BIG READ: Capturing the Cup

Twenty years. Two decades.

It's been that long since the Devils beat the Dallas Stars in double overtime to win the club's second Stanley Cup.

That's a lot of time for hair to turn grey, for hairlines to recede and for waistlines to grow.

Even great teams and great players age. Franchise architect Lou Lamoriello, the man who built all three Devils championship squads, pointed out that some young fathers on his championship teams are now grandfathers.

They had a lot to say. The common theme was winning the Stanley Cup and it's the tie that binds them together, from 2000, to 2020.

"They're all different but all (similar) because the teams ended up winning the Stanley Cup," said Lamoriello. "What makes each experience unique is the road to get there. The circumstances behind each of one of the Cups were quite different."

Lamoriello pointed out that each Devils Stanley Cup champion had a different coach - Jacques Lemaire, Larry Robinson, and the late Pat Burns.

He also went to great lengths detailing certain moves and praising players who filled the so-called depth roles but made critical contributions.

"We had many unsung heroes," said Lamoriello.

The Devils had won the Stanley Cup in 1995. That victory over the Detroit Red Wings came one year after losing in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final to archrivals, the New York Rangers. The seeds for all three Devils championship squads were planted during that painful loss to Mark Messier and Co in 1994.

"To win in 1995 was a surprise," said Lamoriello, "…but 1994 may have helped us (long-term) because it showed us what we needed to do."

The leadup to 1999-2000 wasn't always pleasant. As Devils fans are aware, the Stanley Cup-winning season was followed immediately by missing the playoffs, then three post-season appearances that produced just a single series victory.

However difficult, much was learned and improved upon during the intervening years from 1995 and 1999. Scott Stevens became probably the best shut-down defenseman in the NHL. Other Devils went from merely good, to very good, then to great, starting with Martin Brodeur and Scott

Niedermayer on the blueline. Patrick Elias and Petr Sykora - drafted a year apart in 1994 and 1995, respectively - were becoming dominant offensive players. They were joined by Jason Arnott, who had come to the Devils from Edmonton during the 1997-98 season.

The A-Line was born.

"Man, were we good," remembers Ken Daneyko, "We had it all. We had the best D. We could score. We could play tough. We could play skilled.

We could just play any way we needed for (the situation). I really think that we always were called defensive. But, really, we had everything. Sure, we were great defensively and we had Marty Brodeur. But we could do it all…and we did."

Beyond the A-Line, a wave of other young players in supporting roles were firming up the lineup. John Madden had been an undrafted free agent signing out of the University of Michigan. Colin White was drafted in 1996 and soon blossomed playing in Albany, the Devils' American Hockey League affiliate. Brian Rafalski was signed as a free agent after playing four seasons in Europe and made the team immediately after returning to North America. Perhaps the biggest, or at least the quickest addition, was Scott Gomez. The native Alaskan was taken near the end of the first round (27th overall) in the 1998 draft. He made the big club a few months before turning 20. Gomez then won the Calder Trophy, as he helped the Devils win the Cup after a 70-point (19G, 51A) regular season.

"Lou always had such a good way to find guys," remembers Daneyko. "He just knew what we needed. How to identify that little (missing) element that we may have needed. And he would go places to find it. Madden. Undrafted. Rafalski, older guy who played in Europe. Gomer. Such a smart pick. Whitey. Lou, he always seemed to just know what to do, how to find it."

The new blood in the lineup was one thing; the roles they played were notable too. Madden, for one, was one of college hockey's best offensive players. He then had a 98-point season in Albany (38G, 60A) but evolved into a defensive and penalty-killing ace for the Devils.

Madden on his transition:

"I loved it. Knowing if we got a penalty, I was over the boards and on the ice. It didn't matter to me. I had scored 90 points the year before in the American League. (and was a scorer in college). Then I was fourth-line center in New Jersey. I didn't care about that. I had a role and I played it."

