New Jersey Dev-Ifs: What if the New Jersey Devils Traded for Luongo?
The New Jersey Devils and former GM Lou Lamoriello made a splash at the 2013 NHL Draft by trading the 9th overall pick to the Vancouver Canucks for goaltender Cory Schneider. But what would the 2013-2014 season have looked like if the Devils traded for Roberto Luongo instead?
I’m a big fan of NFL Networks’ Dave Dameshek’s “N-If-L”, so I thought it would be interesting to see what the landscape of the New Jersey Devils would be if they traded for Roberto Luongo instead of Cory Schenider in 2013. Before I continue, I want this to be VERY clear. Cory Schneider was clearly the smarter trade for the long term future of the New Jersey Devils. I am in no way saying trading for Cory was a mistake or a bad trade, this is purely speculative and for fun.
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Back to business.
Lou Lamoriello addressed the future concerns of an aging Martin Brodeur when he traded away a high first round draft pick to the Vancouver Canucks for up-and-comer Cory Schneider. Schneider and Luongo were in the midst of a goaltending controversy for the starting job in Vancouver. Luongo wanted out of Vancouver and all signs were pointing to that fruition coming true, but Lamoriello ‘jedi mind tricked” Vancouver GM Mike Gillis into trading Schneider instead. But what if Luongo got his wish and was traded to New Jersey for the 9th overall pick? Let’s spin-a-yarn and see what could have happened in the 2013-2014 season.
2013-2014 Season
Well first, Vancouver would still lose out on that trade ’cause they’d still take Bo Horvat with the 9th overall pick of the 2013 Draft. If Bo doesn’t scream elite player to you, then you can probably guess as to why Vancouver lost out on this trade. But this is where things get interesting.
With Luongo finally getting out of Vancouver and into a less pressure, smaller market, he has a renaissance year and flies out of the gate to start the season. This means the Devils don’t start the season winless in their first seven games.
Roberto begins to show vintage numbers and gets start after start. So much so that Martin Brodeur is designated to a true backup role (Just breathe Devils fans). Marty being frustrated with his new role requests a trade to a playoff caliber team in the Western Conference where he believes he can make a difference.
Mar 26, 2016; Tampa, FL, USA; Florida Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo (1) during the second period at Amalie Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
The Devils trade Marty Brodeur. Where to? The Minnesota Wild.
The 2013-2014 Minnesota Wild had a large, but very mediocre goalie committee. Names like: Josh Harding, Darcy Kuemper, Niklas Backstrom, and bear-fearing Ilya Bryzgalov. With inconsistency between the pipes, Minnesota needed a consistent goalie with playoff experience. For a 2014 4th round pick and a 2015 2nd round pick, enters Martin Brodeur. This trade goes extremely well for Brodeur and the Wild. The Wild end up beating the Avs, the Hawks and advance to the Western Conference Finals! However, they’d still lose to the Los Angeles Kings (sorry Wild fans, not even in my made up universe).
Anyways, back to the Devils.
With Luongo having a stellar year between the pipes, the Devils don’t fall five points short of the 2014 playoffs. The Devs end the year 3rd in the Metropolitan Division with 95 points, keeping them away from their current playoff drought! Also, since Detroit just squeezed into the playoffs, this scenario would knock them out and end their playoff streak, but I digress.
The Rangers would now open up against the Devils instead of the Flyers in the opening round. Although the “Rags” would have had home-ice advantage, the Devils would roll by the Rangers in 6. Remember, the Devils bested the Rangers 3-2-0 in the regular season.
In the Eastern Conference Semifinals, the Devils face-off against the Penguins and play a low-scoring, defensively tight series. With solid goaltending and Jaromir Jagr showing the Penguins why they never should have let him go, the Devils beat the Penguins and advance to the ECF.
Now this is where NHL history really changes. Montreal and Canada would have finally brought the Stanley Cup back home. That’s right. The Canadiens should have won the Stanley Cup in 2014. Now playing the New Jersey Devils instead of the New York Rangers in the 2014 Eastern Conference Finals, Carey Price would not have been knocked out of the series. Especially when you consider everyone on the Devils knows how to stop. Unlike some players on the Rangers; I’m looking at you Chris Kreider. So the Devils would lose to Montreal in six, ending their playoff run.
So if you find yourself scrolling down to the “Comments” section to ostracize me, here are the main points:
But here’s the reality of the situation. Trading for Schneider was great for the long term and the rebuild is proving to be successful. Devils fans we have some fun years ahead of us, we just need to wait.
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