Biggest Bust In Devils History

Who is the biggest bust in New Jersey Devils history?


Seeing that he was picked 3rd overall, ahead of Brian Leetch, Neil Brady is the biggest bust in Devils history. In my opinion.

Rocky Trottier was drafted because he was Bryan's brother and the Devils had just moved here from Colorado. I don't remember much about him but he sucked.

Jason MIller was awful. I remember a few games he played with the big club back in 1992. He never even touched the puck.

JF Damphousse wasn't terrible, but the Devils were in a race for playoff positioning in 2002. He lost his job to John VBK. Skinny as a rail, with no rebound control.

Ahonen never got a shot.

Adrian Foster never was healthy.

Corey Foster couldn't play defense. Not good if you're a defenseman.

I voted for Foster. I know he was often injured, but my vote was based on his potential alone which obviously will never be fulfilled.:shakehead

I voted for Foster. I know he was often injured, but my vote was based on his potential alone which obviously will never be fulfilled.:shakehead

You might be too young to remember, but they said Neil Brady would be a bigger, tougher version of Kirk Muller.

Pierre Dagenais: Had the size and strength....and you know the rest.

And having the luxury of hindsight now, in 2004 & 2005 we settled for Zajac & Bergfors and missed out on Wolski & Stastny.

But then, so did a lot of other teams.

But hey, we can't pick a diamond in the rough every year and besides, we got our own steal of the draft with #9. ;)

Having the luxury of hindsight now, in 2004 & 2005 we settled for Zajac & Bergfors and missed out on Wolski & Stastny.

But hey, we can't pick a diamond in the rough every year and besides, we got our own steal of the draft with #9. ;)

Could have had Bergfors AND Statsny. They passed on Paul Stastny to draft Jeff Frazee.

Could have had Bergfors AND Statsny. They passed on Paul Stastny to draft Jeff Frazee.

yeah, I forgot that Frazee was picked before Stastny too.

The only reason I think Lou passed on Stasty was because back then, we had bunch of Centers with Kozlov (ugh), Madden, Gomez & Brylin. Perhaps Lou thought we didn't need another Center?

Oh well.


Rocky Trottier was drafted because he was Bryan's brother and the Devils had just moved here from Colorado. I don't remember much about him but he sucked.



Yeah, I actually got his autograph back then. He signed the player bio page of my 1983-1984 Devils Yearbook which I still have by the way. A lot of hype over that summer.

For the last name of course.

Pierre Dagenais: Had the size and strength....and you know the rest.

And having the luxury of hindsight now, in 2004 & 2005 we settled for Zajac & Bergfors and missed out on Wolski & Stastny.

But then, so did a lot of other teams.

But hey, we can't pick a diamond in the rough every year and besides, we got our own steal of the draft with #9. ;)

He was a middle second round pick, though. I really didn't consider him a bust.
The first time I saw him I didn't have a whole lot of expectations, short of him being given a pair of rocket skates... which would probably get him up to average speed.

You might be too young to remember, but they said Neil Brady would be a bigger, tougher version of Kirk Muller.

Haha, i'm not that old, only 27. But i gotta admit, i've never even heard of Neil Brady.

Please guys.........Ahonen, Foster, Damphousse? All of these guys pale in comparison to Lance Ward, 10th overall in 1996.

Brady easily.

The only reason I think Lou passed on Stasty was because back then, we had bunch of Centers with Kozlov (ugh), Madden, Gomez & Brylin. Perhaps Lou thought we didn't need another Center?


That's simply not a Lou/Conte thing to do. They simply--and they weren't alone--underrated Stastny's abilities.

I remember reading an article way back in the day about how the fans where chanting "phoouuse" and JF Damphousse thought they were booing him.

Lou passed on Stastny because no one had a clue he'd be this good. He's a top 10, maybe top 5 pick in that draft if anyone had a clue he'd be this good.

Zajac was better in college.

Please guys.........Ahonen, Foster, Damphousse? All of these guys pale in comparison to Lance Ward, 10th overall in 1996.

And that is the correct answer.

Lou passed on Stastny because no one had a clue he'd be this good. He's a top 10, maybe top 5 pick in that draft if anyone had a clue he'd be this good.

Zajac was better in college.

How could they not know? Wasn't he the son of a hall of famer? I mean its usually in the genes. He won all sorts of awards in College, wouldn't that have clued them in?

