1998 Devils

Yesterday on the NHL network, they showed highlights of the 1998 playoffs between the Devils and Ottawa Senators. The Devils lost that series in 6 games, one of the biggest failures in franchise history. But look at the Devils roster that year. It might have been the biggest flop of all time.


Defesense

Scott Niedermayer
Ken Daneyko
Scott Stevens
Doug Bodger
Sheldon Souray
Kevin Dean
Lyle Odelein

Forwards

Doug Gilmour
Dave Andreychuk
Steve Thomas
Bobby Holik
Randy McKay
Brian Rolston
Jason Arnott
Petr Sykora
Patrik Elias
Brendan Morrison
Bobby Carpenter
Denis Pederson
Kristolf Oliwa
Sergei Brylin
Jay Pandolfo

Goalies

Martin Brodeur
Mike Dunham

Damn, we were stacked on offense, defense though only 3 or 4 of those guys seem reliable.

When we lost that series I was more angry than I've ever been in my life - even when playing myself. I went on a stick breaking tirade in my front yard whacking what was a perfectly good stick against an ash tree for a good 3 minutes uttering profanities like the dad in the christmas story movie.

That was the day that sealed Ottawa as the single team I hate more than any other (even the Rangers) and my bitter resentment of that a##$073 Daniel Alfredsson. :rant:

When we lost that series I was more angry than I've ever been in my life - even when playing myself. I went on a stick breaking tirade in my front yard whacking what was a perfectly good stick against an ash tree for a good 3 minutes uttering profanities like the dad in the christmas story movie.

That was the day that sealed Ottawa as the single team I hate more than any other (even the Rangers) and my bitter resentment of that a##$073 Daniel Alfredsson. :rant:

Ottawa didn't beat the Devils. Some bad suishi and the Devils, beat the Devils.

Look at that list of forwards...

Oliwa and Carpenter had a ton of ice time that series. See the problem?

Yesterday on the NHL network, they showed highlights of the 1998 playoffs between the Devils and Ottawa Senators. The Devils lost that series in 6 games, one of the biggest failures in franchise history. But look at the Devils roster that year. It might have been the biggest flop of all time.


Defesense

Scott Niedermayer
Ken Daneyko
Scott Stevens
Doug Bodger
Sheldon Souray
Kevin Dean
Lyle Odelein

Forwards

Doug Gilmour
Dave Andreychuk
Steve Thomas
Bobby Holik
Randy McKay
Brian Rolston
Jason Arnott
Petr Sykora
Patrik Elias
Brendan Morrison
Bobby Carpenter
Denis Pederson
Kristolf Oliwa
Sergei Brylin
Jay Pandolfo

Goalies

Martin Brodeur
Mike Dunham


Those forwards aren't as deep as it seems. Because some people weren't used properly and some people hadn't "arrived" yet. They lost that series not because of food poisoning and injuries, but because of the retarded linematching and constantly sending Carp out there. Sound familiar?

I'm trying to reconstruct that group of forwards, wings aren't necessarily on the right side, I don't care. :)

Arnott-Gilmour-Sykora
Andy-Holik-Elias
Rolston-Carp-Thomas
McKay-Pederson-random

I'm pretty confident in the 1st and 3rd lines and the 2nd line was used, but McKay also came into the picture and there was the G-Line occaisonally, before the A-line came about. In the playoffs, who knows, someone was always hurt. Gilmour was epic in that series (almost singlehandedly tied Game 4). No one else was.

Just from looking at the roster, it looks like during 98 the Devils were still in their transition phase from the 95 Cup winner to the 2000 winner, with some veterans not yet phased out (Andreychuk, Thomas, Gilmour, Carpenter) and younger players like Elias, Sykora and Arnott not yet at their offensive maturity like guyincognito said. That and the team was missing some of the very talented youth the 2000 team played regularly in Gomez, Madden and White (and Rafalski to a lesser degree).

Was Gomez, Madden, White and Rafalski all making the team in 99-2000 part of the original plan, meaning did you see it coming and expect those guys to play, or did they surprise in camp and beat out other more experienced players who were expected to make the team instead?

Just from looking at the roster, it looks like during 98 the Devils were still in their transition phase from the 95 Cup winner to the 2000 winner, with some veterans not yet phased out (Andreychuk, Thomas, Gilmour, Carpenter) and younger players like Elias, Sykora and Arnott not yet at their offensive maturity like guyincognito said. That and the team was missing some of the very talented youth the 2000 team played regularly in Gomez, Madden and White (and Rafalski to a lesser degree).

Was Gomez, Madden, White and Rafalski all making the team in 99-2000 part of the original plan, meaning did you see it coming and expect those guys to play, or did they surprise in camp and beat out other more experienced players who were expected to make the team instead?

Not sure about Gomez or White, but Madden was just a matter of time, people knew he was going to make the devils soon because he was putting up big numbers in albany, and rafalski nobody knew, but was a big surprise because he was signed out of Helsinki, Finland

Just from looking at the roster, it looks like during 98 the Devils were still in their transition phase from the 95 Cup winner to the 2000 winner, with some veterans not yet phased out (Andreychuk, Thomas, Gilmour, Carpenter) and younger players like Elias, Sykora and Arnott not yet at their offensive maturity like guyincognito said. That and the team was missing some of the very talented youth the 2000 team played regularly in Gomez, Madden and White (and Rafalski to a lesser degree).

Was Gomez, Madden, White and Rafalski all making the team in 99-2000 part of the original plan, meaning did you see it coming and expect those guys to play, or did they surprise in camp and beat out other more experienced players who were expected to make the team instead?

