20 years flies by. I can't help but pass the opportunity to reminisce about the team. I think I've told the story about how I was turning my academic life around at the same time so that particular Cup was always a nice associated memory.
For fun, I did a bit of a deep dive reading old articles from the time. There was hardly a dull moment for the team that season.
June 1999: Unable to protect everybody at the Expansion Draft, Lou deals prospect defender Sergei Vyshedkevich to Atlanta who promise not to take Sergei Brylin, Sergei Nemchinov, Vadim Sharifijanov, or Brad Bombardir.
Edit: I forgot an interesting blip about whether or not the Devils could use assistant coach Slava Fetisov to expose as a player for the Expansion Draft. The rules required you to expose a player who played 40 NHL games in 1998-99 or 70 games between 1997-99. Fetisov had played 79 combined regular season and playoff games for Detroit in 1997-98, so apparently he qualified.
July 1999: Team doesn't re-sign Dave Andreychuk and Bobby Carpenter; Carpenter would retire and join Albany's coaching staff. Carpenter would later get "called up" after Robbie Ftorek is fired. Team also signs some 26 year old undrafted free agent named Brian Rafalski.
September 1999: Petr Sykora doesn't report to camp for a few days because he hates his contract (625K). Back then apparently you were able to renegotiate even if you had time left. Alexei Yashin would infamously sit this season out trying to force a new deal in Ottawa. Sykora didn't have any leverage, so he begrudgingly showed up. However Patrik Elias and Brendan Morrison both hold out and Lou is refusing to pay them more than Sykora.
October 1999: We open the season against the expansion Atlanta Thrashers. The lineup that night:
Gomez-Arnott-Sykora
Madden-Holik-McKay
Pandolfo-Pederson-Rolston
Oliwa-Nemchinov-Brylin
Stevens-Odelein
Daneyko-Niedermayer
Bombardir-Rafalski
Brodeur-Terreri
scratches: Sharifijanov-Bertrand-Souray (injured)
Interesting to compare that lineup with the eventual playoff roster.
November 1999: Elias/Morrison are strongarmed into cheap deals. Morrison demands a trade. Lou then trades Rolston for Claude Lemieux. I disliked the trade at the time mostly because Claude was an impending UFA. But it did balance out the lineup.
After listening to Scott Gomez's appearance on Spittin' Chiclets, he had mentioned how he was battling with Eric Bertrand for that last roster spot. If Elias and/or Morrison had been signed to start the season, Gomez would have likely been in Albany initially. But Gomez now had 10 points in his first 11 NHL games, so he had earned a spot.
Bertrand led the team in scoring in preseason and had gradually worked his way up through four seasons in Albany. The team didn't think he'd clear waivers so they traded him to Atlanta in order to free up a roster spot for the returning Elias/Morrison. Not sure why, but I suddenly felt bad for Bertrand as he could have been the 14th forward on this club (instead of Steve Kelly / Steve Brule) in a parallel universe.
December 2000: Not much this month, but there were public grumblings by Denis Pederson who is frustrated with his role. He preferred playing center but was shifted to right wing at times due to necessity.
Lou skirted the roster limits by keeping guys on IR longer than necessary and Pederson seemed to be the guy most affected by this. One article mentions how reporters seemed to know Pederson was healthy enough to play but he unconvincingly told the press that he was still injured.
I remember one particular poster on HF at the time being very upset about Lou getting away with stashing Pederson.
January 2000: The team trades former 1st round pick Vadim Sharifijanov to Vancouver for a 2nd round pick since we couldn't protect him for the upcoming Expansion Draft. Sharifijanov had a reasonably productive rookie season in 1998-99 but was lost in the shuffle with the additions of Gomez/Madden. Oddly, Brian Burke considers that his worst trade as Sharifijanov struggled and returned to Russia in 2001.
On the Saturday night before the Super Bowl, the Devils are in Detroit for an ESPN game (I could only watch the Devils if they were on ESPN at the time). New Jersey has the best record in the league while Detroit has the best record in the West. Ftorek goes nuts and throws a bench onto the ice when the officials don't stop play after Jay Pandolfo is injured. Detroit scored a few moments later.
NY Post reporter Mark Everson claims the Devils are kicking the tires on Alexei Yashin. He postulates a hypothetical offer would be Brendan Morrison, Denis Pederson, Sheldon Souray, and a 1st. But if Lou was worried about Elias/Morrison's deal, Yashin was demanding 9+ million. So that seemed unlikely, but still interesting to read.
February 2000: Gomez makes the All-Star game as a rookie and joins Brodeur, Stevens, and Elias at the festivities. That game has the distinction of being the first hockey broadcast in high definition.
Everson claims that the team is hot on the trail to acquire Mark Messier from Vancouver. Outgoing owner John McMullen shoots down that thought.
March 2000: (This would be the eventful month)
Ray Bourque unexpectedly gets traded to Colorado instead of Philadelphia. Flyers allegedly offered Daymond Langkow, Sandy McCarthy, a 1st rounder, and the choice of Andy Delmore or Mark Eaton. Colorado's offer (which included Dave Andreychuk from Boston) was Brian Rolston, prospect Sami Pahlsson, a 1st rounder, and a B level prospect Martin Grenier. Allegedly Boston GM Harry Sinden hated the thought of Bourque winning a Cup with an Eastern Conference team.
Lou acquires Vladimir Malakhov for Sheldon Souray. Malakhov became persona non grata in Montreal after being spotted skiing with his family while rehabbing a knee injury that had kept him out all season.
A week later, Lyle Odelein is shipped out to Phoenix for Deron Quint. Lou claims it was a move made to offset Malakhov's incoming salary but Odelein had been feuding with head coach Robbie Ftorek behind the scenes.
