Devils All-Time Team

If you could make a roster for NJ using any players who have ever played for us, what would it be?

Only picking how they played for the Devils i.e no Gilmour, Stastny, Nichols or Broten in their prime, but how they played for you


Elias - Arnott - Sykora
Shanahan - Muller - Richer
Verbeek - Gomez - MacLean
McKay - Holik - Lemieux

Stevens - Rafalski
Niedermayer - Driver
Daneyko - Weinrich

Brodeur
Terreri

No Mogilny?

24 Devils (21+3) listed in alphabetical order:

Jason Arnott - C
Mel Bridgman – C
Martin Brodeur - G
Aaron Broten – C
Joe Cirela – D
Ken Daneyko – D
Bruce Driver – D
Patrik Elias – LW
Slava Fetisov – D
Scott Gomez - C
Bobby Holik – C
Claude Lemieux - RW
John MacLean - RW
Randy McKay – RW
Kirk Muller – C
Scott Niedermayer - D
Brian Rafalski – D
Chico Resch – G
Stephan Richer - LW
Brendan Shannahan - LW
Scott Stevens – D
Petr Sykora – RW
Chris Terreri – G
Pat Verbeek – RW

HC: Jacques Lemaire
AC: Pat Burns
AC: Larry Robinson

No Mogilny?
He only played in 87 regular season games for the Devils, plus 48 playoff games. He had one great season in 2000-01.

Claude Lemieux - C
Wasn't Lemieux a RW when he played with us? I'm sure he was strong on draws, but I know he played the wing.

Wasn't Lemieux a RW when he played with us? I'm sure he was strong on draws, but I know he played the wing.
I made a mistake.

Kasatonov better than Joe Cirella

Forwards (12)
1. John MacLean - RW
2. Patrik Elias - LW
3. Kirk Muller - C
4. Pat Verbeek - RW
5. Stephane Richer - RW
6. Claude Lemieux - RW
7. Bobby Holik - C
8. Brendan Shanahan - LW
9. Randy McKay - RW
10. Petr Sykora - RW
11. Scott Gomez - LW/C
12. Jason Arnott - C

Honorable Mention: Aaron Broten, Sergei Brylin

Defensemen (6)
1. Scott Stevens
2. Scott Niedermayer
3. Bruce Driver
4. Slava Fetisov
5. Ken Daneyko
6. Alexei Kasatonov

Honorable Mention: Brian Rafalski, Joe Cirella

Goalies (2)
1. Martin Brodeur
2. Chris Terreri

Honorable Mention: Glenn Resch, John Vanbiesbrouck

Coaches (3)
1. Jacques Lemaire
2. Larry Robinson
3. Pat Burns

Honorable Mention: Herb Brooks, Jim Schoenfeld

All statistics are from regular seasons as New Jersey Devils.

Defensemen...........GP....G.....A...PTS
Joe Cirela.............438...43..147..190
Alexei Kasatonov...257...31...88...119

Forwards.............GP....G......A...PTS
Aaron Broten......581..147...283..430
Mel Bridgman......288...76...148..224
Jason Arnott......302...97....124..221
Bill Guerin..........380..108...106..214

Aaron Broten led the team in PTS in 1982-83 and 1986-87, plus assists in 86-87 and 1987-88 (tied with K. Muller.) Broten was ranked, at the beginning of 03-04, 9th in GP, tied-7th in Goals, 6th Assists and 4th in Points.

Bridgman was the 2nd Captain, and he lead the team in G, A & PTS in 1983-84 and PTS in 1984-85.

If you could make a roster for NJ using any players who have ever played for us, what would it be?

Based on what exactly? Best single season or best career?

Based on what exactly? Best single season or best career?

I was thinking career, but it might be more interesting to do single season.

