3 Most Important Lou Lamoriello Signings as the Toronto Maple Leafs G.M.
Even though Lou Lamoriello hasn’t been the Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager for two years, his moves are still making an impact on the current roster.
When the Toronto Maple Leafs hired Lamoriello to become the 16th G.M. in team history, expectations completely changed.
Although the team was set for a makeover, it felt that it would be an accelerated rebuild with Lamoriello in charge.
As a hockey executive in his 70s, he wasn’t going to sit around for 10 years and slowly remake the Toronto Maple Leafs, but instead do it as quickly and efficiently as possible.
And that’s exactly what he did.
Having previously won three Stanley Cups while making the New Jersey Devils a relevant franchise for almost 30 years, you knew Lamoriello was only moving to Toronto because he felt it was a place he could win.
After having suspect leadership for years, the base was now set with: Lamoriello, Mike Babcock and Brendan Shanahan, while Kyle Dubas lurked in the background.
In terms of a Mount Rushmore of hockey knowledge, it doesn’t get much more powerful than that, as the three of them combine for seven Stanley Cup rings.
Although the Leafs finished in 30th place in Lamoriello’s first year as G.M., that’s exactly what the team wanted.
The Leafs were a revolving door of players using 46 skaters during the 2015-16 season, as they wanted to give every player an opportunity to prove their worth and see who would be apart of the future.
The roster was built with a large percentage of players becoming Free Agents at the end of the season as well, so that they could either easily trade their contract at the NHL Trade Deadline or move on from them in the off-season.
Finishing last in the NHL led to the Leafs drafting Auston Matthews and the rebuild was essentially over in one year. The team made the playoffs that following season and haven’t missed since, with Lamoriello deserving a ton of the credit.
As the Toronto Maple Leafs get ready for their fourth consecutive post-season, here are three signings that Lamoriello did during his tenure that are still so important to the current roster.