Vanderbeeek: Report "very inaccurate"; Lamoriello not being relieved of duties

Devils chairman/managing partner Jeff Vanderbeek said this morning that a report in Monday's Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal was "very inaccurate."

The report said that team president, CEO and general manager Lou Lamoriello would be relieved of his business operations duties and replaced by a business executive.

"They never talked to me about it," Vanderbeek said.

Vanderbeek said emphatically that "Lou is not being relieved of his duties and Lou and I are both working together on this."

Vanderbeek confirmed that the team has hired the executive search firm, James and Co., but to field candidates for an "arena business executive" position and not to take over Lamoriello's team business operations responsibilities.

Vanderbeek said he and Lamoriello are looking for someone to oversee the "combined services" of sponsorships, the legal department, finance and ancillary development around Prudential Center. This would not only involve the Devils, but also the New Jersey Ironmen (indoor soccer), some Seton Hall basketball events, concerts, family shows and other events that the Newark arena would host.

Vanderbeek said Lamoriello will not be losing any of his powers with the team.

Comments

[modnarm]

hm. interesting.

[Mikedeadworks]

Interesting. When I first read the original story on PuckDaddy and went over the line: The president of Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, an executive search service for franchises, told the Ledger that the Prudential Center and other assets demand "a person in there whose only focus is on driving revenue.".... the first thing I thought was, "Okay well, I guess the Devils will be getting a 3rd jersey now"

[Skillet]

The Devils 3rd Jersey should have Lou's face on the crest.

Let's Go Devils!

[MoonDragn]

We already have a New Jersey. We don't need another one.

[Scratch-?-]

I hope all this nonsense isn't distracting the team, they need to be 100% focused on tonight. I'm so nervous today my stomach is turning already.

[95-00-03 and Beyond!]

I wanna see a jersey with 4 Stanley Cups on it ;)

Will be there tonight and can't wait for the puck to drop!

LET'S GO DEVILS!!!!!!!

[Mikedeadworks]

Didn't say I want a new jersey or we need one. Just saying that was what I first thought about.

And yea hopefully this isn't a distraction, it shouldn't be since it has no bearings on anything at this point. If anything it is saying Lou is more focused on making the team itself better in the future.

[Drew]

How can it be distracting? It has absolutely nothing to do with the Players. Plus as most of you know sometimes the players don't know things until a decent amount of time has past, so I am pretty sure that most, if not all of the players have no idea of this report.

[Scratch-?-]

Hopefully they don't know, and if they do, hopefully it doesn't face them, I just thought that like in any job, you hear rumblings about your boss and your company and generally it catches your attention. Anyway, I guess just to be sure, I wish all this had come out tomorrow. But I'm sure everything will be just fine. Let's Go Devils!

[HF]

We all better be going to support the boys tonight. We need to be there for them and they will respond....

[Matt]

Haha, I think they should have a black Devils Regulation Jersey. Especially when they play teams that wear red. I think maybe that was some of the problem the last game. Saw red jersey's thought they were there team mates. It can only explain the tape to tap passes to the Carolina players.

[RickyM2]

Honestly, I dont think the players care wether Lou sells staduim hot dogs or not. They just care that he stays in the organization. If the players familys and friends went to the stadium, Im sure they already know the food sucks, and they know who was selling them

[RickyM2]

ITS VERY IMPORTANT THAT NO MATTER HOW THE GAME UNFOLDS, WE SCREAM ARE HEADS OFF!!!! I KEEP REDING WHERE THE PLAYERS KEEP MAKING REFERENCES TO OUR HOME FANS...... I THINK, IN A WAY, THEY ARE ASKING US TO BLOW THE ROOF OFF THAT JOINT!!!!!
I specifically left my quiet girlfriend at home and gave her ticket to the loudest basterd I know!!!

[HF]

good job rickyM2....the noise must start with warmups and then during intro should get crazy.....

[Scratch-?-]

Good one Ricky!

[Morethanyouknow]

Fans can scream all they want and cheer..awesome. However, it comes down to the players on the ice and a Championship team should not need care if their home or away unless it deal with a line change.

[Topshlf]

It is funny to read this about Lou. A friend of mine got hired by the Devils on the business side of things back in 93. He was a huge fan, so it was awesome for him. We got some amazing tickets especially for the playoffs, though 94 was a tough year.

He wound up leaving the Devils in late in 95 after the cup season. His main beef with leaving was that Lou had his hands in everything and tried to run every single little thing that went on in the organization.

This is good news I think. Lou needs to focus on the hockey end. Our drafting in recent years and our free agent decisions have been poor.

[lowelldevilsfan]

Too bad it's not what was first speculated. It would benefit the entire org if he stepped away from the business side of things. He never had as much of a grasp on the business end of things. Heck even at this point I don;t think he's done all that well on the player side since the cap. We need more koolaid.

[Joe]

Lou better have a job for life!!!!

[George Bendemann]

look for free agent that Lou picked up, Brendan Shananahan to be a difference maker tonight!