From my post on the fhockey boards long ago:
http://www.fhockey.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=10176&highlight=#10176

Kirk Muller-Partrik Elias-John Maclean
Brendan Shannahan-Peter Stastny-Pat Verbeek
Claude Lemieux-John Madden-Jamie Langenbrunner
Aaron Broten-Scott Gomez-Alex Mogilny
spares:
Stephane Richer-Patrik Sundstrom

Scott Stevens-Scott Niedermayer
Ken Daneyko-Tommy Albelin
Brian Rafalski-Bruce Driver
spare:
Slava Fetisov

Brodeur-Terreri
spare:
Chico Resche

honorable mentions:
Eric Weinrich-D (Was a rock for Jersey for a long time)
Doug Brown-RW (Hardest worker on many nights for the Devs)
Tom Chorske-LW (Slick checker)
Randy McKay-RW (Almost sad to not have him on the list, he was one of the best Devils)
Bobby Holik-C (Hate him but he was pretty good)
Bill Guerin-RW (Hate him, but he was pretty good)
Bobby Carpenter-C (Great guy, great checker)
Neal Broten-C (Put us over the top in '95)
Brian Rolston-LW (Was a fine young player for us)
Sergei Brylin-C (Still a great character here)
Mike Peluso-D (Stuck up for everyone)
Dave Andreychuk-LW (Awsome guy in Jersey)
Steve Thomas-RW (Stumpy was Stumpy, he gave us his all)
Petr Sykora-C (gifted player gave us some great highlights)
Denis Pederson-C (excellent hard working checker)
Lyle Odelein-D (grit and leadership, a great Devil)
Krzysztof Oliwa-LW (serviceable scrapper)
Sheldon Souray-D (we gave up on him too quick)
Colin White-D (He will be on the all-time Devils team someday)
Jim McKenzie-LW (Another in a long line of great Devils tough guys)
Turner Stevenson-RW (Have you ever seen this guy take a shift off?)

Hall of shame:
Valeri Zelepukin-LW (What a bust)
Esa Tikkanen-LW (9 games a Devil)
Jocelyn Lemieux-LW (18 games a Devil)
Doug Gilmour-C (Love this guy, but, sorry he wasn't good for us, IMO)
Jason Arnott-C (If there was a Devils fan who liked him, I never met them)
Brendan Morrison-C (Why didn't he try while on Jersey?)
Peter Sidorkiewicz-G (One of the biggest bust prospects to ever play)
Sergei Nemchinov-C (Useless, simple)
Pierre Dagenais-LW (What a slacker, NOW he's good)
Mike Danton-C (Better go change his huggies)
Andrei Zyuzin-D (#2 oa draft pick, craptastic)
John Vanbiesbrouck-G (A lot of good he did us )

From my post on the fhockey boards long ago:
http://www.fhockey.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=10176&highlight=#10176

Kirk Muller-Partrik Elias-John Maclean
Brendan Shannahan-Peter Stastny-Pat Verbeek
Claude Lemieux-John Madden-Jamie Langenbrunner
Aaron Broten-Scott Gomez-Alex Mogilny
spares:
Stephane Richer-Patrik Sundstrom

Scott Stevens-Scott Niedermayer
Ken Daneyko-Tommy Albelin
Brian Rafalski-Bruce Driver
spare:
Slava Fetisov

Brodeur-Terreri
spare:
Chico Resche

honorable mentions:
Eric Weinrich-D (Was a rock for Jersey for a long time)
Doug Brown-RW (Hardest worker on many nights for the Devs)
Tom Chorske-LW (Slick checker)
Randy McKay-RW (Almost sad to not have him on the list, he was one of the best Devils)
Bobby Holik-C (Hate him but he was pretty good)
Bill Guerin-RW (Hate him, but he was pretty good)
Bobby Carpenter-C (Great guy, great checker)
Neal Broten-C (Put us over the top in '95)
Brian Rolston-LW (Was a fine young player for us)
Sergei Brylin-C (Still a great character here)
Mike Peluso-D (Stuck up for everyone)
Dave Andreychuk-LW (Awsome guy in Jersey)
Steve Thomas-RW (Stumpy was Stumpy, he gave us his all)
Petr Sykora-C (gifted player gave us some great highlights)
Denis Pederson-C (excellent hard working checker)
Lyle Odelein-D (grit and leadership, a great Devil)
Krzysztof Oliwa-LW (serviceable scrapper)
Sheldon Souray-D (we gave up on him too quick)
Colin White-D (He will be on the all-time Devils team someday)
Jim McKenzie-LW (Another in a long line of great Devils tough guys)
Turner Stevenson-RW (Have you ever seen this guy take a shift off?)

