New Jersey Devils: Five Worst Lou Lamoriello Re-Acquisitions

5: Steve Sullivan

In 1994, the Devils struck gold with their draft class. With their second-round pick, the Devils selected Patrik Elias, who became the team’s all-time leading scorer, a two-time Stanley Cup Champion, and had his number retired. Another selection in the 1994 draft was 233rd overall pick Steve Sullivan.

An undersized forward, Sullivan was 5’10 and less than 170 pounds soaking wet. Sullivan made his NHL debut in the 1995-96 season, the year after the Devils won their first Stanley Cup. He played in 16 games in his first season, scoring nine points. Sullivan showed a lot of promise and was traded the next season to the Toronto Maple Leafs in a bigger trade that brought Hall of Famer Doug Gilmour to New Jersey.

For the next 15 years, Sullivan carved out a very respectable career while playing for five other teams. At 38, Sullivan was on the Coyotes in the lockout-shortened 2013 season. The Coyotes were struggling and were going to sell at the deadline. Sullivan had 12 points in 33 games when the trade deadline approached.

The Devils, who were very much in the playoff race, traded for Sullivan. A team that needed more punch after their Stanley Cup Final appearance the season prior traded for a 38-year-old in the twilight of his career. That was it. Nothing else. No hard-hitting defenseman, no one to replace the departed Zach Parise, just Sullivan. Sullivan had five points in nine games for the Devils as they missed the playoffs. Then, Sullivan retired.

The Devils only gave up a seventh-round pick to get the veteran. The Coyotes ended up selecting someone that never played in the NHL, so it did not hit as hard it could have. However, Ondrej Kase, Jake Evans, and Jacob Middleton were selected just after the pick the Devils gave up. So, it could have been worse. The fact that it was just Steve Sullivan at the deadline was disappointing and the main reason his re-acquisition was not higher on this list.

4: Brian Rolston

Brian Rolston has an interesting part in New Jersey Devils history. He was drafted in the first round of the 1991 draft, 11th overall. Making his debut with the club in the lockout-shortened 1995 season, the year the Devils won their first Stanley Cup Championship. He would play 40 out of the 48 games in the season at just 21 years old. He had a solid rookie year, amassing 18 points while contributing two goals in seven playoff games.

The next few years, he carved out a regular spot in the lineup for himself. Then, in the 1999-2000 season, Lamoriello traded Rolston to the Colorado Avalanche for a returning Claude Lemieux(who will be on the best re-acquisitions list). He would play for the Avalanche for one year before being sent to Boston for Ray Bourque, who would come to haunt the Devils in the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals. He would have a short stint in Minnesota before becoming a free agent.

In 2008, the 35-year-old Rolston signed with the Devils as a free agent to a four-year, $20 million contract. To summarize his second stint with the Devils: oof. Relatively new in the cap era, the Devils would regret the contract almost immediately. Rolston only scored 20 goals once in the three years he remained in New Jersey. When the Devils needed production from Rolston, he was nowhere to be found. A $5 million AAV player never getting more than 40 points in a season was rough.

Lamoriello decided to cut bait and flipped him to the New York Islanders in a one-for-one trade for Trent Hunter in July of 2011. Hunter was bought out four days later and then signed with the Los Angeles Kings, who would eventually beat the Devils in the Stanley Cup Finals later that year. So, in the end, Rolston brought two championships to New Jersey and had them lose two as well.

3: Ilkka Pikkarainen

The only reason why Pikkarainen is not number one on this list is because he never made his NHL debut until he was re-acquired. Lamoriello drafted Pikkarainen in the seventh round of the 2002 NHL draft. Pikkarainen would spend one year in Finland before coming to North America to play three seasons for the Albany River Rats. He would go back to Finland, where he spent the next three seasons before re-signing with the Devils in the 2009 offseason.

So why is this re-acquisition so bad? Adding context, the 2008-09 season ended horrifically for the Devils. They allowed two goals in the final minute and 20 seconds in Game 7 to the Carolina Hurricanes. Fans were mad. After the heartbreak on the ice, fans watched long-time Devils John Madden and Brian Gionta walk in free agency. How did Lou Lamoriello respond to losing two key players to the team?

Enter Ilkka Pikkarainen. Lamoriello watched two fan favorites walk to bring back a player no one had ever heard of. When asked if the Devils did anything during free agency, Lamoriello said he signed someone that would contribute immediately to the big club. The mystery man would be revealed as Pikkarainen. He would play 31 games in the 2009-10 season while scoring only one goal.

This was the beginning of the decline for Lamoriello in many fan’s eyes. Letting established players walk to bring back his old draft picks. The Devils were not rewarded for bringing Pikkarainen back and were beaten in the first round of the playoffs in the 2009-2010 season. While Lamoriello did make up for this by trading for Ilya Kovalchuk during the year, he put his club behind by bringing Pikkarainen back into the fold.

2: Jason Arnott

Jason Arnott is a staple in Devils’ history. His Stanley Cup-winning goal in 2000 against the Dallas Stars is constantly highlighted. When thinking about the Devils’ golden age, that goal is probably one of the first things people think of. Arnott was acquired from Edmonton in the 1997-98 season. Arnott would famously play for the Devils until he was traded to the Dallas Stars at the 2002 trade deadline.

Arnott would then play for the Stars and Nashville Predators, even becoming the Predators’ captain at one point. He would have a solid career after leaving New Jersey, but the signs of aging were starting to show at the end of his Predators tenure. His point totals would decline for three straight seasons, but for some reason, Lamoriello would want to get the band back together once again.

Lamoriello traded for Arnott during the 2010 offseason, trading away young player Matt Halischuk and a 2011 second-round pick. A steep price to pay for a 35-year-old declining center. Trying to regain magic from Arnott did not work. Arnott had 24 points in 62 games for the uncharacteristically struggling Devils. For the first time since 1996, before Arnott was on the Devils the first time, they would miss the playoffs.

The Devils then found themselves in a spot they were rarely in. They were sellers at the trade deadline. Lamoriello would send Arnott to the Washington Capitals for a second-round pick and David Steckel. Steckel did not last long with the Devils, and the second round pick was flipped to Minnesota for Marek Zidlicky the next season.

1: Vladimir Malakhov

Vladimir Malakhov was a trade deadline acquisition by Lamoriello during the 2000 season. Malakhov. He would play all 23 games with the Devils in the 2000 playoffs, tallying only one goal. However, his contribution was key to the team’s success.

At that point in time, Malakov was an NHL regular. He would move on to sign with the New York Rangers and then be traded to the Philadelphia Flyers in 2004. Then, the lockout hit. The Devils lost Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, and Ken Daneyko. They had trouble replacing them. They decided to go with the replace-by-committee approach. They brought in Malakhov, Richard Matvichuk, and Dan McGillis as free agents to replace two Hall of Famers and an all-time Devil.

Malakhov would only play 29 games and then leave the team. In a weird circumstance, he just stopped playing for the Devils. There were reports that he had retired, while some had said he was too injured to play the game anymore. Even though he was away from the team, his contract still counted against the cap for the Devils. The salary cap was brand new, and Lou Lamoriello was about to learn what it was all about the hard way.

Lamoriello would trade Malakhov’s contract along with a 2007 first-round pick to the San Jose Sharks for Alexander Korolyuk and Jim Fahey. Korolyuk would never play for the Devils and remain in Malakhov’s home of Russia. Fahey would play a handful of games but nothing to write home about in just one season. That first-round pick would become David Perron, who is still playing in the NHL with 1,055 games under his belt. David Perron is certainly a player the Devils could have used throughout the salary cap era.