News Article: Chere: It's time for the Devils to thank Lou Lamoriello and show him the door

[NJDevs26]

You guys wanted a Lou thread, well Chere heard you

http://www.nj.com/devils/index.ssf/...ank_lou_lamoriello_and_show_him_the_door.html

Lou Lamoriello should not be fired as Devils general manager because of his age, as some have suggested. But he should be shown the door by ownership along with coach Pete DeBoer.

Lamoriello is 72, which may or may not have any relevance to the fact that he has assembled a mediocre hockey team that has a very good chance of becoming truly bad over the next few seasons.

DeBoer may not have done a brilliant job coaching this team the last 2 1/2 seasons, but he is not solely to blame for the fact that the Devils likely will miss the playoffs for a third straight season and for the fourth time in five years.

The blame should be directed at Lamoriello, who has made a series of bad decisions signing free agents, at the draft table and handling the organization’s few top prospects. He has also held back a progressive new ownership group that looks to create more revenue and bring the Devils into the 21st century when it comes to promoting and marketing the team.

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[Emperoreddy]

Chere can go **** himself. He is a **** stirrer and click bait artist.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I wholeheartedly agree.

 

[NJDevs26]

I didn't think reporters wrote straight op-eds unless they worked for the Post. Chere must be close to retirement himself to poke the bear like this.

 

[Emperoreddy]

He has also held back a progressive new ownership group that looks to create more revenue and bring the Devils into the 21st century when it comes to promoting and marketing the team.

How has Lou held ownership back?

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

I don't know how you can disagree that the organization needs a new direction.

I love Lou and I thank him for all he has done. but its been 30 years.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I didn't think reporters wrote straight op-eds unless they worked for the Post. Chere must be close to retirement himself to poke the bear like this.

He has been flirting with this all year. His headlines have been more op-Ed then reporting lately.

He tried to spin Jagr's dislike of the Christmas break into Jagr somehow giving up on the team.

I can't take anything he writes without a grain of salt.

 

[engy]

Unlikely. The list can go on and on for GMs who got away unscathed for a lot worse. (Although some did eventually get canned)

 

[Devils Trap]

100% agree

 

[NJDevs26]

He has been flirting with this all year. His headlines have been more op-Ed then reporting lately.

He tried to spin Jagr's dislike of the Christmas break into Jagr somehow giving up on the team.

I can't take anything he writes without a grain of salt.

I mean I don't want to give Chere attention but it IS noteworthy when a major beat guy goes after Lou like this. It would be like Ansar Khan or whoever the longest-tenured beat guy in Detroit is going after Ken Holland.

And Lou's always been accused of standing in the way of marketing, he definitely agrees with McMullen in that the team itself should be the only marketing tool and has to be dragged kicking and screaming into certain things (don't think the throwback jerseys were his idea). But I don't see how that's relevant to anything regarding his job.

 

[ScottyK]

Agree 100%

 

[Emperoreddy]

Lou is the one responsible for building the young defense we all are falling in love with and some blamed Pete for "ruining".

 

[R8Devs]

yeah I agree. but the article was a bit douchebagish.

bring someone in from some place like tampa, detroit, and or Anaheim. And get a new scouting staff while at it.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I mean I don't want to give Chere attention but it IS noteworthy when a major beat guy goes after Lou like this. It would be like Ansar Khan or whoever the longest-tenured beat guy in Detroit is going after Ken Holland.

And Lou's always been accused of standing in the way of marketing, he definitely agrees with McMullen in that the team itself should be the only marketing tool and has to be dragged kicking and screaming into certain things (don't think the throwback jerseys were his idea). But I don't see how that's relevant to anything regarding his job.

I agree it's odd that Chere would go full bore like this.

Also I don't see how Lou and hockey operations are blocking ownership from doing what they want on the marketing side. Also don't see how it's relevant.

 

[KohoDonuts88]

I don't have a problem with criticism, it's warranted. But that was a "you peed in my cornflakes" grudge piece.

 

[Tundra]

He's been around since freaking 1987. I think it's fairly obvious now. Look at the state of the organization. It's in shambles and there is one man making 90% of the decisions.

