Stan Fischler has covered Lou Lamoriello regimes starting in 1987, and never did The Man tell me his goaltending "secrets."
I've covered Lou Lamoriello regimes starting in 1987, and never did The Man tell me his goaltending "secrets."
He didn't have to since I saw it first-hand.
You have your big guy -- in this case, Martin Brodeur -- but you make sure that you have a backup to your backup.
That was vivid when Lou's New Jersey Devils won their first Stanley Cup in 1995. His backup was the admirable Mike Dunham.
Dunny's man in the bullpen was Corey Schwab, one of the feistiest puck-stoppers on this side of the ole corral. Doesn't that remind you of Lou's wisdom in not trading Semyon Varlamov, whose value increases by the day? We all know that Ilya Sorokin is Number One. But we also know that Varly has starred as well in that role. Good for Lou, having Varly in the fold.
This summer, the Islanders signed Varlamov to a four-year extension worth $2.75 million annually. Sorokin, who has one year left on his contract, agreed to an eight-year extension worth $8.25 million annually.
I'm reminded of them now that the Lightning have announced that Andrei Vasilevskiy will be sidelined for a couple of months due to surgery. Egad! What a cad!
This puts Bolts boss Julien BriseBois in the state of Dilemmas-ville when it comes to backups Hugo Alnefelt and Jonas Johansson. According to my Florida spies, the Hugo and Jonas act just isn't NHL caliber.
BriseBois has been highly regarded as one of the NHL's elite executives. Right now, his general managing skills will be put to the ultimate test.