Devils fans were spoiled during Lou Lamoriello’s tenure as a General Manager in New Jersey. Since Lou took the reins in April of 1987, the Devils made the playoffs in all but 6 of the 27 subsequent seasons, taking home the Stanley Cup in three out of five tries. Additionally, Lou never took his team into a full scale rebuild, a pretty successful feat.
However, after years of being competitive, poor drafting and key guys fleeing in free agency/ jumping ship for Russia (thanks Kovy), the Devils’ roster and farm system was left void of talent. The rebuild was imminent.