Leafs Hire Lou Lamoriello as General Manager

Michael Clifford

2015-07-23

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have hired Lou Lamoriello to be their new general manager.

Lou Lamoriello was hired today by the Toronto Maple Leafs to be their new general manager, after quitting the New Jersey Devils as president. The team had been without one since the firing of Dave Nonis after this most recent season, and Lamoriello stepped down as GM of the Devils back in May of this year.

This seems to be a bit of an odd move, and I'll get to that in a second.

It is also curious because the front office had been doing fairly well to this point. They shed themselves of salary, they added draft picks and younger players through trades and minor signings, and of course, they traded Phil Kessel. It seems very odd that Shanahan would let this front office essentially go through an entire offseason, Entry Draft and all, and then have Lamoriello come on board.

The Leafs had been doing things in some sort of committee to this point, and I'm not sure Lamoriello is a "committee" guy. He is a guy with a lot of experience though, so perhaps he's brought in just to help guide young Kyle Dubas and others for the next few years.

There is no real way to tell what exactly his role will be for now, it could very well be just being a mentor to Dubas/Hunter and being part of that committee. It might an odd thing to say, but maybe we just need to let this one play out.

Head over to the Dobber Forums and check out the thread that has started for Lamoriello and the Leafs. There is a lot a buzz in Leafland, as one can imagine.