Hall of shame:
Valeri Zelepukin-LW (What a bust)
Esa Tikkanen-LW (9 games a Devil)
Jocelyn Lemieux-LW (18 games a Devil)
Doug Gilmour-C (Love this guy, but, sorry he wasn't good for us, IMO)
Jason Arnott-C (If there was a Devils fan who liked him, I never met them)
Brendan Morrison-C (Why didn't he try while on Jersey?)
Peter Sidorkiewicz-G (One of the biggest bust prospects to ever play)
Sergei Nemchinov-C (Useless, simple)
Pierre Dagenais-LW (What a slacker, NOW he's good)
Mike Danton-C (Better go change his huggies)
Andrei Zyuzin-D (#2 oa draft pick, craptastic)
John Vanbiesbrouck-G (A lot of good he did us )

Pretty reasonable list...

Only thing I would do is put Igor Larionov on the shame list and I didn't mind Arnott, but wasn't a huge fan...he did score the goal that won us the cup...so take him off shame list

Hall of shame:
Valeri Zelepukin-LW (What a bust)
Jason Arnott-C (If there was a Devils fan who liked him, I never met them)
Sergei Nemchinov-C (Useless, simple)


Disagree with you on these three. Zelepukin career was destroyed by a seriuos eye injury, till then he was one of our best forwards. Arnott was a BIG reason we won the cup in 2000, could care less if he was a a-hole. Nemchinov was a very good role player who was a part of the 2000 cup team. Did nothing great but was always solid.

Anyhow good list.

From my post on the fhockey boards long ago:
http://www.fhockey.com/forum/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=10176&highlight=#10176
...

Hall of shame:
... John Vanbiesbrouck-G (A lot of good he did us )
John Vanbiesbrouck was brought in at the end of his career to a back up to Martin Brodeur. Why in the world would you put him on your "Hall of Shame" list? He went 6-3-0 with a .924 Save Average and a 1.77 GAA. Was he supposed to challenge Martin Brodeur for the starting job?

As for Igor Larionov, he was at the very end of his career. He was brought in to help the power play. I say that he did help the power play a little. His presence around the team helped with puck movement. The only problem is the Devils have Patrik Elias (30.42 Goals per 82 GP) and really no one else who can finish. Jamie Langenbrunner 17.76 Goals per 82 GP during his career. Jeff Friesen has averaged 22.15 Goals per 82 GP. It is pointless to even look at anyone else from the team because they are considerably worse.

Again, the team certainly moved the puck around better this past season on the man-advantage than the season before, and Larionov may have also had an influence on the play of playmaker Scott Gomez. What did some of you expect Larionov to do the fourth line, set up those "snipers" Erik Rasmussen and Grant Marshall?

honorable mentions:
Eric Weinrich-D (Was a rock for Jersey for a long time)
Doug Brown-RW (Hardest worker on many nights for the Devs)
Tom Chorske-LW (Slick checker)
Randy McKay-RW (Almost sad to not have him on the list, he was one of the best Devils)
Bobby Holik-C (Hate him but he was pretty good)
Bill Guerin-RW (Hate him, but he was pretty good)
Bobby Carpenter-C (Great guy, great checker)
Neal Broten-C (Put us over the top in '95)
Brian Rolston-LW (Was a fine young player for us)
Sergei Brylin-C (Still a great character here)
Mike Peluso-D (Stuck up for everyone)
Dave Andreychuk-LW (Awsome guy in Jersey)
Steve Thomas-RW (Stumpy was Stumpy, he gave us his all)
Petr Sykora-C (gifted player gave us some great highlights)
Denis Pederson-C (excellent hard working checker)
Lyle Odelein-D (grit and leadership, a great Devil)
Krzysztof Oliwa-LW (serviceable scrapper)
Sheldon Souray-D (we gave up on him too quick)
Colin White-D (He will be on the all-time Devils team someday)
Jim McKenzie-LW (Another in a long line of great Devils tough guys)
Turner Stevenson-RW (Have you ever seen this guy take a shift off?)