Stevens remembers how well Rafalski and White fit right in:

"Whitey brought energy; He was a feisty guy. To have a guy like him on the back end, we were a pretty physical team…you bring in Whitey there and he had an edge to his game. Guys respected him. He played very well. He was very consistent. He put a little fear in the opposition."

"(Rafalski) wasn't the biggest defenseman (but) he was courageous, had good puck skills and skated very well. We weren't sure what we were getting with Brian when he arrived and everyone questioned his size at the defensive position. But he was not afraid to take a hit. He could shoot the puck very well, made that good outlet pass. He showed everyone right from training camp that he could play in this league. He became a big part of our (Stanley Cup) win in 2000."

Much has been quite rightly said about how four rookies stepped into the lineup but Sykora pointed out that the presence of such a varied cast of veterans made their entry as newcomers easier.

"The whole team was (already) kinda complete. When you start with Scotty being back there and Marty in net…we had a pretty good team before but just couldn't do it in the playoffs (so) the stone was set."

Once the season started, Lamoriello went to work some more. Among the moves he made was to bring 1995 Cup hero Claude Lemieux back to New Jersey in a deal that sent Brian Rolston to Colorado.

Stevens put Lemieux's return into context:

"He was a character but he came to play. He hated to lose and he was a winner wherever he went. Getting Claude back, after what he did and how he helped us in '95, it gave us confidence. As good as he was in the regular season, he was a playoff performer."

The addition of Vladimir Malakhov, in a deal with the Montreal Canadiens that saw Sheldon Souray go the other way, helped solidify the Devils back end. Around the same time, Alex Mogilny came to New Jersey in a trade that sent Brendan Morrison and Denis Pederson to the Vancouver Canucks.

The acquisition of Mogilny was striking for a few reasons that Daneyko explained:

"He didn't have to come here and be the man, like he had been in Vancouver and in Buffalo - he scored 76 goals in Buffalo. We didn't need that. We had scoring. We had scored the second-most goals in the league. But what Alex gave us was a dynamic player who didn't need much, or too many opportunities to score a goal. A big goal."

"And Malahkov was a good player for us. Big, strong, could (play) on the powerplay. Huge addition for us."

The biggest move of all, however, came behind the bench. Coaching changes are a fact of life in the NHL but the Devils were in first place and had just eight games remaining in the regular season when Lamoriello decided to make a change.

Robbie Ftorek was replaced with Larry Robinson.

According to Lamoriello, it was a very difficult but necessary move:

"Robbie Ftorek had done such a terrific job with our players in the minors. No one can really understand how difficult of decision it was to make. But you have to make a decision based on the information that you have and what you see at the time in order to give your team the best opportunity."

From the players' perspective, both Arnott and Ken Daneyko understood the rationale behind the move.

"Now when you look at it, Lou was a genius doing it," said Arnott. "But I think we needed it. Robbie was getting really frustrated with us and I think we were getting frustrated with him (from) losing that many games but still being in first place. That was the shock around the NHL that (Ftorek) got fired with that (few) games left…(but) Lou saw that we had too good of a team to be doing what we were doing and that he had to do something to change it."

Daneyko:

"The bar was raised to that level. Stanley Cup or bust and we kinda had already had that the last five years or so. It's not always going to materialize. Lou say that we needed a different direction…or we were going to ride quietly into the night. It wasn't on Robbie or anybody. That's just the way it goes sometimes. Players not playing to their potential…he picked the right guy in Larry Robinson, who had won Cups and was an inspirational guy."

The Devils finished with 103 points, the second-best total in the Eastern Conference but just the fourth seed to start the playoffs under the old format. If the Devils were going to make a run, it would require playing well on the road because only the first round against the Florida Panthers guaranteed them home ice advantage. The Panthers were the No. 5 seed and as the first-round opponent, offered some intrigue for a few reasons: they had Pavel Bure and Niedermayer's younger brother, Rob.

The Devils prevailed in a four-game sweep.