As for the logic about not picking a center. Zajac was a center. Stastny would have been godsend right about now on our lines.

I think I read somewhere that before his injury, Foster was pegged to be better than Dany Heatley.

Instead of Adrian Foster, we could have gotten Derek Roy, who was picked 4 picks later.

They were all awful. Brady was drafted #3 overall, so he has to be the biggest bust.

most of that 96 draft was pretty craptacular

Man, not only was brady a sorry pick, but almost that entire draft was pathetic

1988 wasnt much better as most picks after foster were bums too.

The key is not to draft anyone with the last name Foster! :sarcasm:

Corey and Adrian were BUSTS

most of that 96 draft was pretty craptacular

We could have had Sami Salo, 9th round pick by the Senators in 1996 or Thomas Kaberle 8th round by the Leafs.


Btw, I think theres some problems with our development system, because some players that we consider busts end up doing well on another team. Aaron Voros is a good recent example.

20 gp, 7 G, 6 A 13 p, +/- 4, Looks like a better version of Clarkson. We could have kept him instead of signing Asham, would have been more productive.

Mark my words, this is gonna go down as the biggest mistake Lou has ever made. We all know power forwards develop slow, thought our point was to get bigger? Voros is 6'4" and a very physical player.
He's gonna be at least a 40 point player with potential to be 50 pts down the line.

Nicklas Bergfors

Nicklas Bergfors

Heh don't get me started, heres another example of a player with potential that we are killing in the minors. This guy will be a 70 point scorer in his career. Yet he's stagnating in our system.

He's not a bust, but our system doesn't fit with him. I garantee you if he was on the detroit redwings he'd be on their top 2 lines within a year.

Yes Bergfors didn't seem to produce alot last couple of years, but it may not have been his fault. He may have had bad line mates, bad luck, we all know chemistry plays a big part. He seemed to me to be another Elias type player, and in the right situation can explode big time, he needs to be used on a finess line with fast players like Elias, Gionta or Parise.

Yeah I wasn't saying he is a definite bust, it was just a joke about how he shouldn't be in the minors. I thought it was very stupid that he only played one game in the NHL, and actually played pretty well.

If I was in Sutter's shoes, I'd send Rupp to the minors, and bring up Bergfors. We need to start cycling our AHL line up and see what they can do in the NHL, don't let them die in our system.

i wouldn't classify Adrain Foster as a bust, he is playing alright in Houston (minn farm team). Sometimes certain players just don't fit into certain organizations.

I was torn between Brady and Trottier but picked Trottier only because of how bad the Devils were way back then and how it seemed that the early hopes of the franchise were riding on him developing.

Heh don't get me started, heres another example of a player with potential that we are killing in the minors. This guy will be a 70 point scorer in his career. Yet he's stagnating in our system.

He's not a bust, but our system doesn't fit with him. I garantee you if he was on the detroit redwings he'd be on their top 2 lines within a year.

Yes Bergfors didn't seem to produce alot last couple of years, but it may not have been his fault. He may have had bad line mates, bad luck, we all know chemistry plays a big part. He seemed to me to be another Elias type player, and in the right situation can explode big time, he needs to be used on a finess line with fast players like Elias, Gionta or Parise.

Well, to speak on behalf of NJ's braintrust, Bergfors hasn't exactly earned a steady shot with the big club based on how he's performed in the system so far.

Just like the guy NJ traded to Toronto a couple of years back (name escapes me). Young kid, lots of potential, the HF Boards say what a mistake that is. Guy has since disappeared.

i wouldn't classify Adrain Foster as a bust, he is playing alright in Houston (minn farm team). Sometimes certain players just don't fit into certain organizations.

Kind of hard to tell if he fit in the NJ system or not if he missed large chunks of every season with injuries.

I wouldn't call him a bust only because Adrian was never healthy, For the brief moments he was, he didn't embarrass himself. I hope he does well.

For the record, I go with Brady.

Well, to speak on behalf of NJ's braintrust, Bergfors hasn't exactly earned a steady shot with the big club based on how he's performed in the system so far.

Just like the guy NJ traded to Toronto a couple of years back (name escapes me). Young kid, lots of potential, the HF Boards say what a mistake that is. Guy has since disappeared.
The name you're looking for is Suglobov.

