Leafs’ success echoes Devils’ improbable 1987-88 run
Lamoriello, Shanahan part of team that almost made Cup final after finishing last
In Lou Lamoriello’s first season in the NHL, he took over the worst team in hockey.
By June, the New Jersey Devils, who had never been in the playoffs before, were one win away from playing for the Stanley Cup.
It is a story mostly forgotten over time: How this team of kids, with the untested rookie Sean Burke in goal, with a struggling freshman named Brendan Shanahan up front, needed an overtime goal by John MacLean on the final night of the regular season in 1988 to somehow qualify for the playoffs.
“The last month of our season, the last 10 games, it was like playoffs, every night. And when the playoffs started, we didn’t have to amp up. We were already amped up,” said Shanahan, the Toronto Maple Leafs’ president.
“We fought our way in. We didn’t think about what we were accomplishing. You play these games and you battle like hell. The experience of playing do-ordie games in the regular season, high pressure games. It’s a great experience for our players.”
Shanahan was talking about then and now. Then he was a kid who could barely stay in the lineup of a Devils team that changed coaches from Doug Carpenter to Jim Schoenfeld in mid-season. They weren’t going anywhere. And then they did.
Now Shanahan sees his rookieladen, uber-talented Maple Leafs team and he can’t help but look back and reflect. That was Lamoriello’s first team, almost 30 years ago. Almost worst to first. Worst to final four. One win away from facing the dynastic Oilers team for the Cup. Wayne Gretzky’s last season in Edmonton.
The Maple Leafs may not have to go to overtime on the final night of the season to make the playoffs. They have positioned themselves reasonably well with two weeks to play in the regular season. They are about to become the fifth team in the past 25 years to go from last in the league to a post-season berth.
But nobody has done it the Devils way.
“I remember Kirk Muller pulling me aside for advice,” said Shanahan. “He said ‘I know it’s your first year. I know it seems like a long season. But your career flies by. Take in every moment.’ How young was our team? Muller was our captain and giving out advice. I think he was 22 at the time.
“We had Sean Burke in goal right after the Olympics and that gave us a big boost. And when Lou made a coaching change, bringing in Schoenfeld, we became a young team that believed in itself. We had enough young guys that we weren’t intimidated by the legacy of the (New York) Islanders in the first round. We were playing against Denis Potvin, I think that was his last year. And (Bryan) Trottier. Those guys. That team. And we were accused of being disrespectful to them.
“I don’t think we were disrespectful. I think we just believed in ourselves and a had a lot of character guys.”
The Devils knocked off the Islanders in round one, had a hockey war of sorts with the Washington Capitals in Round 2, the most penalized series in NHL history, and lost to Boston in an unforgettable and controversial conference championship in seven games.
“What I remember is how close that team was,” said Claude Loiselle, the former Leaf front office man, who now works for the Islanders, who played for the Devils. “Lou came in, his first year, and a lot of things changed. He had a way about himself. You could tell. It was like he was pressing all the right buttons. How many teams change coaches and goalies in the same season and have any kind of success?
“Whatever it was Lou did, everything was about team. The playoffs seemed like a long road trip to me. When we were home, everybody lived in the hotel near the arena. We didn’t go home. And when we were on the road, we were always together.”
One of the most famous incidents in history occurred during the Game 3 of the conference final against the Bruins. Coach Schoenfeld got into an altercation with referee Don Koharski at the end of the game. Koharski fell to the ice and some accused Schoenfeld of pushing him.
On the way off the ice, Schoenfeld yelled back at Koharski: “Good, ’cause you fell you fat pig. Have another doughnut.”
Schoenfeld was immediately suspended by the NHL. But a court order by the Devils brought him back for Game 4 and the officials scheduled to work the game refused to show up. Schoenfeld wound up suspended for Game 5 and all returned to normal — as normal as this could be — considering what was at stake.
That was Lamoriello’s first NHL season. Memorable, historical and in a non-funny way, hysterical. This is his second season with the Leafs. They were worst in the NHL last April. He turns 75 in October. Would it be possible for the Leafs to beat Ottawa in Round 1, maybe Montreal in Round 2? Is that so far-fetched with a team of this unique talent and this quality of coaching?
Under normal circumstances, you would say it’s not possible. But these aren’t normal circumstances. Lamoriello has lived this before. Gone from pretender to contender in one long season.
“I’m not thinking about that,” said Shanahan. “I’m only thinking about our next game. That’s all we can do right now.”