Lou Lamoriello

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Louis "Lou" Lamoriello (born October 21, 1942) is the CEO, president and general manager of the New Jersey Devils of the National Hockey League. Lamoriello, who has been with the Devils since 1987, has served longer than any current GM in the league. He played a key part in negotiating the settlement of the 2004-05 NHL lockout. Prior to joining the Devils, Lamoriello was the athletic director and men's ice hockey coach at Providence College, his alma mater. He coached Providence's ice hockey team since 1968 and was named athletic director in 1982. During his stint in this position, he hired Rick Pitino as the head coach of the Providence's men's basketball team. Pitino would go on to take Providence to the Final Four in 1987.

He served as the GM for Team USA in the 1998 Winter Olympics. In 1992, he was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to hockey in the United States.

On December 19, 2005, following the surprise resignation of Larry Robinson as Devils head coach, Lamoriello took over the position on an interim basis. The Devils eventually made it the Eastern Conference semi-finals before falling to the Carolina Hurricanes. When asked on television after the Devils' victory over the New York Rangers in the first round of the playoffs if he was interested in becoming head coach permanently, Lamoriello replied "Absolutely not."

Lou Lamoriello was also a math teacher at Johnston (R.I.) High School for several years ending in the early 1970s.

He has served as the Devils general manager for close to 20 years.