Lou Lamoriello named Leafs General Manager

[LuncheonMeat]

John Shannon @JSportsnet
The Maple Leafs will have to compensate the Devils with a draft pick for signing Lou Lamoriello as GM.

I was okay with this until that ^^^ 

I'm willing to flip that emoticon once Lou gets a 1st for Bozak.  Until then, 

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

The one thing that stands out to me in trying to think of things to say about Lamoriello (other than the league always bending over backwards for him) is that he's known about being crazy about players' professionalism.  That's something that's been stressed by the new regime as well.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Also...not one of the "insiders" saw this coming.  I hope moving forward there's going to be less and less getting out to the Toronto media.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

I wonder if the intent is he will mentor Hunter and Dubas for their eventual promotion.

This is what I think.  No way Shanahan is going to all of a sudden 180 the course from what they've set and have it be the LouLam show only.  As herman said - he carries catchet and contacts, as well as experience.

 

[BrownRolo]

Kolvachuk to Toronto?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Woah. That'll get the boards talking a bit. I don't expect the general vision that Shanny/Dubs/Hunts have created to change at all though, this won't be the new New Jersey Devils that's for sure. Lou will still have to follow Shanahan, which will be interesting to see.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

Also...not one of the "insiders" saw this coming.  I hope moving forward there's going to be less and less getting out to the Toronto media.

I was laughing at one of the guys on TSN a few minutes ago.  He was saying this was a surprising, but that some of the insiders heard rumblings that something was in the works... just something, though, not the hiring of a new GM.  What a riot.

Since Shanahan has been in charge, the Leafs have been much better with their cone of silence.  Bad for insiders (sorry, should I capitalize that?), but probably better for the team.

 

[Frank E]

One of The biggest criticisms of the new regime - lack of experience.  Fixed.

We've been asking for years for the Leafs to spend money elsewhere and use their money power in ways that others couldn't - on coaching...on management...on scouting.  Looks like they are trending that way.

I like the hire, and for the same reason, I thought that Hunter and Dubas might lack a little NHL know-how.

Obviously Lou is in the twilight of his career, but I bet he'll impart a great deal of NHL experience/knowledge on the current group of new Leaf executives.

Overall, I'm good with this pick.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Since Shanahan has been in charge, the Leafs have been much better with their cone of silence.  Bad for insiders (sorry, should I capitalize that?), but probably better for the team.

And he just brought in arguably the tightest-lipped GM in NHL history. You can be sure that any "rumblings" that guys like Dreger and Kypreos hear from this point out are complete BS.

 

[GhostofPotvin29]

Since Shanahan has been in charge, the Leafs have been much better with their cone of silence.  Bad for insiders (sorry, should I capitalize that?), but probably better for the team.

And he just brought in arguably the tightest-lipped GM in NHL history. You can be sure that any "rumblings" that guys like Dreger and Kypreos hear from this point out are complete BS.

Dreger's going to need to move to Anaheim soon.

 

[CarltonTheBear]

Hopefully this works out better than when the positions were reversed and Lou brought in Shanahan in the twilight of his playing career.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

If Dubas grows a beard we'll know things aren't going so well.

 

[herman]

Shanahan keeps hiring his former bosses.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I wonder if the intent is he will mentor Hunter and Dubas for their eventual promotion.

This is what I think.  No way Shanahan is going to all of a sudden 180 the course from what they've set and have it be the LouLam show only.  As herman said - he carries catchet and contacts, as well as experience.

I agree completely.

EDIT: It's amusing to see the usual suspects hating this already. #TeamChuckles

 

[louisstamos]

I wonder if the intent is he will mentor Hunter and Dubas for their eventual promotion.

This is what I think.  No way Shanahan is going to all of a sudden 180 the course from what they've set and have it be the LouLam show only.  As herman said - he carries catchet and contacts, as well as experience.

I agree completely.

Is that worth a 3rd round pick, though?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

I wonder if the Leafs bring along Lou's former right-hand man/head scout David Conte. He left the Devils organization just a couple of weeks ago by mutual agreement.

He, like Lou, may be a little past his prime, but as long as he's playing second fiddle to Hunter his experience and knowledge could be useful.

 

[WhatIfGodWasALeaf]

I wonder if the intent is he will mentor Hunter and Dubas for their eventual promotion.

This is what I think.  No way Shanahan is going to all of a sudden 180 the course from what they've set and have it be the LouLam show only.  As herman said - he carries catchet and contacts, as well as experience.

I agree completely.

Is that worth a 3rd round pick, though?

Time will tell, anyone saying anything else right now is a reactionist.

 

[LuncheonMeat]

I wonder if the intent is he will mentor Hunter and Dubas for their eventual promotion.

This is what I think.  No way Shanahan is going to all of a sudden 180 the course from what they've set and have it be the LouLam show only.  As herman said - he carries catchet and contacts, as well as experience.

I agree completely.

Is that worth a 3rd round pick, though?

After thinking about this... If LL has the cachet he is purported to have, shouldn't he be able to make better trades than the current management?  If that's the case, it's more than worth a 3rd.  But who knows what that's really worth?  Could he have gotten more in the Kessel trade?

 

[CarltonTheBear]

If this is true it's absolutely terrible.

Why?

 

[rdowdall]

If this is true it's absolutely terrible.

Why?

This is probably a situation where we have to wait and see how it plays out before a decision can be made. 

If LouLam comes in, uses his experience to help Dubas and Hunter grow, and makes the organization stronger because they are able to make better deals with other clubs because of his cache then this should work out well for the Leafs.

However, if he comes in, stomps all over the work that Dubas and Hunter try and do and takes a my way or the highway approach to this job, then this will probably end very badly for the Leafs.

One would hope given the way things have gone in the offseason that it is the former and not the latter, but we won't really know until things have gone on for a while.