If I was in Sutter's shoes, I'd send Rupp to the minors, and bring up Bergfors. We need to start cycling our AHL line up and see what they can do in the NHL, don't let them die in our system.

That's not the Devil way though. You're supposed to earn your stripes in the minors and then you'll be brought up if your deserving. Very few Devils have skipped the minors on their way to the big club. So far what I've seen and heard from Bergfors is that he's not producing and he's a pouter-2 big no no's in my book and Lou's I'm sure.

i wouldn't classify Adrain Foster as a bust, he is playing alright in Houston (minn farm team). Sometimes certain players just don't fit into certain organizations.

I agree, the Devils also knew they were taking a gamble by drafting him. Even if Foster goes on to be a decent player in the NHL, which is highly unlikely, you can't blame Lou or the Devils for letting him go because they were very patient with him.

Just like the guy NJ traded to Toronto a couple of years back (name escapes me). Young kid, lots of potential, the HF Boards say what a mistake that is. Guy has since disappeared.

You're thinking of Alex Suglobov. I must ponder about the potential everybody thought he had in 2004... :shakehead

How could they not know? Wasn't he the son of a hall of famer? I mean its usually in the genes. He won all sorts of awards in College, wouldn't that have clued them in?


Lots of sons of HOFers don't come close to filling their father's shoes. Take Yan Stastny for instance.

Paul was coming off of one year in college where he put up 42 points in 40 games. Good, but I don't think that was worthy of "all sorts of awards" yet.

The Devils underestimated his worth, as did 20+ other teams who passed on Stastny.

I think I read somewhere that before his injury, Foster was pegged to be better than Dany Heatley.

If I recall correctly, it was that Foster played with Heatley and Krys Kolanos when they were all 15. Foster wasn't quite as good as Heatley, but wasn't far behind. Devils took a chance that the potential was still there. Unfortunately there's a whole lot of development that goes on during those years that Foster missed with injuries.

Foster is not the worst bust in Devils history, not by a longshot. When we drafted him, we all knew he was either a superstar or a nothing, and that the chance of his being a superstar was worthwhile enough to risk the much larger chance of him turning into nothing.

Ahonen was a bust, but he was a bust largely because of our awful goalie development.

Ward is pretty bad, but Brady and Trottier are worse. I know most Devils fans (including myself) weren't around during their drafting/playing days, but those two are absolutely the biggest busts in Devils history.

Neil Brady, followed by Ari Ahonen, and then Rocky Trottier. Corey Foster would be my fourth choice.

Craig Wolanin, who was a really nice guy, was kind of a bust, but we did get Peter Stastny for him. Also, Wolanin who was paired with Dano back in 1988 when we were one game from the Finals, was a good player when healthy. The problem was, he was injured a lot. Craig was chosen after Wendel Clark and Dana Murzyn, who was also a disappointment. Can you imagine Wendel Clark on the Devils? It would have been awesome!!! I was hoping Clark would drop to third, but there was no way Toronto was not going to select him. However, I am sure they considered Dana Murzyn strongly, as he was a helluva prospect coming out of juniors. No one knew if Clark was going to play defense or left wing. Murzyn was supposed to be a stud defenseman but ended up being just a mediocre pro.

Lance Ward was a pretty bad pick at #10

I forgot about Lance Ward. Good memory. He was a complete bust.

I'm going to write in Vadim Sharifijanov.

I forgot about Lance Ward. Good memory. He was a complete bust.

Lance Ward was never signed by Lou. He re-entered the draft and the Devils got a compensation 2nd round pick for him in the 1998 draft. They used that pick with their own 2nd round pick to trade with Dallas for a 1st round pick. That turned out to be Scott Gomez.

I'm going to write in Vadim Sharifijanov.

He was the 25th pick in the 1994 draft. He played over 100 NHL games. He was a bust, but there's been worse.

Neil Brady, followed by Ari Ahonen, and then Rocky Trottier. Corey Foster would be my fourth choice.

Craig Wolanin, who was a really nice guy, was kind of a bust, but we did get Peter Stastny for him. Also, Wolanin who was paired with Dano back in 1988 when we were one game from the Finals, was a good player when healthy. The problem was, he was injured a lot. Craig was chosen after Wendel Clark and Dana Murzyn, who was also a disappointment. Can you imagine Wendel Clark on the Devils? It would have been awesome!!! I was hoping Clark would drop to third, but there was no way Toronto was not going to select him. However, I am sure they considered Dana Murzyn strongly, as he was a helluva prospect coming out of juniors. No one knew if Clark was going to play defense or left wing. Murzyn was supposed to be a stud defenseman but ended up being just a mediocre pro.


