Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) This thread isn't to lament the current state of the Devils (which I don't even think is all that bad, really), but more to point out just how amazing the Devils were back in 2001, especially from 2/26 to 4/17. For this 24-game stretch, the Devils were about as close to unbeatable as a team can get: 22-2-0 record, 96 GF (4.00 GFPG), 46 GA (1.92 GAPG). Only losses were to Pittsburgh (4-2) and the Rangers (4-3). In typical Ranger fan fashion, those fans acted like they won the Stanley Cup that day. I think that was the loss that ended that massive unbeaten streak the Devils against the Rags. In 21 out of the 24 games, the Devils scored at least 3 goals. They allowed more than 2 just 8 times. Some of the offensive numbers over that time frame: Elias: 24 GP, 19 G, 23 A, 42 Pts, +26 Sykora: 22 GP, 12 G, 22 A, 34 Pts, +17 Arnott: 21 GP, 10 G, 12 A, 22 Pts, +15 Mogilny: 23 GP, 13 G, 14 A, 27 Pts, +11 Gomez: 21 GP, 6 G, 14 A, 20 Pts, +4 Holik: 24 GP, 7 G, 12 A, 19 Pts, +14 McKay: 20 GP, 7 G, 8 A, 15 Pts, +13 Brylin: 20 GP, 6 G, 8 A, 14 Pts, +9 Rafalski: 21 GP, 4 G, 16 A, 20 Pts, +27 Niedermayer: 24 GP, 3 G, 11 A, 14 Pts, +11 And the goalies: Brodeur: 20 GP, 18-2-0, 442 Shots, 403 Saves, .912 save% (season save% was .906) Vanbiesbrouck: 4 GP, 4-0-0, 93 Shots, 87 Saves, .935 save% Even though they didn't win the Cup (they were up-and-down after this stretch ended, and their offense had dried up a bit in the SCF), these numbers really tell the story of how terrific that team really was...Tri could probably dig up even better stats than the obvious glamour numbers, but when you realize that the Devils had eight forwards who were all putting the puck in the net at solid rates...and two terrific offensive defensemen in their prime...and Stevens of course...just a reminder of how special that team really was...especially for those glorious two months of damned-near invincibility. Edited November 1, 2014 by Colorado Rockies 1976 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devilsrule33 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Nice thread. The Devils were giving up about 22 shots a game, so even if the goaltending wasn't that great, it didn't matter too much with that offense. That team really did have everything going on from skater 1-18. This was before I ever had centre ice. Wish I could have watched a hockey team that dominant night after night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derlique Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Holy ****, Patrik Elias was playing at nearly 2 PPG in that span. Wish there was a way to watch some of those games. Have to check out the gamecenter vault. Slightly OT- where were the Devils ranked salary wise in those days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevsMan84 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 I remember that stretch pretty well too. If my memory serves me right, right before that stretch the Devils got bit a by the injury bug and some players went down for a stretch (mogilny comes to mind). I believe Mike Jefferson (Danton) made his debut during that bad stretch as well and it was starting to look rough. Then that amazing stretch happened and I think were starting to knock on pittsburghs record winning streak (something like 17 or 18 wins in a row) before losing to Pittsburgh ending the Devils chances to make NHL history. I was also at that loss to the Rangers and it was indeed the one that ended the 23-game unbeaten streak against them. To every ranger fan I knew at the time that was the highlight of the year. I really miss watching the A-line day in and day out. It never felt at the time that they would never be broken up but a year later it was gone forever. Every time they were on the ice it really felt like they had a good chance they could score (and as the stats showed they often did) Truly amazing and that 2000-01 team is the best squad the Devils ever had in their 32 years of history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) Holy ****, Patrik Elias was playing at nearly 2 PPG in that span. Wish there was a way to watch some of those games. Have to check out the gamecenter vault. Slightly OT- where were the Devils ranked salary wise in those days? According to this link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_team_payrolls_in_the_NHL): Devils: $39,151,118 League Average: $33,375,943 Devils were up there, but there were teams spending well over $50 mil that season...the Rangers, the Red Wings, the Avalanche and the Stars...and some other teams were over $40 mil. And yeah, they were amazing to watch. You had so many guys playing at the top of their games (and 2000-01 wasn't one of Marty's better seasons, but like dr33 said, the rest of the team was playing so well that they didn't need him to be any more than solid for most of those games). DM84, there was a game against the Leafs just before that stretch, on 2/19, where the Devils were missing a LOT of guys (Arnott, Sykora, Mogilny, and Gomez), and the Devils STILL won 2-0, on goals by Jiri Bicek and Pierre Dagenais. I remember the feeling being among other teams' fans "How do they keep finding guys that help them win?!" Edited October 31, 2014 by Colorado Rockies 1976 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevsMan84 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Yeah they were winning, but not at the rate they were before and especially after. They were using a ton of Albany players and I think that was also the debut of mike commodore as well in that time. They were not bad during that stretch, but compared how how the rest of the season went I remember some fans acting like the sky was