1995, yes, because everyone did. Because the team on paper, with its low scoring roster, was not expected to do go the entire way. We're also going on a young Devils team that had great coaching, depth in every facet, and a very young Brodeur. Yes, Marty went to the Final last year, but the difference is he's 40. A lot changes from 39 to 40. If players make a huge decline, this is it, and he has regressed in each of the past three seasons. They are without Parise, so that not only takes out a 30-40 goal, 60-90 point scorer from their team, but it also has a domino effect on other guys where now they don't have a player with his hockey IQ passing them the puck, and it allows other team's top shutdown lines one less stud player to focus on. This puts more heat on your top guys like your Kovalchuks. 2000 and 2003 Devils... pretty much it wasn't a surprise. People saw how good the team was and were taking them more seriously as a contender.
And with the depth that the Devils possessed (especially on D... Rafalski, Daneyko, S. Niedermayer, and S. Stevens), with a much younger Elias and Brodeur.... yes, I get that Rafalski and Elias didn't play on the 95 Cup, but they still had guys like Lemieux and Richer.. but still had an amazing D and a quicker Marty... you have to understand the teams are much different. Well, when it doesn't happen, we can revisit this conversation, and I can say I told you so. Until then, we'll let father time do the rest.