Wolanin played 12 years in the NHL. That's kinda good.

Man, not only was brady a sorry pick, but almost that entire draft was pathetic



Well, we did pass on Brian Leetch, Vincent Damphousse, Adam Graves & even a Teppo Numminen (who btw played all the way up to this season, 22 years later)

Geez, at some point in time, we could have had an awesome 6 man D unit of Brian Leetch & Numminen to complement Stevens, Daneyko, Driver & Niedermayer. Wow.

But that was Max McNab's fault as Lou was still at Providence.


Lance Ward was never signed by Lou. He re-entered the draft and the Devils got a compensation 2nd round pick for him in the 1998 draft. They used that pick with their own 2nd round pick to trade with Dallas for a 1st round pick. That turned out to be Scott Gomez.

Yep and that was actually the last time we had an actual Top 10 pick with the #10 pick.

I voted for Damphosse as the biggest bust for 3 reasons:

1. He never contributed on the NHL level (making him a bust)
2. There was no reason for us to waste a 1st round pick on a goalie at that time with Brodeur being only 28 or so. Presumably they were protecting themselves for when Marty hit UFA at 31 but I don't think Marty ever gave any hint of wanting to play anywhere else.
3. Brendan Morrow was taken with the very next pick.

If you're talking about Jean-Francois Damphousse, he is part of the reason we lost Neidermayer. We traded him along with Sykora, Pohanka, and Commodore for Jeff friessen and a few others. The Ducks ended up trading Damphousse and Commodore to Calgary for Rob Neidermayer and it went downhill from there :(

Re: Aaron Voros

it is simply a sign of our depth when players like these go to other teams and succeed.

he never got the shot because we always had someone better. end of story.

Re: Aaron Voros

it is simply a sign of our depth when players like these go to other teams and succeed.

he never got the shot because we always had someone better. end of story.

Did we have someone better? Wasn't the point of the last draft to get bigger? Voros is 6'3"-6'4" and 205 lbs. Thats pretty big. He would have made a great addition next to Clarkson. We could have had him instead of signing Asham. They didn't like his attitude. Didn't Scott Stevens have an attitude also when he first joined us? That worked out great for us.

How could they not know? Wasn't he the son of a hall of famer? I mean its usually in the genes. He won all sorts of awards in College, wouldn't that have clued them in?

As for the logic about not picking a center. Zajac was a center. Stastny would have been godsend right about now on our lines.

Stastny was more laid back than Scotty Gomez prior to being drafted. 30 teams and all the scouting combines (not to mention his hall of fame father) were unconvinced that his attitude would allow him to be an NHLer.

So he fell into the second round and the Avs picked him up because he played at Denver. He used to play in the Devils' mites system when his dad was in Jersey; that's the only logic that would have seen him picked ahead of Bergfors. Zajac was picked the year before. Most scouts had Stastny pegged as a third or fourth round prospect.

Regarding Bergfors, he picked up an injury in his game at the NHL level and has only started to come around with Lowell recently; where he is the only plus player. I hope we see him back with the big club this season and I expect Viuhkola to give the NHL another shot next season.

Lance Ward wasn't really a bust in the NHL. He played several hundred games for other teams as a defensive D-man. Although as a top ten pick that makes him more disappointing than Ahonen, Foster and Damphousse who were all second round picks in a reasonably sized league; as opposed to the bloated, mediocre, expansion-dollar chasing league the NHL has become in the last 15 years.

But I voted for Trottier; a top ten pick as a scoring forward who played 38 NHL games and scored 6 goals at the time of free-est scoring play in the history of the game.

Did we have someone better? Wasn't the point of the last draft to get bigger? Voros is 6'3"-6'4" and 205 lbs. Thats pretty big. He would have made a great addition next to Clarkson. We could have had him instead of signing Asham. They didn't like his attitude. Didn't Scott Stevens have an attitude also when he first joined us? That worked out great for us.

It was always unlikely that room would be found for two rambunctious rookies to make the big team at the same time. Voros's undoubted progress spelled the end for Ahren Nittel two years ago and Clarkson's outstanding performance at the end of last season saw Voros moved on as he was overtaken by the new man. Clarkson is three years younger and has better touch and potential.

