4 0814devils ARISTIDE

Lou Lamoriello will keep his position as general manager of the Devils even if they miss the playoffs for a third straight season. He assumed that post in 1987. (Aristide Economopoulos | The Star-Ledger)

NEWARK — How much clout do three Stanley Cup rings bring, even it's been 12 years since the last championship?

Enough, NJ Media Advance has learned, that Lou Lamoriello will remain the Devils' general manager, even if the team misses the playoffs for a third straight season and for the fourth time in five years.

Owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer have enough faith in Lamoriello's ability to return the Devils to Stanley Cup contenders that he will keep his position despite the belief by some critics that it's time to move on.

Both owners refused interview requests for this story, but people in the Devils organization familiar with their thinking say Lamoriello will stay on. Those people requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak on the club's front office personnel.

"My view has been, 'Why tamper with success?' " Harris said this past fall in a meeting at the NJ Advance offices. "When we hand out $40-plus-million on contracts, rest assured we're spending a lot of time talking, discussing, analyzing.

"As outsiders, we ask: Where can we add value to what Lou is doing for an extra tool? My view is it's been successful. We do focus on results, but I don't think a season or two seasons really detract from the system that is in place. Maybe the best system in the NHL. Lou has won three Stanley Cups, and the Devils, on the ice, have been the most-winning franchise over the last two decades."

Close. In the 20 years since they won their first Stanley Cup in 1995, the Devils have the second-best record in the NHL, to the Detroit Red Wings, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Since their last championship in 2003, the Devils have the eighth-best record in the league. The Red Wings have the best.

Lamoriello would not discuss his job security. Opposing GMs and team executives — who requested anonymity so they could speak freely about Lamoriello — were asked if they believed he was safe.

"That's a good question. I haven't talked to him about it, but to the extent of his job not being safe, I don't see that at all," one front office executive from a Western Conference club said. "He talks a lot about the future and that means he's involved in the future. Of course, that's for the people above him to answer, but the feeling I have is, if you asked me, I don't think there will be a change.

"I don't know what will transpire after the next few seasons, but I haven't heard or felt anything that would suggest anything is changing any time soon."

NHL analyst Pierre McGuire doesn't believe there's a need for change.

"I don't think there has been a better hockey man in the NHL since the mid-1980s than Lou Lamoriello," McGuire said. "He's got an idea of what he wants his organization to be and they (succeed) with that identity. I think he's done as good a job or better than anyone in the league in forming an organizational identity which makes his team have success."

There is a case to be made against Lamoriello, however:

* In addition to the Devils being on the verge of missing the playoffs again, few endorsed his current coaching setup after he fired Pete DeBoer on Dec. 26. Lamoriello has been on the bench between Scott Stevens and Adam Oates. It has worked reasonably well, but Lamoriello had extended DeBoer's contract only months earlier.

* Even though Lamoriello is an icon, he is 72 and Harris and Blitzer inherited him. Still, there seems to be some level of respect, even though upper management clearly is frustrated by Lamoriello's never-ending attempts to block marketing and promotion ideas. That stubborn side of the GM might eventually be his downfall.

"Lou and I are very different. We're different ages. We've had different experiences," said Harris, 50. "But I buy into his system and the reality is, stuff happens. There was a difficult (financial) situation before we got here. I don't know how much of that reflected (in the team's record).

"Good people and good systems can have disappointing years. We're focused on making this a great franchise over the long term."

* Attendance at Prudential Center is not great, Lamoriello will not budge on bringing in added revenue via a third jersey and ownership takes a significant annual financial hit each time the Devils miss the playoffs.

Harris and Blitzer do not appear overly concerned about attendance this winter. As they overhaul the franchise, their focus is long-term. There is no denying they butt heads with Lamoriello, but — little by little — new, progressive policies have been put into place.

"If we win, my job is a whole lot easier," Devils CEO Scott O'Neil told NJ Advance Media before the season. "We're on the same team. We can spend time focusing on the three percent of things that we disagree on or have philosophical differences on. We spend most of our time on the 97 percent we agree on. You want third jerseys? No? All right.

"Hockey is about the history and tradition and magic of the sport. What you see in sports is that memory you have of going to that Cup game or first game or chanting, 'Marty.' Whatever that memory is that keeps you coming back, hockey has that in spades over any other sport. And I think Lou is the holder or keeper or champion of that. He's the face of the franchise. No doubt. He's a Hall of Fame legend."

* Lamoriello has a mathematics background, but he does not fully embrace analytics that so many teams are using - including the Philadelphia 76ers, also owned by Harris and Blitzer, and acknowledged by ESPN as the NBA's top analytics franchise. The old-school Lamoriello prefers his own stats and video techniques.

"The league is highly competitive and we need to keep innovating," Harris said.

* A lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court against Lamoriello by Richard Krezwick, the former president of Devils Arena Entertainment, paints an ugly picture of Lamoriello. Krezwick claims Lamoriello regularly cursed and disparaged him, costing him $2.25 million he would have made under the new ownership team.

While courts will determine the validity of the legal action, several Devils employees say Lamoriello can be an intolerable boss or co-worker and a control freak. But they add that some of Krezwick's claims seem out of character for Lamoriello.

* Critics say the game, at times, appears to have passed Lamoriello by, and they cite his insistence on acquiring players past their primes, playing a style that won a decade ago and a poor track record on signing free agents.

Yet Lamoriello signed Mike Cammalleri to a good contract, made a brilliant move by trading a first-round draft pick to acquire goalie Cory Schneider and impressed his peers by getting second- and third-round draft picks for Jaromir Jagr recently.

"Obviously, the game has changed for everybody, especially with the salary cap coming in in 2000," McGuire said. "But I don't think it's passed him by. He's tremendously knowledgeable as far as talking about players and different aspects of hockey.

"He and Scotty Bowman remind me so much of each other. Scotty is 81 years old and he could still run a team. There is no question he could still run a team. And I think Lou Lamoriello is just like Scotty Bowman in so many ways."

Schneider agreed.

"He knows the game and he knows the game well," the goalie said. "I think sometimes he even has a different perspective of the game than most other people do."

Lamoriello's security beyond this summer will hinge on the rebuilding.

"Knowing him, if they don't give him the authority to make the decisions he believes in to be competitive, I'm sure he'll get tired of it. If you have (authority) taken away from you, sometimes it's time to move on," one NHL executive said. "He's a pretty confident guy. I've never heard him open up and say stuff like (losing player personnel power) at all.

"Right now, he's got a lot on his plate with the trade deadline coming up and him being on the bench. It's got to be really tough on him. He's not 50 anymore. But Lou is the Devils. It's hard to think that somebody else will be running it eventually. Like with Harry Sinden (with the Boston Bruins). People move on. That doesn't mean Lou will move on from the organization, but maybe (some day) from the role he has now."

But not yet.

Rich Chere may be reached at rchere@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Ledger_NJDevils. Find NJ.com on Facebook.