, up and coming in the next few years.
The Devils will always be a defensive team, but they will soon have one of the leagues best offensive punches as well. We just need a bigger budget to keep these guys under contract eventually, hopefully the new CBA will help this problem though.
so if i go and win the lottery that makes me an amazing ticket purchaser? no, i got lucky.
the man has done a good job in keeping the core of a good team together, but they had some good pickups early on and floated since then… this has been a goaltender league since the early 90’s and the devs have had the BEST clutch goalie in that time period…
when they drafted marty they didn’t think to themselves, “hey, we just got a guy with ice in his veins.” they thought they had a pretty good prospect and they’d see what happened… congrats, it was obviously a good pick, and the guys before him were stupid…. doesn’t make you a GREAT gm… hell, his scouts picked him, not lou.
being NJ gm in the modern hockey world has been the easiest gig… what is the HARDEST commodity to get in hockey… that’s right, high-end goaltending. he hasn’t had to do that for this entire run.
nevermind the bullox,
chris
This guy is a moron, he has literally no life outside bashing the leafs, it’s a real shame because he’s a rarity on this site in that he actually knows his hockey. NJ Devils article gets turned into a leaf bash. I laugh at the simple fact that he’s a flyer fan, I mean com’on who’s overpaid guys anymore than the flyers with nothing to show for it.
Not only the overpaying, but the Lindros for Forsberg, Ricci, and the other 3 guys the Avalance got in the deal.
How quickly bias makes a fella forget.
Not at all, Booty saying a guy like Joe New is overpaid, like come to f uck on???? The guy made what? 2 Mill last year. I’ll take a two million dollar guy like Joe over a 7 million dollar guy like Leclair anyday of the week. How is the guy overpaid??? He was Toronto in the first round against Ottawa, and still tried his back out against the flyers, i’m just tired of the bull sh it flyers fans fling around, by the way some of you talk you’d swear the flyers were defending champs.
That sounds too much like the truth to be a Michael Moore movie.
he hasnt needed to get a goalie because his first choice was the right one.
and he grabbed madden and rafalski out of nowhere so I have to say that is pretty good.
and i say it is pretty good when at least half of the team is made of of their own draft picks. that shows a strong hockey department and a good development system which he is the head of.
and every team needs luck in winning. and their is no bigger crapshoot than the draft as no one really knows how exactly an 18 year old kid will turn out. and is it lucky that madden and rafalski fell into their lap without anyone noticing or is it hard dilligent work on the devils part to go find these guys? you have to say Lou has worked at it and hasnt just let everything fall into his lap. yes stevens was a lucky break to pick him up but it did cost them a young promising PF in Shanahan at the time who turned into a pretty darn good player himself.
and yeah his scouts do most of the grunt work but he brings these guys in and he likely makes the final call on any hockey related decision so i have to say his work has been very good. the best part is that he lets his guys do the work, find the players and he relies on their input and doesnt have this big know it all ego that some other GMs have. he is not a failure. 3 championships in 9 years is definitely not failure. you dont have to hit the home run on a deal or a draft or a free agent signing to be considered a good GM. you have to build a team that is consistently competitive and is a winner and the Devils are that.
You can miss my point a lot more if you tried.
The Maple Leafs and the Devils met in the post season in back 2 back years, and after Domi suckered Neidermayer, there was no team I wanted to see the Devils beat more. To me, it was a rivalry(plus the games were always exciting).
Secondly, its the fact Lamoriello rarely seems to make an EFFORT to guys that helped him WIN these cups. Now, Holik was 9mil a season, and I’m glad hes losing in NY. But did he even really TRY to get Mogilny to stay(his offer from the Leafs wasnt much more than his 00-01 salary)?
Why did he not let Rupp develop, it was his second season and he COULD play(he scored 3 times in his first NHL game, but only 2 counted). He was a BIG, OFFENSIVE, center that could do whatever was needed.
Langdon will NOT replace Stevenson…Stevenson had almost as many points last season as Langdon has had in his ENTIRE CAREER!!!!!!!! And I dont care what Turner has done in the past in Montreal, I have loved his style of play every minute of his stay in Jersey.
I’m not as mad that Stevenson left, it is HIS choice. I’m just mad at the idea that Lamoriello rarely tries to keep certain players that are already a perfect fit for his team.
And he doesn’t really do a great job with free agent signings, remember Larionov? Whyd he sign him, he wasnt the right fit for the team AND he took away a valuable spot to a YOUNGER, FASTER, STRONGER forward(Rupp).
I know Lamoriello has got the Devils 3 cups in his reign, but Devils ticket prices are extremely high(based partly on attendance AND sh*** arena). His drafts are good…but I’m not talking about drafts, just free agents. He lets to many integral parts go without replacing them immediately.
i’m all too aware that the flyers aren’t defending champs…