When John McMullen sold his stake of the New Jersey Devils to the YankeeNets two years ago, George Steinbrenner found a kindred spirit with Lou Lamoriello, an old-school authoritarian ruler with an iron fist over a championship cause. The Boss called him "maybe the best GM in sports," and soon enlisted Lamoriello control of the New Jersey Nets and the bid to build the two teams a new arena in downtown Newark. He wanted to start moving him beyond hockey, trading his scouting files for a CEO's portfolio.

	A Scrooge or a sage? Lamoriello says he shielded Niedermayer from the spotlight so he could grow as a young player.

Around the National Hockey League, there were sighs of relief. Maybe Lamoriello would be spread too thin; maybe he was losing interest in the day-to-day general manager duties that elevated the Devils into the elite. Truth be told, there was Lamoriello in his East Rutherford office before the 2002 draft, studying his scouting reports and confessing, "There is no question that I rely on my staff more than ever. ... I wouldn't be telling the truth if I said I wasn't delegating more."

Through it all, the Devils are still winning. They're still chasing championships. It is still Lamoriello's way hunched over the franchise, and ESPN.com's poll couldn't refute the truth: Over the long run, Lamoriello is still the best in the business. From a rigid organizational structure to salary restraint, from drafting to trading, Lamoriello is the standard. He is still intimately involved in the Devils' operations, even if he's now left it to his longstanding staff to rush to the Czech Republic and Medicine Hat to scout junior tournaments.

Lamoriello is proud to tell you, that, "We don't follow trends," with the Devils, and it's true. Over his 16 seasons and two Stanley Cups on the job, the Devils' way is more easily described as this: Lamoriello's way. Everyone understands. Everyone lives it. There are no power struggles, no egos thrusting themselves above the greater good of winning. Cross Lamoriello and you're gone. Cross him, and he'll win.

Somehow, Lamoriello always does. His way means players fade into the faceless scrum of the ice, superstar talents are marketed judiciously. Sometimes, they seem like the old Red Army teams out there. There are no television commercials with his stars staring back into the camera lenses, just the Devils. Always, the Devils. It angers NHL officials in New York, but he could care less. He never lets any of his players get too big, going all the way back to the beginning.

"That's a perception that's not going to leave me," Lamoriello said. "That goes back to Scott Niedermayer, he was the third pick overall (in 1991) and I wouldn't promote him because I wanted to take pressure away and let him grow as a young player. Because I had seen how the pressure could get to young people. And we'll continue with that, because I would rather have Scott Niedermayer where he is today. And you've seen what's happened to some of these young players who were built up to kingdom come."

	“	I can still almost quote verbatim a Harvard Business Review story ... (Red Auerbach) said, 'I don't put an emphasis, and I will never put an emphasis on statistics, because statistics never showed the size of somebody's heart.' ”
		— Lou Lamoriello

The son of a small business owner in Providence, R.I., he remembers the way his father struggled to meet payroll every week. That gave him a deep devotion to holding the line on expenses, a strategy that has waged epic fights with his players through the years. The way his father taught him about money, the way the Dominican priests at Providence College taught him discipline.

As much as anything, Lamoriello wants a throwback franchise of throwback players, a mentality born out of the old Montreal Canadiens and Boston Celtics. One for all, all for the Devils. He grooms his talent this way, weeds out the brash personalities and holds tight to the Martin Brodeurs and Scott Stevens, the Ken Daneykos and Niedermayers.

"I've had so much respect for way the Celtics ran their organization and the way Red Auerbach put an emphasis on character," Lamoriello said. "I can still almost quote verbatim a Harvard Business Review story, where I keep one phrase in my mind of this now generation of technology and statistics, statistics for statistics, breaking down video for breaking down video. He said, 'I don't put an emphasis, and I will never put an emphasis on statistics, because statistics never showed the size of somebody's heart.'

"You think about the teams they had there, and how they did things. They did it together. They did it unselfishly. Because of the distractions that take place today, there's less of an opportunity to have a team like the old Celtics, a team like the old Canadiens.

"Today it's so difficult. An agent saying you're not getting enough minutes, a newspaper person getting you to think differently. ... It's not like it was years ago. It just goes to show you, if there is that unselfishness and trust, you'll be all right. I've always said, you should want to sit in that locker room and look at the man next to you be responsible for not letting him down."

This never changes with him. Lou Lamoriello isn't going to run the hockey side of operations forever, his duties as a CEO lurching him toward the YankeeNets greater empire. For now, the Devils are chasing a Stanley Cup again and Lamoriello is still there, still doing it his way, still the best in the business.

Adrian Wojnarowski is a columnist for The Record (N.J.) and a regular contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at ESPNWoj@aol.com.