The next season, the Devils once again slipped below .500 and missed the playoffs. Lamoriello made several postseason player changes, notably signing of two Soviet stars—Viacheslav Fetisov and Sergei Starikov. The Devils drafted Fetisov years earlier in the 1983 entry draft, but the Soviet government did not allow Fetisov, who was an Army officer as well as a member of the national team, to leave the country. Shortly after, the Devils signed Fetisov's defense partner, Alexei Kasatonov.