The Toronto Maple Leafs were the Devils next opponent. A few Devils had grown up not far from Air Canada Centre in Toronto, including Stevens, Arnott and Madden. A veteran pro playing back near his hometown of Kitchener, Ontario was old hat for Stevens. Arnott had become used to playing back home as well. But it was another story altogether for Madden. Though older (26) than a typical rookie, Madden still remembers the gravity of the situation for a kid that split his time growing up in Toronto and farther north in Barrie, about an hour away.

"Here's a quote for you…I lived and died with the Maple Leafs growing up. My roommate in college (Harold Schock) he was from East Lansing, Michigan and loved the Red Wings, and I went to a lot of games, playoff games and I can remember absolutely living and dying for the Leafs.

"Every guy when he goes home plays better. I think most guys do. I even had people come to games, not immediate family or anything, to see me and they wore Leafs jerseys."

Any nerves of trepidation playing the Leafs were washed away when Madden scored a key goal in Game 4 that helped the Devils tie the series. The Devils won a close Game 5 but in Game 6 the Devils literally slammed the door shut, limiting a good Toronto squad to just six shots on net.

Madden scored an empty-net goal to ice the series.

It was the first clear indicator that something special could be happening.

"Toronto was a great team," remembers Daneyko. "They were skilled and tough and they had a team that could have (perhaps) won the Stanley Cup in a different year but we dominated that Game 6 to win it at home."

Championship teams sometimes benefit from avoiding certain opponents in the playoffs. That wasn't the case in 2000. Florida and Toronto were both solid hockey clubs, and yet the Devils dispatched both by losing just two games across both series.

The level of opposition increased even further when the Devils played Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference Final.

Down 3-1 entering Game 5, Lamoriello decision to install Robinson as head coach, and the legendary former defenseman's decision to confront his team is now part of Devils lore.

Lamoriello's perspective 20 years later:

"We had to get through that series. Being down 3-1, having to play Game 5 not at home. Whatever it was that Larry did, he found a way to push the right buttons at the right time. And yes, there's no question that series was a turning point, especially being down (three games to one) like that."

Brodeur:

"Larry just (told us) that we were letting a great opportunity slip away."

Arnott:

"He didn't try and demoralize us. It was more, 'you guys are way too good for this.'"

Stevens:

"We played perfect hockey. To comeback 3-1 in the conference finals, we had to play airtight and we were capable of doing that. We were a well-coached team…we did that to get into that Game 7 and then we did that same thing in that Game 7 in Philadelphia to win it."

"That's how we came back in that series. Without structure and our discipline and knowing what we had to do to win."

Stevens's comments only tell part of the story, of course. Eric Lindros had come back to the Flyers lineup after being out for about two months. Lindros had played well in Game 6 and appeared to be giving his team a spark early in Game 7 when he made a fateful rush through the neutral zone. Stevens caught Lindros, who had his head down, with a tough but clean (and legal) body check that knocked Lindros out of the game and stunned the crowd at First Union Center in Philadelphia into silence.

Brodeur's honest assessment of the hit:

"You never want to see anyone get hurt. But Scott was a tough player and when he saw an opportunity to deliver a hit like that on a good player, and Eric had been playing very good, he was going to take it."

Elias's second goal of the game with just 2:32 remaining sealed the victory. Odd perhaps, given that the Devils have won three Stanley Cups, but it's not inaccurate to say that the victory over Philadelphia in the round beforethe final is the most important series win in franchise history.

"That was the defining moment for our club," said Stevens.

Dallas was the defending Stanley Cup champion, having won in 1999 in six games over the Buffalo Sabres. The grind of having to defend - the Stars played 41 playoff games those two seasons - was a likely advantage for the Devils. As was the single point that they had more than Dallas in the regular season because it gave the Devils home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup Final.

"They had played a lot of hockey, (had) tough series in the playoffs going back to the year before," said Brodeur. "That maybe helped us, especially since we knew we had the home-ice (advantage)."

