After the deep dive into the worst re-acquisitions of Lou Lamoriello’s career as the New Jersey Devils general manager, it took longer than anticipated to think of the good ones. Lamoriello loves his guys; that much is well-known. Unfortunately for the New Jersey Devils, many of Lou’s guys returned with less than positive results.
With that being said, a couple of players Lou brought back led directly to the Devils making deep runs into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. One player Lou brought back single-handedly brought the Devils to the playoffs. The one player who dragged the Devils to the playoffs left without a trace.
Alexander Mogilny was considered for this list. Mogilny was brought back after the lockout season in 2005. Mogilny was successful in his games, scoring 12 goals in 34 games. If it were not for Patrik Elias returning from his bout with Hepatitis A, Mogilny would have stayed with the team. Elias came back, and Mogilny became a cap casualty, being sent down to the AHL. That, unfortunately, led to Mogilny’s retirement after multiple hip injuries.
The players that made the cut as best re-acquisitions all stayed for only one more season. One player actually came back a third time, albeit not as successful as the second go around with the team. As mentioned before, Lamoriello loves his guys no matter how bad, or in this case good, they performed.