By Alex Hobson
Dating back to 2012, now that we look back on it, the Leafs had a management team that caused lots of problems as well as future problems for the now-rebuilding Leafs. This management team composed of Brian Burke, Dave Nonis, Dave Poulin, and Claude Loiselle. From bad signings to bad trades, this team certainly didn't leave much good for the next coming of Leafs management to work with, so MLSE decided they were in need of a change. They began this process by hiring Brendan Shanahan has President of Hockey Ops in April of 2014, and then one hiring lead to another. Assistant GM Kyle Dubas was hired in July of 2014, Director of Player Personnel Mark Hunter was hired in October of 2014, and then head coach Mike Babcock was hired in May of 2015. Just like that, the entire management team was re-vamped. Now, after firing then-GM Dave Nonis, they were in need of a new GM. For a little bit, there was some speculation that the Leafs would serve without a GM, splitting the duties between Hunter and Dubas, but all of this was forgotten on July 23rd, 2015, when Shanahan announced that the Leafs had named Lou Lamoriello the 16th GM in team history.
This hiring came as a big surprise to the majority of Leafs fans across the globe. Prior to this signing, there had been little to no speculation as to who the Leafs could hire as a GM, and some had began to believe that they would leave the management team the way it was. Dubas and Hunter were seemingly handling the GM's duties very well, so there didn't seem to be much of a rush to hire someone else and potentially interfere with the chemistry the team had. Then all of a sudden, in the early hours of that thursday morning, it was announced that Lamoriello had stepped down from his position as President of the New Jersey Devils. This was shocking, considering the large amount of time he had spent with the Devils, but nobody really thought much of it at first. Then, literally minutes later, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced that Lamoriello would be named as GM of the team and would be signed for the next three years. It all happened so quick that no reporters, analysts, or any members of the media would have had any time to build up any sort of speculation, but within hours, everybody was piled into Air Canada Centre to witness the introduction of Lamoriello to the organization. Let's take a look at his past, shall we?
Lamoriello is most known for his lengthy and memorable tenure of 28 years as GM and President of the New Jersey Devils. During that tenure, the Devils qualified for the playoffs for 22 of the 27 seasons spent with Lamoriello at the helm. He is responsible for the drafting of players by the likes of Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens, Marty Brodeur, Patrik Elias, and the Leafs' president Brendan Shanahan. The Devils also won the Stanley Cup three times during Lamoriello's time as GM, in 1995, 2000, and 2003. Lamoriello has also experienced several achievments over his hockey career, such as minor ones including being inducted into the Providence College Hockey Hall of Fame, and also larger ones such as being inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame under the builders category, and being inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.
So what can Lamoriello bring to the Leafs' management team? While most Leafs fans were pleasantly surprised at the hiring of Lamoriello, many also felt that he would interfere with the Leafs' new way of looking at the game using analytics, and just interfere with the young hockey knowledge trend in genereal. Many also felt Lamoriello was washed up and would make questionable moves while managing the Leafs, based on his mainly old-school hockey knowledge. The reality is, Lamoriello will not take full control of the Leafs. He will work together alongside of Shanahan, Dubas, Hunter, and Babcock, and as he described, "Hunter and Dubas will report to me, I'll report to Shanny." The hiring will merely serve as a stint to provide veteran knowledge and experience to the relatively young management, as well as groom assistant GM Kyle Dubas, so that when Lamoriello is ready to step down as GM, Dubas will potentially be ready to take over as his successor. All in all, the hiring of Lamoriello is a good one, and will be a fine compliment to this team for the next couple of years.
What do you think of the hiring of Lamoriello, Leafs fans? Leave comments below.
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