Devils to Face Leafs, Lamoriello Tonight

The New Jersey Devils will visit Toronto tonight, to face off with the Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre. It will also mark their first game against general manager Lou Lamoriello (Providence), the former Devils GM/CEO/President who guided New Jersey to three Stanley Cups in a 28-year span from 1987 to 2015 before he left for Toronto this summer.

Former college players scheduled to be in New Jersey's lineup tonight, according to NHL.com: Mike Cammalleri (Michigan), Lee Stempniak (Dartmouth), Kyle Palmieri (Notre Dame), Brian O'Neill (Yale), Stephen Gionta (Boston College), Bobby Farnham (Brown), Andy Greene (Miami), John Merrill (Michigan), Cory Schneider (Boston College), and Keith Kinkaid (Union).

The Devils are currently 14-10-3 overall and 4-4-2 in their last 10 outings. The Leafs are 9-13-5 (4-5-1) to date.

ADDENDUM: Toronto triumphed in a shootout, 3-2.

Lamoriello Leaves Devils, Joins Leafs

New Jersey Devils president and Providence College Hall of Famer Lou Lamoriello resigned from his position this morning after a total of 28 years with the Devils organization. He was announced hours later as the new general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Lamoriello’s NHL tenure in the Garden State included three Stanley Cup Championships, five Eastern Conference titles, and nine Atlantic Division Championships. New Jersey fashioned a record of 1,093-779-268 (.578) during the regular-season and 136-116 (.540) in the post-season with him at the helm, according to the team website. The Devils won the Stanley Cup in 1995, 2000 and 2003 with Lamoriello in charge, and also made appearances in the Stanley Cup Final in 2001 and 2012.

Lamoriello served as Devils head coach on several occasions, including the second half of last season when he was partnered with Adam Oates and Scot Stevens as New Jersey missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth time in five campaigns. He led the Devils to a 32-14-4 mark in 50 games in 2005-06 as head coach.

Lamoriello was replaced in May as Devils general manager by Ray Shero, although he still retained the title of president.

Prior to joining New Jersey in 1987, Lamoriello served as Providence’s athletic director and was also commissioner of the Hockey East Association. He was Providence’s hockey coach for 15 seasons, and compiling a .578 winning percentage (248-179-13) with the Friars, according to NHL.com. A 1963 Providence graduate who lettered in both baseball and hockey, he guided the Friars to a dozen post-season tournaments in a row as coach, including the 1983 NCAA Final Four.

Lamoriello was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the builders’ category in 2009, followed by his induction into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame three years later.

Huntsville Goes with Kleinendorst

The University of Alabama-Huntsville hockey program, still seeking a conference home after competing the last two seasons as an NCAA Division I independent, has turned to the professional ranks for its next bench boss.

UAH announced last week that it had hired Kurt Kleinendorst, who spent the last two seasons coaching Binghamton (AHL), as its new head coach. He replaces Chris Luongo, a former Michigan State and NHL player who guided the Chargers for the past two years.

"It was something I had been kind of thinking about and now everything has worked out," said Kleinendorst recently at al.com.

A native of Grand Rapids, Minn., Kleinendorst, 51, played four years at Providence College (1979-1983) for current New Jersey Devils President/GM Lou Lamoriello, and tallied 89 goals and 103 assists for 192 points in 123 collegiate games while earning All-America accolades. Drafted by the New York Rangers (77th overall ) in 1980, Kleinendorst played six years of minor-league hockey before turning to the coaching ranks with Raleigh (ECHL) in 1991.

He was part of the Devils' system for nine years, including a stint as head coach of the AHL's Lowell Devils (2006-09), and has also coached in Europe and with the U.S National Team Development Program in his career. He was also an assistant coach in New Jersey during the 2001-02 NHL campaign..

His predecessor, Luongo, inherited  a tough job at UAH when he succeeded fellow Michigan State grad Danton Cole in 2010, after the Chargers had made their second-ever NCAA Division I Tournament appearance. UAH managed only six wins over the past two seasons, with the threat of being dropped as a varsity sport coming dangerously close to reality last year.

It's not known why UAH decided to let Luongo go, who is a class act, and he's wished well; but maybe the hiring of Kleinendorst signals that the university is making a committment to have the "Hockey Capital of the South" stick around a while.

His old college coach believes so.

"There is no question in my mind that Kurt will be a decided asset to the University of Alabama-Huntsville hockey team both on and off the ice, and help UAH in their pursuit of a major Division I hockey conference affiliation," said Lamoriello at the UAH athletic web site.

Lamoriello Inducted into U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame

Former Providence College hockey coach and athletic director Lou Lamoriello, who has guided the New Jersey Devils organization for the last quarter-century, was inducted this week into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame along with former NHL players Mike Modano and Ed Olczyk. Lamoriello had previously been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in the builders category in 2009.

The Devils President/CEO/General Manager, Lamoriello has shepherded the once-woeful franchise to five Stanley Cup finals (1995, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2012), with New Jersey winning three championships (1995, 2000, 2003).  Under his watch, the Devils have gone 1,007-695-226 (.581) in 1,928 regular-season games, and 134-116 (.536) in 250 playoff outings. In two separate head coaching stints behind the New Jersey bench, in 2005-06 and 2006-07, the Devils went 34-14-5 in regular-season play (.689) and 10-10 in the postseason, in their final two seasons playing at the Meadowlands.

A former Providence skater, Lamoriello tallied 58 goals and 60 assists for 118 points for the Friars in 64 games from 1960 to 1962. He became Providence's head coach in 1968-69, and by the time he was finished after the 1982-83 campaign, when he served as both coach and AD, the Friars had gone 248-179-13 in 440 games (.578), winning the 1981 ECAC Championship and making an appearance in the 1983 NCAA Frozen Four.

One of the founding members of the Hockey East Association in 1984-85, he also served as commissioner of the league before joining the Devils, and the Hockey East playoff tournament trophy has borne Lamoriello's name since 1989. Among his many other honors, he was presented with the Lester Patrick Trophy in 1992 for service to hockey in the United States, and is also a member of several other halls of fame in both New England and New Jersey.