Lou Lamoriello made the Devils and Leafs worse, now he's doing the same to the Islanders

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Joshua Deeds
August 13, 2022 (2:49 PM)

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Lou Lamoriello has been touted as a top General Manager in the NHL, by the Wall Street Journal's Michael Salfino in 2015. He even went onto win back-to-back General Manager of the Year Awards with the Islanders. But a singular constant issue in the cap era, rears its ugly head, ultimately costing Lou and his team.

It is difficult to argue that assertion, as under Lamiorello the New Jersey Devils made it to the post-season 21 times, out of 27 seasons in New Jersey.

Lamoriello also helped bring in talent from the USSR, much to the chagrin of orthodox hockey voices, like Don Cherry. Even as his successes have piled up, he has left the Devils in a perpetual rebuild as a result.

Overall, Lamoriello's legacy as a hero of the New Jersey Devils is already secure. The Devils won the Stanley Cup three times under him, made the Stanley Cup Final two other times and had a regular-season record of 1,093-779-268. He was rightfully inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009.

Unfortunately, Lamoriello has a philosophy of maintaining a consistent aging core, which we see in New York.

Lamoriello's reliance on aging forwards and his poor recent drafting record up front have put his former team in a position where they must rebuild. Both of these problems stem directly from Lamoriello, and there is little that can be done to view these factors in a positive light.

It looks as if, when he leaves his tenure in the Islanders organization, they may also end up a victim of Lou's biases and inability to adapt to the newer style of NHL.

The Devils are just now turning the corner, since he left in 2014, drafting Jack Hughes, Yegor Sharangovich, and Jesper Bratt.

Barry Trotz shouldn't have been the one to get fired.

If you look at the Maple Leafs drafting under Lamoriello it's much of the same. Other than Auston Matthews, the Maple Leafs have nothing to show prospect wise from the Lou Lamoriello Era. His failures of understanding the value of young talent has carried over to the New York Islanders who continue to have one of the worst prospect pools in the league.

After missing the playoffs, instead of drafting a prospect to potentially help his team, Lou chose to trade his pick in exchange for Alex Romanov. The Islanders have not drafted in the first round since Lou was hired instead dealing the previous picks for JG Pageau and Kyle Palmieri.

It's clear drafting and development just isn't a priority and it's likely why Lou hasn't won anything since the inception of the salary cap.