Through the first four games, the Devils had taken firm control in building a 3-1 series lead with a home date for Game 5. It was not to be- Devils players have cited that as a regret even in eventually winning the Stanley Cup that Devils fans were deprived a chance to see the Cup presented at home - as Modano scored in triple overtime to send the series back to Dallas.

The tension of Game 6 was made even worse by the triple-digit temperatures in June in Dallas. Veteran referee Terry Gregson was working his eighth Stanley Cup Final, paired with Bill McCreary in Game 6:

"We had to manage the game and its participants and make sure that they were safe and it was fair for everyone. That's what you always do but especially in an elimination game after a long season."

Gregson pointed out that the clear difference in how the game is now played, particularly in the playoffs.

"They wanted to play…so long as it was safe and no one (crossed that line) with safety, we let them play."

Sykora was knocked out of the game early on a hit by Derian Hatcher that had similarities to the one that Stevens had put on Lindros a round earlier. The A Line would have to carry on without Sykora, who was replaced with Mogilny, as the young Czech star was taken to hospital.

Sykora has a good-natured take to his injury:

"Why does it always have to come up," he asked in half in jest, "…we are not allowed to talk about it in our house. My son is always like 'Dad, what happened?'"

Arnott was assessed a cross-checking minor late in the first overtime and spent the first intermission of extra time stewing if his indiscretion would send the series back home for Game 7.

Fate, of course, had other ideas. Not long after getting out of the box, Arnott was streaking down the center-left of the ice. Reacting perfectly to Stevens pinching to keep the puck in and Elias pouncing on the loose puck, then finding his linemate out front. A right-hand shot on the left side,

Arnott was in ideal position to score.

Not unlike a lot of Devils fans, Arnott replays it in his mind frequently.

"I always go back and watch the old video. I replay it in my head when I'm driving around. It's something special, when you grow up as a kid always thinking that you're going to score the game-winning goal and it happened. To win the Stanley Cup is the biggest thing. When you go back (and think about it) it's fantastic."

"I came out of the penalty box and stayed on the ice for that shift…I had to sit in the dressing room (during the intermission) thinking 'oh my God, this is going to be it' and then I got out (sigh of relief)….I don't know…we had kinda did that all through the regular season and the playoffs, worked through adversity, through the Philly series. We just knew that we had the better team. We were the better team and it just happened for us. We didn't have to go back (home) and play Game 7. Thank God."

The famous pic of Brodeur's reaction after Arnott's winning goal, according to its subject, is not quite the feat in athletic excellence that it appears:
"I could see the play develop, so I was able to react pretty quickly when Arny put it in. I didn't jump nearly as high as it looks in that picture. I can't jump that high anyway."

Sykora watched from the hospital:

"I saw it. Obviously, I got hit. We know that. But I was talking to Bill Murray, our trainer, on the ice, I remember the locker room and then going to the hospital. When I got to the hospital, they had a tv right in the room and I could watch the game. I watched the mid-second, third and overtime.

Then the celebration when the boys won the Cup.

After watching Robinson and Elias put his jersey on right on the ice, some time passed, with Sykora picking up the narrative from there:

"The best for me, after a few tears, winning the Cup, not being there and all the mixed emotions. Probably not that long, half-hour maybe, the door in my hospital room opened and Larry was there. Scotty was there, Kenny was there, Patty was there, Lou was there. They brought the Cup to the hospital. And they waited for me (to be able to leave). I packed my bags and the doctors let me go back to the hotel. I don't think that would happen today."

Of all the people consulted for this story, much more emphasis was put on the journey to get to the seminal moment, rather than that moment itself. Elias, having set-up Arnott's goal after scoring the winner against Philadelphia, provided the most succinct reaction:

"People are surprised to hear (this) but I was just relieved that it was over and we were able to win."

