The New Jersey Devils won the Stanley Cup!

MatsLP became the RHL New Jersey Devils GM on March 8th 2016 (at 8:57 eastern time to be more specific). Back then the season was near it’s end and even tough the Devils were in a playoff spot, he decided to shuffle his lines and play younger players like Barkov (66OV) and Parayko (58OV) and this probably cost him a playoff appearance.

This would be the only time that MatsLP’s Devils missed the playoffs. 

Six years later, after several trades, free agent signings and a few draft picks the New Jersey Devils finally lift the Stanley Cup. 

Of course all these moves contributed to build this strong team but it’s probably the ones that MatsLP didn’t make that mattered the most. Turning down trade offers, holding prospects and waiting them to bloom maybe difficult at times. But maybe those were the keys. 

Tip of the hat to the previous GMs

In other words, in a way this Cup also belongs to previous NJ Devils GM who made pretty clever picks at the draft. I can’t remember all their names but if I’m correct there were « MedicGoalie » or "Sylvain something" well something like that. Regarding that, let's look at who’s been there since day 1 and who’s been added along the road to make this 2022 Stanley Cup champ roster. 

Who’s been there since day 1? 

Forwards

Aleksander Barkov
Nikolaj Ehlers
Oliver Bjorkstrand
Tyler Motte
Victor Olofsson
Radek Faksa

Defenseman

Devon Toews
Zach Werenski
Colton Parayko

Goalie

Alex Nedeljkovic

And the new guys?

Forwards

Dylan Larkin (trade)
Alexander Radulov (trade)
Yegor Sharangovich (draft)
Matthias Janmark (free agent)
Rasmus Asplund (trade)
Jake Evans (free agent)

Defenseman

Brent Burns (trade)
John Klingberg (trade)
Jani Hakanpaa (trade)
Ty Smith (draft) (He played 4 games during the playoffs)

Goalie

Jacob Markstrom (trade)

So...

So all in all, yes it is MatsLP’s team but let's not deny that he started with a nice deep prospect pool. There are a few key pieces he added along the way. Speaking of which, the Larkin, Radulov and Klingberg addition are probably the reason why the Devils won this year and this also played a big part in MatsLP winning this year’s Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year. 

How about a fun fact to end this?

With a 16-6 record, a 1.72 GAA and a 0.935% SV, Jacob Markstrom lead the way during the playoffs (Did I mentioned he also won the Vezina Trophy this year?). Sure, one may argue that Larkin performance was amazing with 10G and 13A in 22 games while playing on the second line, but I feel like having a stud goalie is crucial to win in the RHL. Just look at what Mr. Hellebuyck did for the Arizona Coyotes.

Ok, those are not the fun facts, it is how MatsLP traded for Markstrom that is. He was travelling in Spain and staying in Malaga at the time. One day, he wokes up in the middle of the night and as a dedicated GM, he checked his Slack (back then we used Slack instead of Discord I think or was it the good old forum?) and the Dallas Stars had asking him for Anders Nilsson + ? vs Jacob Markstrom. He quickly replied, adding a 7th rd pick. The next morning he wokes up with a deal in hand and since Marky is the starting goalie for the New Jersey Devils. To put things in context, at that time Markstrom and Nilsson were battling for the #1 spot for in Vancouver. It was more or less a coin flip and salary wise it was a good trade for Dallas. Maybe this was the first meaningfull step on the path toward the Stanley Cup.