Lou Lamoriello’s move away from the position of New Jersey Devils General Manager was only a matter of time. We knew this was coming, we just didn’t know when. We finally got our answer. Presumably, the Devils and Lamoriello waited to make this move until a suitable replacement for Lamoriello was in place.
While most of the hockey world is justifiably taking stock of Lamoriello’s massive impact on the Devils and on the NHL in general, it’s his replacement, former Penguins GM Ray Shero, who draws my attention. The Devils had all this time to search for, vet, and hand-pick potential successors to Lou’s throne. And Ray Shero is the guy they come up with?
Shero’s tenure in Pittsburgh, from 2006-2014, represents his only experience as general manager, and his track record was less than stellar (in my eyes). Yes, he won the 2009 Stanley Cup and reached the 2008 Final. But how much of those teams’ core was he actually responsible for? Remember, when he took over the Penguins job, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Sergei Gonchar, and Marc-Andre Fleury were already on the club. Kris Letang was already in the organization. Jordan Staal came aboard in the 2006 draft, but as Arik Parnass points out well, attributing draft picks to a general manager is a slippery slope.
So, although Shero undoubtedly did some good things after taking over in Pittsburgh—including acquiring Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis for peanuts, basically—much of the team on which his reputation is built was actually constructed by his predecessor in the Steel City, Craig Patrick. Let’s also remember that the Penguins’ 2009 Stanley Cup championship team was playing poorly (26th in the league in score-adjusted Corsi) before Michel Therrien was replaced with Bylsma. Credit to Shero for hiring Dan Bylsma, who turned things around in a hurry. But perhaps the lion’s share of credit for winning the Cup in 2009 should go to Bylsma himself, not Shero.
Additionally, Shero’s Penguins teams, toward the end of his time in Pittsburgh, fell victim to the same pitfall again and again, and Shero never seemed to learn. There used to be an awesome blog post here that described the repeated failings of Pittsburgh’s third and fourth lines, and how the makeup of Shero’s teams burdened Crosby and Malkin to score at unreasonable levels. Unfortunately, you’ll just have to take my word for it because Tyler Dellow took down his blog when he was hired by the Oilers. But take my word for it: the data showed that Pittsburgh’s third and fourth lines, the much ballyhooed supporting cast for Sidney Crosby, actually wasn’t that good. And Shero’s to blame.
Of course, if the rumors are true that Shero and Dan Bylsma are a package deal, choosing Shero to insure Bylsma as bench boss makes a lot more sense. Even so, for Devils fans, it’s worth tempering expectations for Shero until he proves he can build—not just inherit—a consistently successful team.