falling in that stretch lol. I guess things like that never change. I also remember during that march-April streak of that year ESPN's website ran a dopey poll asking readers to rank the top lines in the NHL. It was the A line versus the hejduk-Sakic-tanguay line and the Naslund-Morrison-Bertuzzi line. It ended with the sakic and Morrison lines neck and neck with the A line a distant 3rd. I set thought at the time and to this day that they were definitely better than the Morrison line and at least neck and neck with the sakic line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundstrom Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 that team was simply incredible - and that stretch was magnificent. it was the most enjoyable hockey experience to watch the devils play. The A-line was unstoppable and Gomez-Mogilny was a terrific combination as well. if i remember correctly, arnott and neidermayer actually started that season as holdouts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevsMan84 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) that team was simply incredible - and that stretch was magnificent. it was the most enjoyable hockey experience to watch the devils play. The A-line was unstoppable and Gomez-Mogilny was a terrific combination as well. if i remember correctly, arnott and neidermayer actually started that season as holdouts. Yeah they didn't sign until well into mid-late November at the same time. I think their first game was a game in LA during the psuedo-annual November West Coast trip. Edit: Just looked it up and their first game was 11-22-01 against Anaheim with the game the next day against LA. Arnott had a goal and an assist in the Anaheim and an assist in LA. Edit 2: Also looked up their record from 1-25-01 to 2-25-01 (so the month before their incredible run). They were 3-5-3-3 (W-L-T-OL) in 14 GP. Not DEFCON 1 terrible but yeah I remember the injury bug just destroyed our top 6 and we were pretty much icing the Albany River Rats for that stretch. Edited October 31, 2014 by DevsMan84 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 Devils came flying out of the gate that year from a goal-scoring standpoint, even without Arnott and Niedermayer...47 goals in their first 10 GP (6-2-2). The scoring then dried up just like that, and the Devils went 0-6-1, then won a couple of OT squeakers before Arnott and Niedermayer were back in the lineup. The Devils promptly went 18-4-6 in their next 28 games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) Great post CR1976 - I'm not sure if hockey people realize just how incredible the 2000 and 2001 Devils were. They played 221 games over those two years counting regular season and playoffs and outshot the opposition by 1596 shots. That's absolutely bonkers. They outscored their opponents by 185* goals over those two seasons. And they fired their coach in one of those seasons. It was just a staggeringly dominant team - I don't think it's hyperbole to suggest that we'll never see Devils teams like those again. * I was too lazy to count empty net goals against NJ in the playoffs so I estimated Edited October 31, 2014 by Triumph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 Great post CR1976 - I'm not sure if hockey people realize just how incredible the 2000 and 2001 Devils were. They played 221 games over those two years counting regular season and playoffs and outshot the opposition by 1596 shots. That's absolutely bonkers. They outscored their opponents by 185* goals over those two seasons. And they fired their coach in one of those seasons. It was just a staggeringly dominant team - I don't think it's hyperbole to suggest that we'll never see Devils teams like those again. * I was too lazy to count empty net goals against NJ in the playoffs so I estimated That was part of my reason for starting the thread...I think there are probably a lot of Devils fans who don't realize how awesomely dominant that team really was. And what was even (sadly) more amazing was how many commentators, "experts", and fans were still insisting on calling the Devils boring. They were anything but. I think that's what made 2001-02 so jarring by comparison...the memories of 2000 and 2001 were still so fresh in everyone's minds, and the 2001-02 team just kind of fizzled, from a pure "Wow, we're watching one hell of a team!" standpoint. We already detailed how the A-line suddenly couldn't do anything on the road in 01-02. That was such an odd season...everything just felt off, almost the entire year, even when they starting winning under Constantine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevsMan84 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 That was part of my reason for starting the thread...I think there are probably a lot of Devils fans who don't realize how awesomely dominant that team really was. And what was even (sadly) more amazing was how many commentators, "experts", and fans were still insisting on calling the Devils boring. They were anything but. I think that's what made 2001-02 so jarring by comparison...the memories of 2000 and 2001 were still so fresh in everyone's minds, and the 2001-02 team just kind of fizzled, from a pure "Wow, we're watching one hell of a team!" standpoint. We already detailed how the A-line suddenly couldn't do anything on the road in 01-02. That was such an odd season...everything just felt off, almost the entire year, even when they starting winning under Constantine. I remember some people blaming the 01-02 sudden reduction in scoring on the loss of Mogilny. Lou tried to fix that by signing two players who had a history of offense, but were pretty much finished as players by that season; Richer and Kamensky. It seemed