In March of 2000, the New Jersey Devils executed a trade that would prove crucial to their success in the early 2000s by acquiring Alexei Mogilny from the Vancouver Canucks. The trade saw the Devils send forward Brendan Morrison, and defenseman Denis Pederson, to Vancouver, and the Russian winger to New Jersey.
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Mogilny, known for his dynamic scoring ability and offensive flair, was an elite player; however, if the rumours are true, he wasn’t Lou Lamoriello’s first choice. Allegedly, Lamoriello wanted to acquire Mark Messier, but when that fell through, he worked out the deal with the Canucks.
Like the past NHL trade deadline, the Devils were trying to flex their muscles and load up their team to win another up. The thought was adding Mogilny’s offensive firepower to their lineup would complement their already strong roster, which included the likes of Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens, and Patrik Elias.
Which worked out well; in 1999-00, Mogilny and the Devils’ already star-studded lineup won another Stanley Cup. The next season, they fought hard to repeat but fell short of the Colorado Avalanche.
The #NJDevils took a 3-0 series lead over the Panthers in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals with a 2-1 win on April 18, 2000. Alexander Mogilny tied the game in the 2nd period with this power-play goal. Brian Rafalski later scored the winner.
pic.twitter.com/0Q19qXAKbp— New Jersey Devils History (@DevilsOfYore) April 24, 2024
In those two seasons with New Jersey, Mogilny played in 87 games and scored 46 goals and 43 assists for 89 points. He would later return to the Devils in his last season (2005-06) of his career and scored 25 points in 34 games. In the playoff runs, he had 23 points in 48 games.
Canucks Return
As for Morrison and Pederson, both played for the Canucks for years.
Pederson was a part of the organization for three years, playing in 102 games and scoring eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points.
As for Morrison, he had more success with the team. At one point, he was a part of a reliable trio on the Canucks top line. He was joined by Markus Naslund and Todd Bertuzzi before being replaced by the Sedin twins.
Morrison played eight seasons with Vancouver and was very productive offensively. In 543 games, he tallied 136 goals and 257 assists for 393 points. He also made the playoffs in five of the eight seasons, where he had 25 points in 43 games.
Although the Canucks traded away a star forward in Mogilny, they managed to replace him with a young Morrison who went on to be a part of their core for years.
From the Devils’ perspective, this was a win-win trade. They got a reliable Mogilny who was a part of two Stanley Cup Finals runs, where they hoisted the Cup once. Another very good piece of business for former GM Lamoriello