At the trade deadline, the Devils make a blockbuster trade with Vancouver but it's for Alexander Mogilny not Messier. Morrison's trade demand is met as he's sent to his hometown club. Denis Pederson is moved as well as he had been unhappy with his role. I was always surprised that Pederson didn't pan out after the trade like Morrison, but I think he had concussion problems. Pederson had been an alternate captain at a young age for the Devils.
An arbitration hearing begins with 1998 1st rounder Mike Van Ryn. The process would drag out through June. Lou wanted to sign Van Ryn but refused to give him a contract which would pay him more than Elias/Sykora. Van Ryn could use a CBA loophole to become a free agent where he figured somebody would meet his contract demands.
Lou unsuccessfully challenged the loophole and Van Ryn would sign with St. Louis eventually. Losing Van Ryn and only getting a late 2nd rounder as compensation was a bummer since Lou had resisted trade offers for Van Ryn the 1999 trade deadline which could have netted Theo Fleury or Boris Mironov.
The sale of the team to YankeesNets is officially announced. Lou would become an advisor to the Nets and would help push through the Stephon Marbury for Jason Kidd deal.
Scott Niedermayer hits Peter Worrell with a high stick during a skirmish on March 19th. We're fresh off the Marty McSorley/Donald Brashear incident. Niedermayer would be suspended for 10 games (remainder of regular season plus the first game of the playoffs). The team then loses 5-0 against Carolina.
Lou fires Ftorek and promotes Larry Robinson. Larry had spent the previous four years as head coach in LA and wasn't particularly fond of the experience. I think even he had doubts whether he had the right demeanor to be an effective head coach. Some interesting stories started to come out:
- Odelein didn't mince words after being dealt and said Ftorek had lost the room.
- Ftorek scratched Daneyko early in the season which caused him to play his 1,000th game on the road instead of at home with friends/family in attendance
- Ftorek scratched Rafalski when the team played in Chicago when Rafalski's friends/family drove down from Wisconsin/Michigan to see him play
- Ftorek sat Brodeur late in the season which prevented Marty from making a run at the single season wins record
- Krzysztof Oliwa was pissed at Ftorek for not putting him out to fight Peter Worrell earlier in that Florida game which he figured would have prevented Niedermayer from taking the retaliation penalty.
Lou also kicks Deron Quint off the team. Quint had scored in his first game as a Devil and with Niedermayer suspended, this would have been his time to shine. No exact reason was specified but the rumor was that he showed up to practice hungover.
Gomez told a story about how he and Brendan Morrison had done something similar earlier in the year and Claude got in their faces about it. Gomez would mention how hard Claude was on him that season, but it helped him become a better pro.
April 2000: Oliwa is done for the season with a torn ACL. He's upset with the team doctors who initially told him he was healthy and he only learned of the injury from a second doctor. He'd later claim that the team ghosted him during the Cup celebration and he had to book his own travel/hotel to join the team in New Jersey. Oliwa and Quint would be dealt to Columbus in the offseason.
Playoff roster:
Elias-Arnott-Sykora
Brylin-Gomez-Mogilny
Pandolfo-Holik-Lemieux
Nemchinov-Madden-McKay
Stevens-Rafalski
Daneyko-Niedermayer
White-Malakhov
Brodeur-Terreri
scratches: Kelly-Brule-Bombardir
The team sweeps Florida in the opening round but the series is closer than I had remembered. Each of the first three games was decided by one goal. Scott Niedermayer scored a 3 on 5 SHG as he returned to the lineup. I had forgotten that there was a subplot with us having Vladimir Bure as a trainer who wasn't on speaking terms with Pavel at that point. I forget if there was any media hype for the Bure vs. Mogilny matchup as they weren't too far removed from their reunion in Vancouver.
Also I was reminded that the Elian Gonzalez raid happened a couple days after the series.
CuJo steals Game 1 in the next series for Toronto and nearly Game 2 as well. Colin White's seeing eye point shot is the lone goal in a 1-0 Game 2 victory. The two teams swap wins in New Jersey before the Devils close things out in style by limiting the Leafs to six shots in Game 6.
May 2000: The ECF starts off well enough through the first 98 minutes or so. Then Philadelphia rallies in Game 2 and takes the next two games. Larry has his famous locker room tirade and the Devils win a huge one on the road in Game 5.
Initially ruled out for the playoffs due to concussions, Eric Lindros returns for game 6 and nearly is the hero for Philadelphia. But the Devils hang onto a 2-1 win to force Game 7. Elias gets the team on the board early in game 7 then the Lindros hit happens right after. I remember being kinda numb after that. Philly would eventually tie it and the game seemed destined for OT but Patty cashed in on a broken play late in regulation.
June 2000: Despite starting the last two series on the road, the Devils have home ice against the defending champion Dallas Stars. Game 1 is a rout as the Devils chase Ed Belfour with 7 goals. Belfour claims his antibiotics caused balance issues. A few months earlier, Belfour also tried to bribe a cop with a billion dollars after they came to arrest him.
I missed most of game 2 due to class, but got home in time to see Brett Hull tip the game winner to even the series. Game 3 was a nail biter but the Devils hung on. Game 4 featured that third period blitz with goals from Brylin, Madden, and Rafalski. That sequence where Madden gets an identical second chance on the same PK still remains one of my favorite highlights.
I don't remember much of Game 5 to be honest. Thankfully Game 6 was on a Saturday so I could watch in its entirety although Finals week was about to start. If Game 7 happened, I might've missed it. But thankfully the team pulled it off.
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Finally, the playoff roster. Oh my. THUD. 