 

[jkrdevil]

This is going to get nasty. That was a hit job and it is clear Pete's team is trying to get to reporters today.

If you want to blame Lou and the scouting staff for lack of player development and misses draft picks it is fair. That said most of that article is outside of bounds. The financial situation blew up the team and the vet signings were a pick up the pieces results. Better than what it could have been. Moving forward we aren't in a bad position.

 

[ghdi]

The Devils have drafted 6 players with 200+ NHL games since 2000. Henrique, Halischuk, Fayne, Zajac, Parise, Janssen.

We've lost how many big players to free agency in the last 10 years? Lou comes back with kneejerk moves (with the 3 M's and Clowe taking the cake for the worst ones) that have never panned out.

Lou has not adapted to the new rules/salary cap at all. We got extremely lucky in 2012 which is sometimes all it takes. We probably should've lost to Florida in the first round.

No one is going to take away anything from Lou or downplay all that he's done for this team/franchise. He is arguably Mr. New Jersey Devil. Let's be realistic though. He's 72 years old and is set in his ways. He has not adapted well over the last 5-10 years. He also had the luxury of having the greatest of all time in the prime of his career for a good portion of these "lean" years of early exits and now playoff misses.

Chere is what Chere is. I don't know any fan of this team that likes him, but he's not wrong here. It's time for a new direction. If that means asking Lou to step down, so be it. If we can say goodbye to Marty, Stevens, Parise etc., we can certainly say goodbye to Lou.

 

[NJDevs26]

I don't have a problem with criticism, it's warranted. But that was a "you peed in my cornflakes" grudge piece.

Seriously...and that little part about Sutter not being able to deal with working for Lou was laughable too. Especially since he couldn't even get along with his freaking brother in Calgary. I guess that excuses HIM being a pansy and backing out of his contract to go coach another NHL team (if that was even a reason why he left).

This is going to get nasty. That was a hit job and it is clear Pete's team is trying to get to reporters today.

Yeah I'm starting to buy this point of view. Pete definitely has had friends in the media for a while now judging by all the speculation surrounding Toronto last year before Lou picked up the option.

 

[Rebel Devil]

I'm glad he wrote it .. Lou has to go, and everybody here knows it. Hopefully he steps down at the end of the year. He's screwed the Devil's up pretty good, and I don't think he has it in him to fix the mess.

 

[Marv4Life]

He has also held back a progressive new ownership group that looks to create more revenue and bring the Devils into the 21st century when it comes to promoting and marketing the team.

How has Lou held ownership back?

He is the team president, not just the GM. Maybe not "holding them back" but a conflict of interest.

And people keep blaming the ownership and the financial situation. They had the money to sign players; the wrong ones were not only signed but overpaid. Zach was gone regardless but he didn't do enough to try to replace him and Kovy.

 

[RNCDevil]

I will give this movement credit if the goalie/D rebuild proves to be a failure. I think you can give him one or two more years to find out, given the bounty of hockey LL has provided.

 

[Tundra]

I'm glad he wrote it .. Lou has to go, and everybody here knows it. Hopefully he steps down at the end of the year. He's screwed the Devil's up pretty good, and I don't think he has it in him to fix the mess.

Correct. This article probably could have been written years ago. This is not some blindsided piece. Lou is a noted control freak and thus is 100% responsible for the state of the organization. There isn't some evil overlord dictating to him and telling him to not draft top flight forwards or foolishly giving away high draft picks due to improprieties.

 

[ghdi]

I'm glad he wrote it .. Lou has to go, and everybody here knows it. Hopefully he steps down at the end of the year. He's screwed the Devil's up pretty good, and I don't think he has it in him to fix the mess.

I look at it like this too. Amongst many fans this has been a growing fury over the last 2 months or so i.e. the #FireLou hashtag. I don't think he can fix it at this point. Its time for a new direction. Clean house.

This is the first really public shot fired.

Its also notable that Wyshynski wrote a similar piece today as well:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-p...deboer-out-the-door-for-devils-211902811.html

 

[Brooklyndevil]

It's time for Lou to go play with the grandkids. And Conte can follow him. No one works forever.