It has been just shy of 50 years since an NHL player wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey has even seen a Stanley Cup Final game. Despite winning the cup that year, I do not think that ANYONE expected the severity of the teams impending championship drought.

Despite gradually worse finishes in the league in the past 3 years (going from 23^rd in 2014, to 27^th in 2015, to finishing in dead last in 2016), excitement has been growing in the city of Toronto.

The team has been extremely active on the trading floor, and many of the trades have not been losers for the organization. Recent additions such as Alex Stalock (from SJS) as well as the acquisition of Brooks Laich (from WSH) make strong moves in solidifying a rocky goaltending situation as well as adding power and experienced leadership in their forwards. Trades like Phil Kessel to PIT also do a good job of shedding a lot of cap space, which is incredibly important as the Canadian economy continues to put pressure on Canadian salary caps. Despite all these excellent and well advised moves, I do not believe the Toronto Maple Leafs will be a Stanley Cup contender any time soon.

Now I’ve spent all this time praising them for effectively rebuilding a younger team, why am I going back on all that praise now? There is only one answer: Lou Lamoriello. Lamoriello spent 27 years as the General Manager and President of Hockey Operations for the New Jersey Devils. During that time the Devils won 3 Stanley Cups, appeared in 5 total Stanley Cup Finals, and made the playoffs in all but 5 seasons. Lamoriello was also a key instrument in bringing future NHL stars into the league from the former Soviet Union, completely altering the league as we know it today (being instrumental in opening the NHL to Soviet players was one of the key points of Lamoriello’s induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2009). Lamoriello knows hockey. That is a downright irrefutable fact. However, time passes, and this is something not even Lamoriello can outrun.

The Devils made the playoffs in all but 5 seasons with Lamoriello at the helm. On May 4^th, 2015, Lamoriello stepped down as general manager of the Devils, and on July 23^rd, 2015 Lamoriello announced that he would be resigning as President of the New Jersey Devils to accept a position as a general manager for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Of the 5 seasons the Devils did not make the playoffs, 3 of those seasons were Lamoriello’s last years with the organization. From a Stanley Cup Final run in 2012, to not making the playoffs the next 4 straight seasons, it still remains a mystery why Brendan Shanahan (President of Hockey Operations for the Toronto Maple Leafs) would hire a clearly failing General Manager (with the exception of the obvious argument that Shanahan was drafted in the first round by Lamoriello in 1987 NHL draft, Lamoriello’s first ever pick as an NHL GM).

Lamoriello’s genius aside, his biggest problem is a severe inability to keep up with an ever evolving game. Lou Lamoriello found success in building a team from the goalie up, building a team and teaching the game solely on a “the best offense is a good defense” mindset. This was all well and good in the 1990s and early 2000s, when there was no shortage of defensive players and hockey mentality was significantly slower, partly due to the lack of protective equipment. However, hockey is a different game today. As the game grew and expanded further west, younger kids began playing adding a new element of speed to the game. Offside and icing rules changed, goalie pads got bigger and the crease got smaller. Protective equipment got better allowing all players to skate faster, being able to afford collisions at high speeds with new gear. The west, being fairly new to hockey, was able to pick up the new mindset quickly to coach players in the evolving game. Eastern coaches and GMs still continue to be slow, drafting large players who only play defense. But emphasizing size on defense allows young, fast players who are effective passers to pull any Eastern defense out of position, hanging any goalie out to dry. These are lessons that dated Eastern hockey executives refuse to learn, still trying to build teams defense first. Do not get me wrong, defense is still an extremely important facet, but many western teams feature phenomenal goalies and fast, effective defensemen (for example, Drew Doughty LAK, Brent Seabrook CHI, Brent Burns SJS).

Time passes.

The players change, the rules change, the equipment changes, and teams in the east cannot survive with old GMs like Lou Lamoriello refusing to hire coaches that will not teach anything else “defense first”. Lamoriello may know the game extremely well, and he may be able to lead an effective draft, but no amount of good players will ever be enough if you have a coaching staff teaching these young, impressionable players a game that was only effective 10 years ago. I may always be a small fan of the underdog, but with Lou Lamoriello continuing to spearhead the rebuild of the Toronto Maple Leafs, I firmly believe that Leafs fans will have to continue waiting before their long, depressing playoff drought finally comes to an end.