things also picked up after the Arnott and McKay for Nieuwendyk and Langs trade but the team kinda just seemed to go through the motions a lot of nights and with the odd coaching experience of Constantine (even before we heard all the stories about him from Brodeur you could just get a sense from interviews that he wasn't quite connecting to that Devils group) the Devils falling to Carolina that year in the playoffs wasn't the biggest surprise in the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) I remember some people blaming the 01-02 sudden reduction in scoring on the loss of Mogilny. Lou tried to fix that by signing two players who had a history of offense, but were pretty much finished as players by that season; Richer and Kamensky. It seemed things also picked up after the Arnott and McKay for Nieuwendyk and Langs trade but the team kinda just seemed to go through the motions a lot of nights and with the odd coaching experience of Constantine (even before we heard all the stories about him from Brodeur you could just get a sense from interviews that he wasn't quite connecting to that Devils group) the Devils falling to Carolina that year in the playoffs wasn't the biggest surprise in the world. Yeah, losing Mogilny hurt...in another season, Dagenais would've just come up and scored 25-30 goals, but it just didn't happen. Richer came back to the Devils in a Steve Sullivan-like deadline deal (Lou gave up a 7th-rounder for him). As for Kamensky, I remember Larry Brooks writing "If Valeri Kamenski is the answer, I don't want to know the question." I can understand why Lou was a little hesitant to keep Mogilny...apparently Alex's confidence was very up and down, and Lou was actually close to trading him in 2000-01, when he scored just 7 goals through the team's first 28 games. Alex really went crazy after that slow start...36 goals in 47 games the rest of the way (that's a 63-goal pace over an 82-game season), but I think Lou might have been a little worried that Alex might turn back into the 10 goals-in-40 regular seasons games guy he'd been as a Devil before he tore it up. Edited October 31, 2014 by Colorado Rockies 1976 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DevsMan84 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Yeah, losing Mogilny hurt...in another season, Dagenais would've just come up and scored 25-30 goals, but it just didn't happen. Richer came back to the Devils in a Steve Sullivan-like deadline deal (Lou gave up a 7th-rounder for him). As for Kamensky, I remember Larry Brooks writing "If Valeri Kamenski is the answer, I don't want to know the question." I can understand why Lou was a little hesitant to keep Mogilny...apparently Alex's confidence was very up and down, and Lou was actually close to trading him in 2000-01, when he scored just 7 goals through the team's first 28 games. Alex really went crazy after that slow start...36 goals in 47 games the rest of the way (that's a 63-goal pace over an 82-game season), but I think Lou might have been a little worried that Alex might turn back into the 10 goals-in-40 regular seasons games guy he'd been as a Devil before he tore it up. To add the the Mogilny part, I think at the time Mogilny had the sort of reputation of where he would explode on contract years, but every other year he would be very much up and down. He didn't do a whole lot in the month of regular reason and playoff play in the 99-2000 year and I think Lou was afraid that if he re-signed Alex to a new contract then Alex might do his Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sort of act again until his next contract was up. That and with the $ Alex was going to get coming off a 43-goal season plus his other habit of disappearing around the middle of the second round of the playoffs I think Lou was probably right to pass on him in the big picture. Seeing Richer in a Devils jersey was really nice, even if it was for a short amount of time. However, you could see that Richer was completely finished as an NHL player at that point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skeeter Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 I thought we didn't lose to the Rangers till 2002. Could be wrong on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'7' Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 Honorable mention to the 2010-2011 Devils, Lemaire took over and they went on a 24-3-2 run after the new year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'7' Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) If the Devils got any OT luck at all vs Carolina (surprise surprise they didn't) then they're in the finals again in 2001-2002 Carolina did not outplay us in any game that serious, and the Hurricanes overall had low-average D and goaltending all season. But as usual they get gods gifts against the Devils. Games 1 and 6 we absolutely crushed them. I don't think the Canes even got 20 shots either game. Yet they win both games Edited October 31, 2014 by '7' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triumph Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 People blame Mogilny for the decline in 2001-02 and while that loss hurt, the team just stopped shooting the lights out and did the opposite. They still beat up on teams on the shot board, they just weren't scoring. Everyone on the team basically had a career year in 01, but a lot of guys snapped back to reality in 02. Nemchinov and McKay's level of play declined. The A-Line supposedly got complacent - I'm not sure that's true but that was the narrative. Daneyko also became a less important guy. And so on. From 96-1997 to 2002-2003 the Devils outshot teams by 3858, or an average of 551 a