TOO-DA-LOU
Lamoriello out as Leafs GM — even though he shouldn’t be
Lou Lamoriello won’t come right out and say he’s angry about being pushed aside as general manager of the Maple Leafs.
So I’ll say it for him. He’s angry, he’s upset, he’s frustrated and he doesn’t understand or accept the logic Brendan Shanahan has applied in kicking him to a consultant’s curb with the hockey club.
But he won’t say a word about it. Not for public consumption. Not for a newspaper or a television camera. Not even to a close friend.
Because more than anything else in his life, he’s consistent, he’s frustrating, he’s Lou.
That means he specializes in revealing nothing about anything, least of all himself. That means there are no leaks and no one around him has a voice in Lamoriello’s world. That means even when he disagrees with a decision that’s been made, he sticks to his principles and won’t stop being a team player. That means what is said in the front office stays in the front office.
He didn’t invent that old dressing room adage in pro sports, “What you see here, what you say here, when you leave here, let it stay here” but he could have.
Lamoriello is the ultimate company man, even if the company is kicking him upstairs, likely in Leafs style for very high wages and very little influence.
There is an old Don Matthews line that describes Lamoriello in many ways: “Football isn’t a democracy,” the late Matthews once told me. “This is a dictatorship and I’m the head dick.”
Lamoriello was precisely that in his three years with the Leafs. But when your dictatorship is run as efficiently as the Leafs were run, sometimes more of an autocracy than dictatorship — Shanahan as president, with Mike Babcock as head coach, with excellent assistants in differ- ent roles such as Kyle Dubas, Mark Hunter and Brandon Pridham — there was a place for everyone and a role that fit each man’s specific skills.
But only one man in charge.
It might have been Lamoriello yesterday. Today it is Shanahan, until he names Dubas GM, whenever that becomes official.
And the earth will shift ever slightly, with Lamoriello moving out and Dubas likely moving in. He has been the chosen one since the Leafs hired him before Lamoriello ever came from New Jersey. Dubas came in with graphs and charts and computers and has developed nicely, I’m told, into a hockey man.
Shanahan has put together a terrific varied front office, of which Lamoriello was the centre piece. Even at the age of 75, he showed no signs of slowing down.
If the baton is passed to Dubas, there will be questions. We know he’s young, we know he’s bright, but what we don’t know is, can he do the job? In sports, you don’t find that out until it’s decision time.
Once upon a time, a lawyer named John Ferguson was given the keys to the Leafs car. Only he couldn’t see and he couldn’t drive and no one knew that until he took the large office.
We know who Lamoriello is, what he can do, how he conducts himself.
Lamoriello came to Toronto three years ago from the New Jersey Devils with his reputation, like that hockey team, slightly in tatters. He was yesterday’s news until he reinvented himself strictly by being himself. And the Leafs went from last place to playoff surprise to possible playoff contender. And who knows what’s next?
The deal Lamoriello signed in Toronto was for him to be GM for three years and after that to become the senior advisor of the franchise for the next four years. That was the deal he agreed to.
So Lamoriello knew what might be coming, even as he went to work Monday morning figuring he was still GM of the Leafs and was going to continue in that role until someone told him differently.
In their meeting in the morning, Shanahan told him differently. They shook hands. They’ve known each other forever. They grew up in the NHL together. And now maybe they’re together, more likely that Lamoriello says goodbye.
However it ends, it doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t mean it was easy for
In his time running the Leafs, Lamoriello did more than his job. He may not have been millennial friendly or player agent friendly ... but over three years he exceeded whatever the job description and the expectations may have been.
Shanahan to make the move or for Lamoriello to accept it.
In explaining the move, Shanahan paid tribute to Lamoriello. He called his contributions to the Leafs vital. He talked about building the cultural foundation with the Leafs and the mentorship he provided for the front office.
“I thought he was the perfect fit,” said Shanahan.
Then he made the decision he originally projected three years ago: He took Lamoriello’s title away.
And with it the famous Lou’s Rules are likely to be pushed aside — some of them team building, some of them archaic, all of them put in place because of his deep belief of establishing a unique culture and deep belief in organizational discipline.
In his time running the Leafs, Lamoriello did more than his job. He may not have been millennial friendly or player agent friendly — some Leafs felt strangled by their surroundings and the lack of personality tolerated — but over three years he exceeded whatever the job description and the expectations may have been.
Lou Lamoriello has reason to be upset. He did his job well. He hasn’t lost a step.
There was no need, Shanaplan aside, to replace him now.