How the Cup finalists were built

This spring’s version of the Stanley Cup Playoffs has been a long, winding road of unpredictability.  That road has stopped at the Stanley Cup final with a No. 6 seed meeting a No. 8 seed, the first time under the current format that a division winner is not among the final two standing.

New Jersey and Los Angeles were equally impressive in their surprising runs to the final.  Here is how each team was built over the years…

(Note: Only players who played in at least one playoff game are included)

How many current players were on the roster in recent seasons?
	2010/11	2009/10	2008/09	2007/08	2006/07	2005/06	Pre-Lockout
New Jersey	14	10	8	8	6	3	2
Los Angeles	18	14	9	3	2	1	1

	Draft	Trade	Free Agency
New Jersey	8	4	11
Los Angeles	12	8	2

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

Draft (8)-

Martin Brodeur… 1^st round pick (20^th overall) in 1990

Patrik Elias… 2^nd round pick (51^st overall) in 1994

Mark Fayne… 5^th round pick (155^th overall) in 2005

Adam Henrique… 3^rd round pick (82^nd overall) in 2008

Jacob Josefson… 1^st round pick (20^th overall) in 2009

Adam Larsson… 1^st round pick (4^th overall) in 2011

Zach Parise… 1^st round pick (17^th overall) in 2003

Travis Zajac… 1^st round pick (20^th overall) in 2004

Trade (4)-

Alexei Ponikarovsky… acquired on 1/20/12 from Carolina for Joe Sova and a fourth-round pick in 2012.

Bryce Salvador… acquired on 2/26/08 from St. Louis for Cam Janssen.

Tim Sestito… acquired on 7/9/09 from Edmonton for a conditional pick.

Marek Zidlicky… acquired on 2/24/12 from Minnesota for Kurtis Foster, Nick Palmieri, Stephane Veilleux, a second-round pick in 2012 and a conditional pick in 2013.

Free agency (11)-

Steve Bernier… signed on 1/30/12

Ryan Carter… claimed off waivers on 10/26/11

David Clarkson… signed on 8/05

Stephen Gionta… signed in 2005

Andy Greene… signed in 2006

Peter Harrold… signed on 8/12/11

Johan Hedberg… signed on 7/1/10

Ilya Kovalchuk… signed on 9/4/10

Petr Sykora… signed on 10/5/11

Anton Volchenkov… signed on 7/1/10

Dainius Zubrus… signed on 7/3/07

Synopsis-

Outside of the main core of Brodeur, Parise, Kovalchuk, Elias and Zajac, a good portion of the Devils roster has been pieced together with leftovers from other teams – most of whom were picked up this season.  Zidlicky and Ponikarovsky were cheap additions via trade, Carter was claimed off waivers, and Bernier and Sykora were signed during the season.  All of those moves barely grabbed headlines at the time, but they are all making respective impacts this postseason.

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LOS ANGELES KINGS

Draft (12)-

Jonathan Bernier… 1^st round pick (11^th overall) in 2006

Dustin Brown… 1^st round pick (13^th overall) in 2003

Kyle Clifford… 2^nd round pick (35^th overall) in 2009

Drew Doughty… 1^st round pick (2^nd overall) in 2008

Dwight King… 4^th round pick (109^th overall) in 2007

Anze Kopitar… 1^st round pick (11^th overall) in 2005

Trevor Lewis… 1^st round pick (17^th overall) in 2006

Andrei Loktionov… 5^th round pick (123^rd overall) in 2008

Alec Martinez… 4^th round pick (95^th overall) in 2007

Jordan Nolan… 7^th round pick (186^th overall) in 2009

Jonathan Quick… 3^rd round pick (72^nd overall) in 2005

Slava Voynov… 2^nd round pick (32^nd overall) in 2008

Trade (8)-

Jeff Carter… acquired on 2/23/12 from Columbus for Jack Johnson and a first-round pick in 2012.

Colin Fraser… acquired on 6/26/11 from Edmonton for Ryan Smyth.

Matt Greene… acquired on 6/29/08 from Edmonton for Lubomir Visnovsky.

Dustin Penner… acquired on 2/28/11 from Edmonton for Colten Teubert and a first-round pick in 2011.

Mike Richards… acquired on 6/23/11 from Philadelphia for Wayne Simmonds, Brayden Schenn and a second-round pick in 2012.

Brad Richardson… acquired on 6/21/08 from Colorado for a second-round pick.

Jarret Stoll… see: Greene

Justin Williams… acquired on 3/5/09 from Carolina for Patrick O’Sullivan and a second-round pick.

Free agency (2)-

Willie Mitchell… signed on 8/25/10

Rob Scuderi… signed on 7/2/09

Synopsis-

Much of the core of this Kings team has been together in the last couple years, but that wasn’t the case around the lockout.  Brown is the only player who was on the team in 2004 and 2006.  And before 2008/09 rolled around, only three current Kings were with the team.  GM Dean Lombardi pinpointed certain needs/players and started to put together a quality roster in the last few years.  When you look at this team on paper, it isn’t your ordinary No. 8 seed.

Photos credit: Getty Images