Arnott's immediate reaction was to buttonhook to his left, narrowly avoiding Gregson who was signaling the winning goal, and then he was mobbed by teammates. But soon after, Arnott too was measured in his words, not because he wasn't happy - he was overjoyed.

But the big center's interview immediately after revealed a reaction like Elias's, excitement mixed with clear relief:

"Everyone just pulled together (in) scoring that winning goal. I don't know how to celebrate right now. I'm too excited," said Arnott in an on-ice interview within minutes of potting the winner.

Gregson had done the decisive Game 6 a year earlier when Brett Hull of the Stars scored the controversial overtime winner.

"You want a quick and clean goal. That's all you want. It wasn't quick but thankfully it was clean."

And so the Cup was won. Two dominating series wins against the Panthers and the Maple Leafs, an incredible comeback over the Flyers and a dramatic overtime winner in the Stanley Cup Final. An incredible 14 one-goal games, just two of which were won in overtime.

John Madden's take was interesting:

"To be honest, I had watched guys like Mike Modano, Eric Lindros, Mats Sundin. Really, not too much different than a regular fan. They were Hall of Famers. Then, all of sudden, I'm playing against them. But then I soon realized, wait a minute, to look around our room, it was the same thing: Marty Brodeur. Scott Stevens. Scott Niedermayer. Same thing."

Players are often asked about the Devils tendency to win close games back then (in both 2000 and 2003). It's a classic case of an outsider narrative that had little resonance to the people involved and the response is strong defensive play should not be remembered the wrong way.

Stevens:

"The (A-Line) knew where each other were all the time. It was like they had eyes in the back of their heads. Always one step ahead of the opposition. They were fun to watch, and fun to have on our club. They brought a lot of confidence, to score big goals and make big plays.

"We could always defend. Scoring wasn't always our forte but that year we were the second highest-scoring team in the league and the A-line was a big part of that.

"A lot of people look at our clubs and say we were so defensive-minded, that we played the trap but we (only trailed) Detroit in scoring."

And Sykora's comments about Stevens illustrate perfectly how the team married toughness with scoring.

"To have that freedom (having Scott Stevens) was priceless…knowing that he was behind us."

Madden:

"We were committed. We played hard when we didn't have the puck. And you bought in. I knew I had to buy in right away. And if you didn't buy in, (they found) someone else and you were moved along. But you know what, I never once ever heard us use the word trap (among ourselves). I have to tell that to people when they say things like 'you guys were so defensive.'"

Another by-product of that all-encompassing intensity was contributions up-and-down the lineup, a factor that Lamoriello keeps coming back to and still recalls fondly.

"Jay Pandolfo scored big goals for us. Randy McKay. Bobby Holik. We had so many unsung heroes….think about Sergei Brylin. He won three Cups…and the first one (in 1995) he was a 19-year-old kid."

And all those one-goal games?

"We just found a way," remembers Lamoriello, "but it also showed that we could sustain a certain level of play and that was our trademark."

Madden:

"I've been asked that in interviews but we never thought of it that way. If we had to play with a one-goal lead. And we did it a lot in the regular season as well. I guess, we just thought that a win is a win. It really didn't matter to us and we didn't really think about it that way."

Daneyko:

"We never looked at each other and said, 'we're only up one, we have to protect this lead'. We played like that all the time anyway."
Do perspectives change looking back? Are there any regrets, particularly that the team came so close to repeating the following year before losing in Game 7 to Colorado? The Devils won three Stanley Cup titles in nine seasons; it could have been four in nine-seasons. And had

Messier and the Rangers did not have their date with destiny in 1994, the Devils could, or should, have won then too.

Lamoriello and others all expressed a small degree of regret but only in such a way that losing did not rest easy on the team's shoulders.

Lamoriello:

"I think you have to be very careful when you start to imagine what (could have been). You should never deal in hypotheticals."

Daneyko:

"We just had so many guys that hated to lose so badly. I remember being on the plane on the way home from Colorado, sitting with Scott Stevens. We hated it…we really lost our opportunity when we couldn't close at home in Game 6. Patrick Roy stood on his head."

