Bringing on a legend signals culture change
THE title at this point is unclear, but the authority granted to Lou Lamoriello by Islanders ownership is absolute. He and he alone will determine the fate of general manager Garth Snow. He and he alone will determine whether Doug Weight will get another crack at it behind the bench.
Lamoriello, whom we’re told on good authority received permission no later than the beginning of last week from the Maple Leafs to leave his do-nothing assignment as senior adviser in order to speak with owners Scott Malkin and Jon Ledecky, is the decider. All hockey department personnel decisions — as well as all player personnel decisions — will run through Lamoriello.
No one will be saved by a poison pill that might have been inserted in his contract by previous majority owner Charles Wang, who always seemed to have some sort of side game going when he was in control. Bet your bottom dollar there will be no side games run out of Lamoriello’s office.
Other than instituting an era of accountability to the franchise that for way too long has been permitted to operate under an umbrella of rationalizations and excuse-mongering, this is what you can expect from the incoming regime: An end to hoarding draft picks and draft selections while continually moving the goal posts and adjusting expectations to a future that was always pushed just out of reach by Snow.
In New Jersey, Lamoriello never hesitated dealing packages of prospects and picks for upper-echelon veterans to fill holes on the Cup-contending Devils. He has a history as a go-for-it chief executive, which just may be the most important piece of his résumé in attempting to convince impending free agent John Tavares that the time is finally now on the Island.
Within four years beginning with the 1996 deadline, Lamoriello traded Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan, Sheldon Souray, Brendan Morrison, Denis Pederson, Cale Hulse, Brian Rolston, two secondand a third-rounder in separate deals to acquire Alexander Mogilny, Vladimir Malakhov, Claude Lemieux, Doug Gilmour, Dave Andreychuk and Phil Housley.
One can expect the same dynamic as he takes command of an organization that is bursting with young talent at the NHL and AHL levels with a pair of firstrounders and a pair of seconds (from Calgary in last year’s Travis Hamonic deal) coming up in June’s entry draft.
It would be a shocker if the Islanders keep both the 11th and 12th overall selections instead of using (at least) one of them plus at least one of the younger players either on or off the roster in order to deal for a legit top right defenseman to pair with Nick Leddy.
If Lamoriello can pull off such a move at the draft — if he could load up and pry Jacob Trouba out of Winnipeg, let’s say — perhaps that would encourage Tavares to altogether skip the free-agent interview process that will begin a few days following the June 21-22 extravaganza in Dallas.
In confirming Lamoriello met with Tavares last week, we have also confirmed he received necessary permission to do so by the Leafs and/or the NHL prior to seizing the initiative to visit with his franchise player.
Chances are Lamoriello will invite kitchen cabinet members Jacques Lemaire and Jacques Caron to join him on the Island. It is unknown whether Lamoriello will attempt to hire David Conte, who ran the Devils amateur scouting operation for more than two decades. We’re told that Lamoriello wanted to bring Conte to Toronto three years ago, but was denied by president Brendan Shanahan. Conte has worked the past two seasons as part of the Vegas player personnel department and is four victories away from a fourth Cup ring.
Lamoriello will place a priority on getting an upper-echelon goaltender, as he did by obtaining Cory Schneider from Vancouver in exchange for the No. 9overall pick in the 2013 entry draft in order to establish a line of succession to replace Martin Brodeur.
There is a relatively short window here for Lamoriello and the team to accomplish enough by July 1 in order to convince Tavares not to leave, but not too short.
The 24/7/365 clock that hangs in Lamoriello’s office and is implanted in his brain has just begun to tick.