Woo Mornin' Buzz: Lou's old school ways maybe the next best thing
Lou Lamoriello.
We've heard recently from the fans and bloggers that Lamoriello may not be the right GM for the post lockout era. Some say his old methods are antiquated and has trouble with the salary cap system. If Lamoriello is able to bring the New Jersey Devils back to being a perennial powerhouse, he must stick to his old school core values that brought three Stanley Cups. Moreover, the Devils need Lamoriello more than ever.
Lamoriello's successful formula has always been team first philosophy and it comes with tradition, honor, sacrifice, and most importantly, loyalty. It has been the foundation that has kept the Devils in New Jersey with a beautiful new arena and a long term commitment to the fans. Lamoriello should stick to his formula of success regardless, even in salary cap era, because not doing so could jeopardize the Devils organization's identity.
When you think of the New Jersey Devils, you think of fiscal responsibility and an overall no-nonsense organization. That is what Lamoriello has to enforce and not get away from.
What most of us have forgotten is that for a brief period of time, Lamoriello did indeed go outside of his normal comfort zone, like a blockbuster trade and then signing (twice) Ilya Kovalchuk along with his agent's clients, Volchenkov, Salmela, and Hedberg.
Lamoriello making a free agent splash and signing him to a $100 million contract? Well, he did it and also cost the Devils in NHL mandated penalties along the way. Although the second half of the season showed fans positive results, it hasn't panned out thus far and the Devils haven't been to the Cup Finals since 2003.
Now let's fast forward to this offseason.
I love what Lou Lamoriello has done with the team so far this summer. Like in Rocky III when Rocky Balboa trained with Apollo Creed, Lamoriello is going back to his old school playbook and getting back to basics.
It did not surprise me that Lamoriello got Adam Larsson, 2011 first round 4th overall pick, to sign a three year $925K/ yr contract with no individual bonuses because it went with the Devils team first philosophies. What the Devils got here was a bargain by potentially saving $2 million in cap space and this maybe enough to help make enough room to keep Zach Parise long term.
In addition, Lamoriello did not overpay for Andy Greene, Johan Hedberg, and got two heavy weight enforcers, Cam Janssen and Eric Boulton, at the right price to protect Kovalchuk and Parise.
Now comes Zach Parise. I hope Lou Lamoriello doesn't overpay to keep Parise short or long term. It will be up to Parise if he truly wants to stay in New Jersey or not. Lamoriello knows best and must sell Parise more on the team first and winning traditions than his individual contract.
Lamoriello is on a roll this summer. Keeping it simple, quiet, and efficient.
In Lou, we trust.
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