Voros was also a pending free agent and moving to the Wild system would be ideal for him. I have always hoped he would make it to the NHL (any 8th round pick out of a struggling college team who survives a cancer scare in their early twenties and displays the kind of battling attitude he has deserves at least a look in the bigs) and where better than at Devils west under the mighty Jacques.

If I was in Sutter's shoes, I'd send Rupp to the minors, and bring up Bergfors. We need to start cycling our AHL line up and see what they can do in the NHL, don't let them die in our system.


You beat me to it, MoonDragn, Rupp has no place in the NHL anymore. No disrespect to Mike, but let the kids have a shot at the big time, skate with Marshall and Matvichuck, and carpool to casino nights at the home together. :biglaugh:

Even if Bergfors gets a game in every week or two, at least we know what we're dealing with.

Not a bust yet, and nowhere as big a bust as JFD.

Pierre Dagenais and Ari Ahonen get my votes.

For me the problem with naming any of the goalies as busts is that none of them got a fair shot in the NHL since Brodeur has been firmly in place. Now, that said, I was never impressed by any of them, but the sample from which to judge Ahonen and Damphousse isnt really enough.

I voted for Foster. I know he was often injured, but my vote was based on his potential alone which obviously will never be fulfilled.:shakehead

why? going into the draft his stock dropped because he had a 10% chance to stay healthy as he was never healthy yo begin with, his potential was huge, but he was always one hit or injury away from being done. Devils knew this, crossed their fingers and it didnt pan out. I dont see how people could vote for him because he was a complete long shot and the chances of him panning out with basically not even slim to none, they were just none. Ahonen was drafted because many thought marty might not stay around forever or stay perfect, he did 10 years later and, well, drafted by a different team, he could have been a star.

I'm really shocked that so many people picked players other than Brady and Trottier. I mean, Ahonen was 27th overall, Foster was 28th overall, and for Foster we all knew he was boom or bust anyway. Ahonen wasn't that bad of a bust, IMO, we just totally wasted him behind Brodeur, he should have been traded long, long ago.

But Brady was drafted third overall! He played 81 NHL games, but they were not a good 81 games. Trottier was eighth overall (in a pretty poor draft, looking back, but still) and had 38 NHL games (and ten points)! These guys didn't even stick on the pre-Lamoriello era NJ Devils.

Man, I must be old or we just have plenty of young Devils fans here. No one beats out Rocky.

Man, I must be old or we just have plenty of young Devils fans here. No one beats out Rocky.

I didn't want to have to remember those aggrevating years where we couldn't pay somebody to win a game.

Paul Ysebaert didn't amount to much with the Devils after putting up monster numbers for Utica (105 pts one season).. I think NJ drafted him in the 4th round...

not bad with the Wings though...

if things don't change soon, my vote: DAINIUS ZUBRUS

if things don't change soon, my vote: DAINIUS ZUBRUS

He's not a draft pick........lolz.

I voted for Neil Brady. Drafted in 1986, if he had developed into a star player, or even an above average player, the Devils might have won another Cup somewhere along the line. At 25 years old in 1993, he would have been entering his prime at the start of the Jacques Lemaire Era.

Troy Crowder was the best pick in that draft in Round 6, because he would later turn into Randy McKay. Overall that was a bad draft for NJ and a draft weak in talent.

if things don't change soon, my vote: DAINIUS ZUBRUS

:dunno:

I really think if we drafted Stastny, hed would be in lowell with the way the devils do things.

I really think if we drafted Stastny, hed would be in lowell with the way the devils do things.

Yeah no kidding. We need to stop signing mediocre FAs in the off season if there are people in Lowell waiting in the wings. I think Clarke, Vrana or even Tallackson could have easily filled Asham's shoes this season. Plus Fraser would have been alot better than Oduya or Brookbank in terms of stability. Some of those D-men were signed for their offensive output, but none of them have put up really any kind of offense.

Next season if I were Lou, I'd let Rachunek and Asham walk. Bring up Clarke and Vrana and send Rupp and Janssen to Lowell.

I would bring up Fraser and Corrente, and send Oduya to Lowell. I'm not sure what I would do with Brookbank, can you send him to lowell during the offseason and not risk losing him?

Jiri Bicek :sarcasm: