Lou Lamoriello has been GM of the Devils since the 1987-88 season.
28 years later, on May 4th, Lamoriello, 72, has named former Pittsburgh Penguins GM Ray Shero as the 4th General Manager in the New Jersey Devils team history. Shero will report to Lamoriello, however, who will continue in his role as the team’s president. According to Sportsnet Stats (@SNStats): “Since Lou Lamoriello became GM in Sep 1987, #NJDevils have the 2nd best record in the NHL in that span (.578 win%)” & “Lou Lamoriello made 157 trades during his tenure as #NJDevils GM.” as well as of course, 3 Stanley Cups won in the span of 8 seasons (between 1995 and 2003).
Lamoriello confirmed that, while both he and Shero will consult with team owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer on all major decisions, Shero will ultimately determine the team’s new head coach for 2015-16. Shero said there is no timetable on when that decision will be made.
“When you take a look around the League, three quarters of the coaches have had second opportunities and have won a Stanley Cup so in working with Lou, he knows the challenges of this position,” Shero said. “Pittsburgh was different when I took over after coming from Ottawa [as an assistant GM from 1993-98] and Nashville Predators [1998-2006]. I was working with tremendous people in those organizations.
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Lamoriello refused to look back on his career when asked about his illustrious tenure as Devils GM.
“I’m here; I’m not going anywhere,” Lamoriello said. “The focus is on getting back to where we should be and belong and what’s expected. We’ve had the support of ownership for the past couple of years and they haven’t been good years [after missing the playoffs]. We’re going to work to get back there, so that’s what it’s about.
“The emotion is what hasn’t been done and what can and should be done. I take responsibility for that. we have a great staff here and [Shero] knows that, but now is a chance to move forward.”
A few days after Christmas of 2014, the Devils fired head coach Pete Deboer and Lamoriello, nicknamed ‘Uncle Lou’ by Devils fans, became co-coach (or hydra coach) with Devils’ great Scott Stevens and former Devils assistant coach Adam Oates. Lamoriello was the only one who spoke to the media during those 5 strange months so the other two coaches could focus on coaching and the team started off good but ended up finishing (20-19-7) in those 46 games.This was not the first time that Lou became both co-GM and head coach at the same time on an interim basis. The first was after Larry Robinson resigned in December of 2005 and he did it again in April of 2007 when he fired Claude Julien with three games left in the season when the Devils had the second-best record in the conference, as well as on their way to set a franchise record for regular season wins.
The Devils haven’t made it to the playoffs for the last 3 seasons, however, now with a goalie who has more than proven his worth in his first official full season as a starter and a young core of what is the team’s trademark of defensive minded defensemen, the hope will be that Ray Shero will be exactly what the team needs.
Also, if you are already missing a Lamoriello in hockey, his son is the current GM of the Devils’ AHL team in Albany.
