Lamoriello's Influence Stretches Far and Wide in the Hockey World
Devs President gets well deserved call to the Hall of Fame

Posted on Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 7:35 PM
By Stan Fischler

If there is a more admired member of the National Hockey League's managerial fraternity than Lou Lamoriello, I would like to meet that man.

From such successful ice executives such as recent Lester Patrick Award-winner Jim Devellano to Toronto Maple Leafs boss, Brian Burke, the New Jersey Devils president-general manager truly is one of a kind.

To some, he's architect of New Jersey's three Stanley Cup-winners.

To others, he has been a mentor extraordinaire and a role model for anyone interested in reaching the top rung of hockey's leadership ladder.

To all, the Providence, Rhode Island native fully deserves to be inducted into the Builders section of the Hall of Fame.

"As hockey men go," says Devellano, "Lou can be trusted in every way. His word is his bond and he's always thinking of the good and welfare of our game."

Most of all Lamoriello thinks about his Devils -- morning, noon, night -- virtually 24-hours, some 365 days a year.

The results say it all.

Before Lou arrived in East Rutherford to guide the Garden State's first major league team, the Devils had been the league's laughing stock. Wayne Gretzky capsulized prevailing opinion by calling it a "Mickey Mouse" franchise.

Until Lamoriello took over in 1987, the Devils had failed to make the playoffs every year since the organization had moved into the Meadowlands in 1982.

Once the baton was passed to the former Providence College athletic director, the club went into high gear. It reached the playoffs for the first time in Lou's first season (1987-1988) with a heart-throbbing finish, beating out the Rangers on the final night of the season. This was followed by a Cinderella playoff march which only ended in a seven-game third-round loss to the Boston Bruins.

"We were rebuilding then," Lamoriello recalls, "and there was a lot more to be done."

How is this for consistency; since Lou's ascent to the club's throne, the Devils have missed the playoffs only once in 21 years.

The Stanley Cup triumph over Devellano's Detroit Red Wings in 1995 to this day is regarded as one of the colossal upsets of all-time. Experts on both sides of the Canadian-American border were predicting a four-game sweep for the Wings but it was New Jersey which took four in a row from Scotty Bowman's star-studded sextet.

"It sure came as a shock to us," Devellano admits. "But it was a testament to Lou's building ability. He brought in an excellent coach (Jacques Lemaire) and had a goalie (Martin Brodeur) who one day will join his boss in the Hall of Fame."

Those who know him well will tell you that Lamoriello's influence far transcends his stewardship of the Devils. When Lou coached the Providence College hockey team, Brian Burke was one of his players. It was Lamoriello who virtually ordered Burke to take law school tests although, at the time, Burke had balked.

"Lou left me no choice,"  Burke recalls. "And it was one of the best things that ever happened to me."

Burke no only got his law degree but proceeded to become a hockey agent, NHL Senior Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations and, of course, general manager of the Hartford Whalers, the Stanley Cup-winning Anaheim Mighty Ducks and now the Toronto Maple Leafs.

"There are people I owe professionally and people that I owe personally," Burke admits, "bit there is nobody I owe in both areas of my life as much as I owe Lou. The influence he has had as a coach and as a mentor in my life has been tremendous."

USA Hockey's Kurt Kleinendorst, who coached the Devils American Hockey League team in Lowell, seconds the motion as do virtually everyone -- Lemaire, Ron Wilson, Pat Burns, et. al -- who has come under Lou's aegis.

Even the top banana for Hockey Canada, Bob Nicholson, played for Lamoriello at Providence as did innumerable NHLers past and present such as Randy Velischek, Jim Korn and Leafs' coach Ron Wilson.

It is a measure of Lamoriello's humility that he avoids the spotlight as much as possible. I vividly recall a scene immediately following the Devils last Stanley Cup triumph in New Jersey over Anaheim in 2003.

While his players and coaches celebrated on the ice, Lou remained in the corridor outside his club's dressing room throughout the Cup presentation by Commisioner Gary Bettman. As his players trooped off the ice and into the clubhouse, Lamoriello gave every one of his players a generous hug. Then, he went back to his office.

"I had to start preparing for the next season," he says.

In accepting his Hall of Fame award, you can bet that Lamoriello will turn the spotlight on those who he insists made this all possible.

"You have to take a step back and have to be very careful because you realize that whatever accomplishments are given is because of people you have been surrounded with," he explains. "I have been very fortunate in New Jersey, as I was at Providence College, to have great players, great people, great coaches. As well as being talented, they were great people."

But as folks in the know -- such as Burke and Devellano -- will tell you, Lou Lamoriello is right up at the top among the great ones!

MORE:

• Devils are the Official Road Warriors This Season
• Rangers Brian Leetch Headed to the Hall as Well
• Get Full Coverage of the New Jersey Devils

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