season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MadDog2020 Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 (edited) What a year that was... It was awesome to turn on the TV or go to the game during that stretch (and most of that season, really) knowing we were going to win. It'll stick in my craw til the day I die that we gave away the Cup that season. Edited October 31, 2014 by MadDog2020 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PacificDevil Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 (edited) From what I seem to remember extra 2 games of Carolina series (should have swept those bastards) followed by brutal Toronto series seemed to take a lot of them they just ran out of steam by the very end, (Penguins team wasn't very good in the conf finals) Edited November 1, 2014 by PacificDevil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colorado Rockies 1976 Posted November 1, 2014 Author Share Posted November 1, 2014 (edited) People blame Mogilny for the decline in 2001-02 and while that loss hurt, the team just stopped shooting the lights out and did the opposite. They still beat up on teams on the shot board, they just weren't scoring. Everyone on the team basically had a career year in 01, but a lot of guys snapped back to reality in 02. Nemchinov and McKay's level of play declined. The A-Line supposedly got complacent - I'm not sure that's true but that was the narrative. Daneyko also became a less important guy. And so on. This is pretty accurate. After this 24-game burst of almost absolute perfection, there was really nowhere for the Devils to go but down. The numbers these players put over that time frame (and for much of that 2000-01 season) weren't sustainable. Even if Mogilny had stayed, there was no way the Devils were going to score 295 goals again. John Madden scored 17 goals by the halfway point of the 00-01 season. Sergei Brylin (voted the team's Unsung Hero) scored 23 goals and added 29 assists in 75 GP. Randy McKay put up his second-highest goal total (23). I think if the Devils had kept Mogilny, they would probably would've scored somewhere around 3.00 GPG in 01-02, as opposed to the 3.6 GPG they put up in 00-01. But it's not hard to see why the Devils scored 90 less goals in 01-02...a lot of guys came back to Earth, the A-Line was only the A-Line at home, and Lou was never able to find players to recreate any of Mogilny's lost production. The 1989-90 Toronto Maple Leafs were a little similar...nowhere nearly as good as these Devils, but the 1989-90 Leafs had a ton of guys have offensive career years, only to come crashing back to reality in a huge way the following season. They went from 337 goals-for to 241. Edited November 1, 2014 by Colorado Rockies 1976 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NJDevs4978 Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 (edited) From what I seem to remember extra 2 games of Carolina series (should have swept those bastards) followed by brutal Toronto series seemed to take a lot of them they just ran out of steam by the very end, (Penguins team wasn't very good in the conf finals) That was a symptom of the overall problem, overconfidence. Ironically that dominant streak in the regular season fattened them up for the kill later on. I remember John Davidson saying years later how the Devils acted like they had no right losing to the Rangers late in the season, meaning they thought they were supposed to win all the time. I miss the days when losing Game 7 in the Finals seemed like the worst thing in the world cause we 'should' have won Edited November 1, 2014 by NJDevs4978 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lateralous Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 From what I seem to remember extra 2 games of Carolina series (should have swept those bastards) followed by brutal Toronto series seemed to take a lot of them they just ran out of steam by the very end, (Penguins team wasn't very good in the conf finals) I always thought it was the Penguins series that killed the Devils. Every other time they made the finals, they had to get through an epic conference finals. While they may have gotten more beat up playing those tougher series, they went into the finals playing their best hockey. The pens were so overmatched that by the game 4 loss, the Devils just looked like they were just going through the motions. I feel like the devils didn't really get back up to the top of their game until the 5th game of the finals and then unfortunately Brodeur has his game 6 collapse and the whole team kind of folded. It's such a shame because that team will never get the credit it deserves for being an absolute juggernaut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Wensink Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 I believe the pens series was too easy. It defocused them and probably made them feel invincible. It sure didn't prepare them for the avs. Laterals, didn't see your post. Obviously I agree with you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SegaDevil Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 If you back up and look at the entire season, you'll see NJ leads the league in goals (!!!!!!) The same "boring trap" team was lighting it up with 295 goals for. Second were the Penguins at 281, followed by 270-something by Ottawa. The team didn't just squeak by with the highest GF, the team absolutely blew all the opposition out of the water. The team was also in the top five of least goals against, giving the Devils the best GF:GA ratio. Despite this electricity, the Devils were still a boring trap team...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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