The “teacher vs. student” story line is one that will populate the Stanley Cup finals this year. We’ve got a bit of it in seeing Mike Richards go up against his former junior coach Peter DeBoer, but there’s one at the executive level as well.
Kings GM Dean Lombardi views Devils GM Lou Lamoriello as his mentor and tells Tom Gulitti of Fire & Ice, he’s more than thankful for everything Lamoriello has done to help him become one of the top general managers in the NHL. It all dates back to when Lombardi became the GM of the San Jose Sharks and needed some guidance, something Lamoriello was happy to hook him up with.
“You just get the sense that if he sees somebody who really wants to work and do the right thing, he’ll reach out,” said Lombardi, a Holyoke, Mass. native who took over as the Kings GM in 2006. “It’s kind of strange. It’s kind of that godfather mentality. Who knows? Maybe it’s because we’re both Italian.”
All of a sudden it looks like something out of “Goodfellas” only without the gunfire, violence, and swearing.
All right, maybe there’s some swearing but Lamoriello tells Gulitti helping people out when they ask for advice is something others did for him as well. Don’t expect things to be quite so kind once the puck drops on Wednesday night but the mutual respect will always be there.
