A kakar wasa ta gaba, Devils sun sake sauka a kasa da.500 kuma sun rasa wasan karshe. Lamoriello ya yi canje-canje da yawa na 'yan wasa, musamman sanya hannu kan taurari biyu na Soviet - Viacheslav Fetisov da Sergei Starikov. The Devils sun tattara Fetisov shekaru da suka gabata a cikin
1983 shigarwa daftari, amma gwamnatin Soviet ba ta ba da damar Fetisov, wanda ya kasance jami'in Soja ne kuma memba na ƙungiyar ƙasa, ya bar ƙasar. Ba da daɗewa ba bayan haka, aljanu sun sanya hannu kan abokin haɗin Fetisov, Alexei Kasatonov.