Devils' Embarrassment Against Rangers Makes Lou Lamoriello's Seat Even Hotter

It would be hard to find a more painful end to a regular season in New Jersey Devils history than the one the team has experienced this year.

New Jersey's demoralizing 6-1 defeat at Madison Square Garden on Saturday was hard to swallow, but it left the Devils one game to, for once this season, make things right.

The Devils' biggest rival, the New York Rangers, came to the Prudential Center on Tuesday night with a chance to clinch the Presidents' Trophy with a victory. New Jersey had one last chance to play in a big, meaningful game and prove that there is some hope for this team.

Instead, the Devils were thoroughly outplayed for 60 minutes and outshot 19-4 in the first period and 14-6 in the second period. They committed seven minor penalties in the first two periods and ultimately lost 4-2 in their final home game of the 2014-15 season.

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Devils players took a final curtain call before heading off the Prudential Center ice for the last time this season. They were greeted largely by a chorus of boos. The players told Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice that they believe it was Rangers fans doing the booing, but does it really matter?

Is it more embarrassing to be booed off the ice by your own fans in your last home game of the regular season, or to be booed off the ice by the fans of your rivals, who were the only ones who still had any interest in the last five minutes of the game?

Ultimately, it does not matter. What does matter is that the Rangers head to the playoffs with a real chance of winning the Stanley Cup, while the Devils miss out on the postseason for a third straight year.

At the end of the day, primary blame for this fact falls on one man—general manager Lou Lamoriello.

Of course, this is not to say that Lamoriello has not done some good things in recent years. His trade for Cory Schneider during the 2013 NHL entry draft was a brilliant move that filled a clear need for the Devils. After this season, there is little doubt that Schneider is a high-quality starting goaltender.

Lamoriello has also managed to put together a young, talented defensive corps led by underrated veteran Andy Greene. Though Adam Larsson, Jon Merrill, Damon Severson and Eric Gelinas still need to refine their games, there are few more promising groups of defensemen in the NHL.

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But Lamoriello has utterly botched countless offensive-focused transactions, the culmination of which has made the Devils blatantly toothless in front of goal. He has gotten a pass from New Jersey's ownership thus far, likely based largely on his storied history with the franchise. But as the Devils watch their cross-river rivals put together two solid seasons while Lamoriello's team closes up shop in April once again, ownership's patience ought to be running thin.

Make no mistake, Lamoriello is on the hot seat now more than ever, and he has only himself to blame.

Lamoriello's mismanagement starts in the draft. A review of the forwards drafted by the Devils over the last 15 years is a nightmare of near-misses and flame-outs.

From 2000-2002, the Devils drafted six forwards in the first two rounds of the NHL entry draft. Combined, those players played 37 games for New Jersey. Three players did not suit up a single time for the Devils.

In 2003, Lamoriello took Zach Parise with the 17th overall pick. Of course, Parise remains an extremely talented player, but he no longer plies his trade with the Devils, about which I will say more below.

In 2004, the Devils selected Travis Zajac with the 20th overall pick. Zajac is certainly an NHL-caliber player and has put up 60 points in a season twice during his time with the Devils. His numbers have dipped in recent seasons, but the extent to which that has to do with New Jersey's declining offensive ability is somewhat unclear.

Between 2005 and 2008, the Devils' top offensive draft choices included Niclas Bergfors (now of the KHL), Alexander Vasyunov (who also moved to the KHL before tragically passing away in the Lokomotiv plane crash of 2011), Mike Hoeffel (who has not yet played an NHL game) and Mattias Tedenby (now of the Swedish Elite League).

In 2009, Lamoriello drafted Jacob Josefson with the 20th overall pick. Josefson has turned into a serviceable center, but he surely is not the forward whom the Devils hoped they were getting with a first-round draft pick.

In 2010, New Jersey selected no forwards at any point during the draft. In 2011, the Devils took no forwards in the first two rounds, though they did pick up Reid Boucher in the third round.

It is difficult to assess prospects acquired more recently than 2011, as such players are barely into their 20s. Still, it is worth noting that the Devils have no forward prospects who are clearly ready to break into the NHL.

The free-agent market has not been any kinder to Lamoriello over the last five years. Lamoriello did well to secure Ilya Kovalchuk to a long-term contract after the 2009-10 season, but he failed to do so with Parise before the winger became an unrestricted free agent after the 2011-12 season.

The Devils made a competitive offer for Parise, but his heart was always going to be in Minnesota, and with fellow free agent and friend Ryan Suter heading there as well, the die was cast by the time Parise hit the market. Lamoriello's transgression was not in the offer that he made to Parise as a free agent then but rather in his inability to lock up Parise before he hit the market.

Lamoriello wisely let David Clarkson go after the 2012-13 season. He was never going to be worth the money that it would have cost to keep him in New Jersey, but coupled with Kovalchuk's unexpected departure for Russia, the Devils suddenly had extremely few goal scorers. This crisis was not by any means brought about solely by Lamoriello's incompetence, but poor decisions on his part certainly played a role.

Since then, Lamoriello has made five offensive-minded free-agent signings. Jaromir Jagr led the Devils in points last season, and Michael Cammalleri leads the Devils in goals this season, so both of those signings were successful. But Michael Ryder, Ryane Clowe and Martin Havlat have combined for only 97 points in 225 games as Devils players.

The result of Lamoriello's continued failure to find talented forwards in the draft and free agency leaves the Devils where they have been for much of the last three seasons—a team with a stellar goalie, a solid and improving defense and an over-reliance on a few average and above-average forwards.

Those teams have performed exactly how one might expect. The Devils are 28th, 27th and 28th in the NHL in goals scored over the last three seasons, but they are 13th, ninth and 15th in goals against.

Lamoriello has told Gulitti that the team needs two scoring forwards to turn things around next year. His assessment is likely correct—as noted previously, the Devils have plenty of talent in goal and on the blue line. They simply need goals.

But, frankly, that has been the case over each of the last two offseasons, as well. If Lamoriello can truly add two legitimate scoring threats this offseason, there is no reason that the Devils cannot turn it around.

If Lamoriello fails to do so, though, humiliating nights like the one that Devils endured on Tuesday will happen again next season.

If that is the case, Lamoriello may find himself not on the hot seat, but in the unemployment line.