“Thank you for everything throughout the year. I think that certainly you create a lot of excitement in the city and you create a lot of things that I never even knew were happening. I’ve always said that the most valuable player from the media is the same one every year – the unknown source.”
TORONTO – Ah, a little levity to end Lou Lamoriello’s end-of-season press conference. A few chuckles after nine minutes of polite responses, but very little in terms of substance about the future of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Those may be the final words Lamoriello delivers in an official capacity as general manager of the team.
He didn’t sound like someone who knows for certain he’ll continue on in that role beyond July 1. Lamoriello was twice asked directly if he even wanted a fourth year at the helm of the Leafs hockey operations department and declined to say.
“Part of my personality is not thinking about myself or worrying about myself or expressing what has to do with me,” Lamoriello said Friday. “So it’s not anything new here than it has been in the past and that’s where I’m going to leave that. My focus right now is doing what my responsibilities are and allowing that to take its course.”
Take its course. Perhaps there’s a hint in there. It’s possible Lamoriello himself still doesn’t know exactly what president Brendan Shanahan has in mind.
Here’s what we do know: Lamoriello’s original three-year contract as GM is about to expire and carries an option for a two-year term in a consulting position, as reported by Sportsnet colleague Elliotte Friedman earlier this season. No extension has been announced by the team. And Lamoriello will turn 76 in October – making him six and a half years older than Jim Rutherford of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the NHL’s next oldest GM.
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Now none of those things on their own preclude his return. He appears to keep himself in fantastic shape and it’s hard to quibble with his job performance after seeing the Leafs climb from 30th to 14th to sixth in the standings these last three years.
Still, it’s curious that he remains twisting in the wind at the dawn of an incredibly important off-season for the franchise.
Shanahan didn’t speak with reporters Friday and has generally retreated into a less public-facing role with the team. Three years ago on locker cleanout day, he stood at the dais and delivered the manifesto dubbed the “Shanaplan” which set the wheels in motion on the rebuild. Two years ago, he met reporters informally in the dressing room.
These last two he’s been nowhere to be found.
In the absence of information, the organization has left itself open to the speculation both Lamoriello and head coach Mike Babcock profess to hate. It’s no small issue that we don’t know who’s in charge of negotiating an extension with pending restricted free agent William Nylander or deciding how to address the holes on the blue line or making plans for the generous amount of cap space the Leafs will soon own.
With James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak and Leo Komarov due to come off the books – Lamoriello is prepared to let each of those UFA’s walk, someone else in the GM’s chair might not – Toronto is going to look like a different team next season. It could end up with more than $24 million in commitments disappearing when you factor in Tomas Plekanec, Roman Polak and Dominic Moore’s expiring deals, not to mention the buried salary of Martin Marincin, LTIR’d salary of Joffrey Lupul, and buyout charges for Tim Gleason and Jared Cowen.
That’s more than enough to take a healthy run at John Tavares on July 1. Or maybe defenceman John Carlson, a right-handed, top-four option who could address an obvious need.
The Leafs have reached terms with six-foot-two righty Igor Ozighanov out of CSKA Moscow – unnamed sources say that deal is done (sorry Lou) – but the 25-year-old is a lottery ticket not unlike Nikita Zaitsev, Calle Rosen and Andreas Borgman were the last couple years.
Had Toronto made a splash at the trade deadline by acquiring Ryan McDonagh or Mike Green, it might have survived a first-round series with Boston. The team got stuck in its own zone far too much in that series and couldn’t hold the Bruins off after taking a lead into the third period of Game 7.
“It’s not a hidden secret that we tried to upgrade our defence, but at the expense it wasn’t the right thing to do,” said Lamoriello. “Because when you do that you have to subtract and what you subtract you have to be careful.”
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The best way to sum up his approach to asset management since arriving in Toronto on July 23, 2015 is patient. With the circumstances of the team shifting – Nylander, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner will account for at least $20-million in combined cap space starting in 2019-20 – there is a growing case to be bold.
The Leafs now see themselves as an automatic playoff team, one that is setting its sights directly on the Stanley Cup. Management must get the talented trio signed to extensions and find a way to keep enough quality players around them to contend.
We can safely assume 32-year-old Kyle Dubas might have different ideas about how best to accomplish that aim than Lamoriello. He’s the most likely successor should a new GM be installed this summer.
Looking back, it was a surprise when Shanahan reached into his past and gave the job to Lamoriello in the first place, but the Hall of Famer threw himself head first into the position after more than two decades in New Jersey, relocating to Toronto full-time and spending virtually every day with the team at home and on the road.
At no point this season did he look like a guy getting ready to step back or retire. Which is why it seemed a bit strange on Friday when he didn’t take the opportunity to acknowledge a desire to stay on the job.
“I just don’t believe in talking about that,” said Lamoriello. “It’s not anything inconsistent with what I’ve done my whole career. So how all of this comes out I respect, I understand it. I just won’t talk about it.”
The rest of us don’t have that option. Lamoriello’s future is the story of consequence for the Leafs entering the summer and it’s tough not to look at what’s being said – and what isn’t – and wonder if someone different will be cracking jokes at that podium next year.
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