Elias, speaking in the context of his dramatic winning goal against Philadelphia, setting up Arnott's winner and then coming out on the short end in Game 7 in 2001:

"All the things that go into (winning): skill, execution, injuries, mental (preparation). Sometimes it just comes down to who makes the bigger mistake at a more important time."

Brodeur:

"We overcame a great team in Dallas. They were defending champs. They had Mike Modano, Brett Hull, Eddie (Belfour). Colorado had Joe Sakic, Rob Blake, Patrick Roy. Sometimes it just doesn't work out."

Gregson and the rest of the officiating crew were leaving Reunion Arena that night in Dallas. As they walked up the ramp in sweltering heat near the Devils team bus, Lamoriello was sitting in a chair. To Gregson's eye he was having a moment of reflection on a scorching Texas evening.

Well, not exactly:

"I went up to Lou to congratulate him. He thanked me and said that it was now time to start working on next year."

It was a different time. The game was played different and championship teams, were constructed differently.

There is a certain symbolism in that two devastating body checks - Stevens hit on Lindros, Hatcher's on Sykora - have left such an impression even all those years later. Both hits were hard, devastating but legal.

They also wouldn't happen today.

Gregson, who would later serve as the NHL's director of officiating, had perhaps the most thoughtful perspective.

"You can't hit like that anymore. And you can't play like that anymore. The game has changed. The way players charge through the neutral zone now, you had to keep you head up before (or you could be hit) because there were some tough players lurking. Players today don't have to worry (the same) about entering the offensive zone."

Given what would happen to Sykora, his perspective on the Lindros hit was telling:

"Hockey was different back then. Scotty was known for big hits and those hits were clean…I remember the play to this day. I was on the bench and we could see it happen probably five seconds before it did. Eric Lindros was coming through the middle and Scotty was kinda just hiding and not in (Lindros's) sight. But we all knew it was coming."

Teams are also put together differently now as well. The method that Lamoriello worked to perfection - finding good prospects, cultivating them in the AHL - is much more difficult to pull off now. And the cycle on an individual and team level runs much quicker.

"Now you have (control over) a player until 26 or 27 depending upon the accrued years. Then, you had them until 31 or 32. You could really develop players, a 10- or 12-year (cycle). I always said that I would like to leave players in the minors too long, rather than not long enough. We only had Scott (Niedermayer) and Scott Gomez make our team without going to Albany first."

That shrunken cycle, Lamoriello says, has reduced a team's window to contend by roughly the same degree.

"It's a 3- to 5-year cycle now," said Lamoriello.

Lamoriello also points out that the absence of "lateral hockey trades" now compared to the era when the Devils won three Cups have made a big difference.

"It really isn't so much the (salary) cap because it also has affected the lateral hockey trades that just don't happen (to the extent) that they did," he said.

Lamoriello's perspective looking back is not to suggest he wasn't and can adapt or recognizing wider trends that were good for the game.

Gregson offered an interesting take on the former Devils boss:

"Lou was old school. He was big on discipline, structure. But I always liked dealing with him. He was straight. He asked questions. Never any innuendo or (self-interest)…he had the best puck-handling goalie in the game in Brodeur. And yet when it came time to bring in the trapezoid (behind the net that limited Brodeur's ability to play the puck), Lou was like 'OK, if this is for the good of the game, we should do it.' That's a good example of what Lou was like."

Lamoriello, of course, has moved on. First to his successful rebuild of the Maple Leafs and now to the New York Islanders, where he's doing much the same. He had a very simple but clear message of his role in building three Stanley Cup champions:

"I'm thankful to have worked with so many good people, staff, coaches and, of course, the players."

It's a sentiment that is widely felt and reciprocated.

This story was compiled by Peter Robinson, NewJerseyDevils.com correspondent, with the help of interviews conducted by MSG Networks and njd.TV.