On the brink of his 11th straight Stanley Cup playoff, the 18th in his 20 NHL seasons, the Cup-winningest GM since Glen Sather and Bill Torrey says he isn’t ready to retire yet.
“I’m too young,” Lou Lamoriello told The Post succinctly.
That’s 65, but Lamoriello remains perhaps the most influential power in the sport. He’s won three Cups, taken his team to four Finals and won seven Atlantic Division titles.
He’s been an integral force in moving the team from the Meadowlands to Newark, for better or worse.
But that era seems to be on the wane. There will not be a third straight division crown, nor a fifth straight 100-point season this time.
But there will a fifth Hudson Series against the Rangers, with this afternoon’s regular season finale against them in Newark deciding where it opens. If the Devils gain a point, they’ll own home ice. Today’s finale is also the Devils’ last chance (0-4-3) to avoid being swept by the Rangers in the season series.
With Lamoriello not behind the bench by season’s end for the first time since the lockout, Brent Sutter has been the one to deal with this team’s lack of offense. Their follies reached a team-record 11 losses by shutout with Friday’s 3-0 defeat in Philadelphia, not including one 1-0 OT victory.
The Devils are not denying the importance of this game.
“Really, in the last three big games, aside from the Ranger games, we haven’t played well. Pittsburgh, Montreal. We haven’t shown up. It’s important to prove we can play at that level,” Jamie Langenbrunner said.
Langenbrunner also said beating the Rangers once would be significant.
“It does matter, although if it doesn’t happen, we’ll be saying it doesn’t,” Langenbrunner said.
“We’re looking at the [possibility] of playing each other eight times in two weeks. I’d like to think that’s motivation,” said Brent Sutter, who ripped his team as lacking professionalism Friday.
“I was upset [that we could] have 18 horsebleep hockey players,” Sutter said. “Like the game didn’t mean much to us.
“You know what happens if we have a chance to eliminate a team in a series. We’re going to let them off the hockey. That’s why today we had to regain our focus, and play [ticked] off.”
The Devils have so many issues to repair or overcome. They have been outscored 15-2 in their last night third periods, haven’t won in regulation since March 15, been held to one goal or less in regulation 31 times (5-22-4) and two goals or less 44 times (12-27-5).
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Karel Rachunek (neck) skated with team yesterday but is not expected to play today. Sutter said he is likely to stick with Vitaly Vishnevski and Andy Greene as his third pair, again scratching Sheldon Brookbank. Bryce Salvador (foot) said he skated on his own yesterday without difficulty. . . . Devils finished 1-3-1 in its final five road games, winding up 21-15-5 away from Newark this season.