In hockey, 20 seasons is a era and Lou Lamoriello is one of the game’s great success stories. But the Devils’ Way is no longer any way to do things in the New NHL.
If Lamoriello remains in charge of the Nicky Newarkers, and he told The Post this month that he’s “Too young,” to retire, he must change his stripes, put some pizzazz in his black suits.
In other words, he must stop doing things on the cheap, the way he learned when John McMullen was footing the bills and those millions they lost were real money.
He will have to scrap what’s left of the old Devils salary structure, the one that has required loyalty that cost his players money they will never recover, one that sometimes drove a wedge between players and comrades, when it was management’s strategy getting between them. Some players stayed, for less, like Martin Brodeur and Patrik Elias, others left.
Now Lamoriello must become a leading spender in the madness, the bidding that is paying Scott Gomez $51 million over seven years, when Lamoriello could have signed him for $25 million over five, and still have three more seasons of the Rage of Anchorage.
Lamoriello actually took his first move last summer, overpaying significantly for Dainius Zubrus when Gomez left. But the second-shift players are not the Devils’ answer. They need a No. 1 center, and a No. 1 puck-moving defenseman, just like we have said here all season, and particularly at the trade deadline.
One of the Devils’ apparent strategies under the new collective bargaining agreement was to become management-heavy, since coaches and staffers are not cap costs. An example is that he paid so much for Brent Sutter, believed to be $15 million over five years. Sutter’s task was wring every last bit out of the players provided, and they looked fully wrung by late March and through their five-game loss to the Rangers, outscored 25-4 in their final 15 third periods.
Lamoriello will have to go great lengths to convince the top unrestricted free agents that Newark is a destination of choice, particularly with a team that has won only two playoff rounds since its 2003 Stanley Cup. A team whose franchise player, Martin Brodeur, turns 36 next month and looked “tired mentally,” according to his coach.
Money is no longer an excuse, not with the Mint Sharpe James built them at Mulberry and Lafayette. They are handed most of an annual payroll from the entertainment group that bought the concert rights to the rink – from them.
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Jay Pandolfo said he will not require surgery for the groin ligament injury that has hampered him since November. He will take a summertime rest cure as he becomes an unrestricted free agent. . . . Karel Rachunek denied that he already has signed for next season in Russia, but it is believed he enraged management by speaking with a Russian team rep in December, angered at not returned to the lineup immediately after missing a game to attend his child’s birth. . . . Jamie Langenbrunner said he wasn’t suffering any ill effects from his training camp hernia surgery.