New Jersey Devils: Does Lou Lamoriello Now Trade With His Old Team?

Lou Lamoriello joined his second team since leaving the New Jersey Devils three years ago. Will he now make a move for some of the Devils he signed during his time here?

Lou Lamoriello was once the best general manager in the NHL, when he was running the New Jersey Devils for the better part of three decades. He was once the most tenured GM in all of sports. It was quite the feat, even if he started making some mistakes towards the end of the tenure.

Once Ray Shero was hired by new owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer, the writing was on the wall. Lou’s time in New Jersey was coming to an end. After one year of the partnership, Lamoriello left for the Toronto Maple Leafs to pair himself with Brendan Shanahan.

Once Lou left, Devils fans were thinking the Maple Leafs would become our trading partner. It made sense. Lou was the one who signed, drafted and traded for the current players on Jersey’s Team. It made sense he would look to add them to the fold, and there were plenty of Maple Leafs that would fit on the Devils.

Despite our hopes and dreams, that trade never happened. Unless you count trading Sergey Kalinin for Victor Loov, which you shouldn’t. There were no major trades between Lou and his former team.

Much of that had to do with the Maple Leafs and Devils looking for the same thing. They were both looking to get younger and faster. When teams are looking for the same thing, it’s near impossible to make a trade. If a player makes your team younger and faster, then you won’t want to trade them.

This situation is different. The Islanders are in a different spot than the Devils are right now. The Isles are desperately trying to get into contention. They need to make a move prior to free agency to show John Tavares they are making changes. This is where a trade between Lou’s old team and new team may happen.

The Islanders have plenty of scoring (especially if Tavares re-signs), but their biggest problem is they can’t stop a goal for the life of them. They were last in goals against. No team in the NHL allowed 3.6 goals per game, except the Islanders. What’s worse, is the Islanders were last in penalty kill percentage. They allowed goals on nearly 27 percent of opponents power plays.

The Devils, on the other hand, ranked eighth in the entire league in penalty kill. The team has a plethora of penalty killers in Blake Coleman, Jesper Bratt, Travis Zajac, Brian Gibbons (if he re-signs), Pavel Zacha and Michael Grabner (he probably won’t re-sign). This is without Brian Boyle, who’s a giant who can win faceoffs, playing with the man disadvantage.

More from Pucks and Pitchforks

• Should New Jersey Devils Try Load Management With Vitek Vanecek?
• New Jersey Devils Will Prove That Last Year Wasn’t A Fluke
• New Jersey Devils: Luke Hughes’ Playmaking Will Outshine His Mistakes
• New Jersey Devils: Chase Stillman’s Performance Causes Concern
• Can Devils Fans Separate Zach Parise Heartbreak From Achievements?

The Devils also have a goalie the Islanders probably want. Keith Kinkaid is from Long Island. He was amazing for the Devils down the stretch. Despite Cory Schneider solidifying himself as the starter in the playoffs, there’s no denying the value of Kinkaid. He’s the reason the Devils made the playoffs in the first place. The Islanders currently have swiss cheese in net, no offense to Jaroslav Halak. They desperately need to upgrade their goaltender.

The Devils have some players the Islanders would like, and the Devils could use someone in return. Maybe the Devils take a chance on Josh Ho Sang, who I really liked in the draft. There are other young players that could work, or possibly a defenseman to add to the Devils depth.

A deal between these two teams could actually work, unlike a deal with the Maple Leafs. Expect Lou to use the red line to make a call to Shero.