The franchise was immediately transformed when Stevens arrived in 1991.
He was a top 5 scorer each of his first 5 years in new Jersey and led the team in scoring during the 93-94 season which of course ended in a bitter game 7 Prince of Wales Conference defeat.
What Scott Stevens did for NJ in first 5 years was immeasurable. He and Lemaire brought legitimacy to an organization that didn't have much.
People often talk about intangibles, more often than not it is utter nonsense. But if you could've seen how his presence changed his teammates it was pretty incredible. His teammates played with more confidence when he arrived and his opponents played with much less. And that transformed NJ and brought legitimacy that lasted for a generation. Many don't remember those early Devils before Scott arrived. The lovable losers, the Bad News Bears of hockey, Before Stevens the Devils had one magic moment in 1988 that was often viewed as Cinderella, a fluke...a nice underdog story. Stevens changed all that the first day he stepped on the ice. There were no more Cinderella stories the legitimacy was apparent.
Of course there were many important things happening then... Lou was defining the franchise, Lemaire was defining an identity that still last today and Brodeur would eventually come in and rewrite the record books. But Stevens was the catalyst for everything on the ice.