TORONTO — This Hall does not lead to the rocking chair, not for Lou Lamoriello.
The NHL’s longest-tenured general manager with the same team, the 67-year-old Lamoriello says he wants his 22-year reign over the Devils to run as long as it can.
“As long as I feel good, as long as people think I’m doing what my responsibilities are and there’s success, I’ll do it as long as those things are there,” Lamoriello told The Post. “But it has to be with the right philosophy, the right situation.
“When I stop worrying about whether the buns are warm on the plane.”
That, then, would be the cue to retire for Lamoriello, who very deservedly and quite belatedly enters the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder here tonight.
Brian Leetch, the last defenseman to score 100 points, and the only-ever Conn Smythe winner as a Ranger, will also be enshrined, along with Luc Robitaille, Brett Hull and Steve Yzerman. John Davidson will enter the Hall with the broadcasters’ Foster Hewitt Award and Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette with the writers’ Elmer Ferguson Award.
For Lamoriello, three Stanley Cups, 12 straight seasons of making the playoffs, eight Atlantic Division titles and 11 100-point seasons comprise a remarkable resume are among the best-ever.
Lamoriello made his first big mark in the 1988 playoffs, when he went outside the NHL to the judicial system, trying to keep suspended Jim Schoenfeld behind the bench after the Don Koharski “Donut” incident.
He traded Tom Kurvers to Toronto for the pick that became second overall, Scott Niedermayer. He traded down to draft Martin Brodeur. He swapped Sylvain Turgeon for Claude Lemieux. And he held out for Scott Stevens instead of Rod Brind’Amour and Curtis Joseph as compensation for Brendan Shanahan.
The list goes on, with plenty of clunkers, too. He has infuriated foes, particularly when receiving incredible rulings. He’s enraged players, particularly in arbitration, but many come back to the Devils, who haven’t missed the playoffs since 1996, the second-longest current streak in the NHL, behind Detroit’s 18 seasons. He receives much of the credit, most of it valid.
“I’d say I’m an idealistic person with a realistic approach,” Lamoriello said. “I look at things as they should be and try to approach them realistically, knowing that can’t always be achieved.”
The Hall of Fame is long overdue for Lamoriello, a Providence College forward from 1960-63 who later taught high school math. He coached hockey and became athletic director at Providence College before being recruited by Devils owner John McMullen in 1987, a sharp turn in his route. Now that path leads to the Hall, but not the door.
Leetch, who became the first U.S.-born Conn Smythe winner when the Rangers won the Cup in 1994, says he thinks Mike Keenan wanted him traded during that season for Chris Chelios but was thwarted by Neil Smith and Mark Messier.
“With Mike Keenan, it was a constant work in progress for me,” Leetch said. “I think Mike has always come into a new situation and kind of had preconceived notions about players that were there before him. A lot of those players ended up being moved ahead of time or got moved soon after he arrived.
“I think I was slotted to be one of those guys. I think he wanted Chelly on the team and some guys that he had before. He was looking to maybe use me in that situation. But I had been there for a few years and I was friends with Mark. Neil Smith liked me as a player. So I think it took a while for Mike to trust me, to accept that I was going to be there, and that I was a guy that he could put out there consistently.”
Leetch was the center of a playoff controversy during the 1994 semis against the Devils, when Keenan benched him then claimed Leetch was hurt, which Leetch bewilderedly denied. It took Mark Messier’s “We’ll Win” declaration to defuse that episode.
“I look back at the amount of ice time I got, and how well our team was prepared and how it was put together so well by Neil, that [Keenan] and I only had our names on the Stanley Cup once, and they’re linked together,” Leetch said. “That’s what we always used to talk about. We’ll be forever linked together on that team.
“I don’t think we would have won without him, and I hope he feels the same way about me.”