Lou Lamoriello is an original. One of a kind who walks with hockey’s historical giants. He belongs in the same sentence with Sam Pollock and Bill Torrey.
He created the powerhouse Devils in his own image. He had a large hand in restoring the Maple Leafs to respectability.
And for his third act, Lamoriello’s gravitas reversed the Islanders’ image as a laughingstock while generating the franchise’s greatest success since the Dynasty came to an end four decades ago.
But Lamoriello is out now after, as we hear it, losing a power struggle to operating partner and alternate governor John Collins in representing the Scott Malkin-Jon Ledecky ownership that wanted more control — control, period — over the operation after ceding authority to the three-time Stanley Cup winner.