I don't think any of them (other than Rafalski) were solid locks to make the team.
White didn't come in until the later parts of the season and earned a spot full-time in the playoffs. Madden, IIRC worked his way on and Gomez was still a junior. It wasn't a shock that he made the team, but the way the Devils "system" worked at the time, you really didn't expect a junior to make the team. Actually, IMO, he could have made the team at 18 (would have turned 19 pretty quickly after the start of the season, I think), the year before. Gomez today isn't much different than he was when he came in, so you can imagine a kid coming into camp and playing like that, and you think "HOLY ****, what do we have?".

I remember a bunch of people out in the smoking concourse just being stunned after watching his first preseason game in '98. Easily the most impressive debut I've ever seen.

I also wonder if Gomez would have been a truly great player if he developed normally.
His passing and skating game was through the roof initially, but the rest wasn't.

Just from looking at the roster, it looks like during 98 the Devils were still in their transition phase from the 95 Cup winner to the 2000 winner, with some veterans not yet phased out (Andreychuk, Thomas, Gilmour, Carpenter) and younger players like Elias, Sykora and Arnott not yet at their offensive maturity like guyincognito said. That and the team was missing some of the very talented youth the 2000 team played regularly in Gomez, Madden and White (and Rafalski to a lesser degree).

Was Gomez, Madden, White and Rafalski all making the team in 99-2000 part of the original plan, meaning did you see it coming and expect those guys to play, or did they surprise in camp and beat out other more experienced players who were expected to make the team instead?

White wasn't getting much ice time (I think he was actually in Albany) until Odelein was moved to the Yotes. Rafalski was pretty much expected to make the team, he was THN's best player outside of the NHL in 1999, but no one expected him to play as well as he did his rookie year.

There's another key reason for that travesty of a result: Damian freaking Rhodes

Rhodes was always a flaky 1B guy at best who was supposed to be way out of his depth against Brodeur in this matchup, but miraculously morphed into the 2nd coming of Jacques Plante to play the series of his life. I remember thinking: "Bah, lucky game, he'll get shelled next time around", then again, then again, but it never damn well happened. Rhodes owned us in that series.

Here's an old article if anyone's feeling masochistic enough to reminisce.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9903EFD8143EF933A05757C0A96E9582 60

I think the 96-97 team was a bigger flop. If Andreychuk doesn't get injured, I think we win the cup that year. Just look at this roster (they're listed in order of GP):

Centermen
Holik - He was a great player for us. He really was.
Pederson - Think Rod Pelley. But Pelley isn't going to just become terrible one day.
Carpenter - Holik and Carpenter on the same team is the best #1-#2 defensive center punch I've ever seen. Except Holik and Madden.
Brylin
Gilmour - Was dominant after we acquired him.
Sykora (rookie) - He and Elias both had 17 GP in the regular season.

Left Wing
Andreychuk - Injured in the last game of the season. If he doesn't get injured, I think we have four cups.
Rolston
Zelepukin
Pandolfo
Elias (rookie) - Elias had a great playoff filling in for Andreychuk.

Right Wing (We've never had, and never will have, a better corps of RWs)
Guerin
MacLean
McKay
Thomas

Defensemen
Niedermayer
Stevens
Odelein
Daneyko
Chambers
Ellet
Dean

Goalies
Brodeur
Dunham

Losing to the Rangers in 97' was a disgrace. I know everyone harps about the Gilmour trade, but that trade should have won us the cup. He was the top-line centerman we were missing. I look at this roster and I think it might well be one of the three best teams the Devils ever had.

And damn, I loved Gilmour while he was here.

Losing to the Rangers in 97' was a disgrace. I know everyone harps about the Gilmour trade, but that trade should have won us the cup. He was the top-line centerman we were missing. I look at this roster and I think it might well be one of the three best teams the Devils ever had.

And damn, I loved Gilmour while he was here.

Hey, Gilmour was doing fine until Mark Cheap-shot Messier got away with a deliberate intent to injure by trying to decapitate him.

And that NYR piece of filth certainly did get away with it.

I think the 96-97 team was a bigger flop. If Andreychuk doesn't get injured, I think we win the cup that year. Just look at this roster (they're listed in order of GP):

Centermen
Holik - He was a great player for us. He really was.
Pederson - Think Rod Pelley. But Pelley isn't going to just become terrible one day.
Carpenter - Holik and Carpenter on the same team is the best #1-#2 defensive center punch I've ever seen. Except Holik and Madden.
Brylin
Gilmour - Was dominant after we acquired him.
Sykora (rookie) - He and Elias both had 17 GP in the regular season.

Left Wing
Andreychuk - Injured in the last game of the season. If he doesn't get injured, I think we have four cups.
Rolston
Zelepukin
Pandolfo
Elias (rookie) - Elias had a great playoff filling in for Andreychuk.

Right Wing (We've never had, and never will have, a better corps of RWs)
Guerin
MacLean
McKay
Thomas

Defensemen
Niedermayer
Stevens
Odelein
Daneyko
Chambers
Ellet
Dean

Goalies
Brodeur
Dunham

Losing to the Rangers in 97' was a disgrace. I know everyone harps about the Gilmour trade, but that trade should have won us the cup. He was the top-line centerman we were missing. I look at this roster and I think it might well be one of the three best teams the Devils ever had.

And damn, I loved Gilmour while he was here.

No toe in the crease rule back then, we beat the cumrags in 6.

But seriously, the Red Wings would have beaten us in the finals.