Hall of shame:
Valeri Zelepukin-LW (What a bust)
Esa Tikkanen-LW (9 games a Devil)
Jocelyn Lemieux-LW (18 games a Devil)
Doug Gilmour-C (Love this guy, but, sorry he wasn't good for us, IMO)
Jason Arnott-C (If there was a Devils fan who liked him, I never met them)
Brendan Morrison-C (Why didn't he try while on Jersey?)
Peter Sidorkiewicz-G (One of the biggest bust prospects to ever play)
Sergei Nemchinov-C (Useless, simple)
Pierre Dagenais-LW (What a slacker, NOW he's good)
Mike Danton-C (Better go change his huggies)
Andrei Zyuzin-D (#2 oa draft pick, craptastic)
John Vanbiesbrouck-G (A lot of good he did us )

Asinine. Tom Chorske (CHOKE-SKY) was lucky to even be in the league. Slick checker? Give me a break. And Denis Pederson was one of those guys that the Devils somehow liked and every other team, he was minor-league material. Where did he go after Jersey? NOWHERE. He couldn't make a terrible Predators squad. He's a bum, and you know nothing if he's on your "honorable mentions" list. As for Zelepukin, I guess the eye injury did nothing to his career (game 7 against the Rangers with seconds meant nothing, by the way). And Arnott? Where did you come up with this? He centered the best line in Devils history. Nemchinov was a serviceable center, much more than Pederson or Chorske ever was, and Vanbiesbrouck was perhaps the best backup you could possibly have in the NHL, so what did you expect? A playoff start? As for Morrison, he gave us something very special: Alex Mogilny.

Asinine.

I can't stress how important Igor was to the team........I don't think it's coincedence that Gomez's play making abilities were maximized once the Russian Gretzky joined the team. I remember many times during games, they show the bench and there was The Professor talking to Gomez, gesturing where to be and such.........Igor is great.

I can't stress how important Igor was to the team........I don't think it's coincedence that Gomez's play making abilities were maximized once the Russian Gretzky joined the team. I remember many times during games, they show the bench and there was The Professor talking to Gomez, gesturing where to be and such.........Igor is great.Yeah, he did his best work from the bench . . . check that. He did his only work from the bench.

Asinine. Tom Chorske (CHOKE-SKY) was lucky to even be in the league. Slick checker? Give me a break. And Denis Pederson was one of those guys that the Devils somehow liked and every other team, he was minor-league material. Where did he go after Jersey? NOWHERE. He couldn't make a terrible Predators squad. He's a bum, and you know nothing if he's on your "honorable mentions" list. As for Zelepukin, I guess the eye injury did nothing to his career (game 7 against the Rangers with seconds meant nothing, by the way). And Arnott? Where did you come up with this? He centered the best line in Devils history. Nemchinov was a serviceable center, much more than Pederson or Chorske ever was, and Vanbiesbrouck was perhaps the best backup you could possibly have in the NHL, so what did you expect? A playoff start? As for Morrison, he gave us something very special: Alex Mogilny.

Asinine.
What's the matter with some of you guys?? Is it not possible to debate someone else's opinion without suggesting that it's asinine or insult them? This is a Devils poster who hardly comes around alot and it seems like some of you guys want to make sure it stays permanent. You don't agree with his thoughts that's fine, but to make him feel stupid for them is "Asinine".

Peter Sidorkiwicz was no prospect, he was the Whalers starter for a few years then got feed to the wolves in Ottawa there 1st season. He was a minor league fill in guy. Not a prospect.

Hall of Shame.

G
Hannu Kampurri
Jeff Reese

D
Sergei Starikov-Dave Ellett
Sean O'Donnell-Timo Blomqvist
Phil Housley-Ray Giroux

F
Rockey Trottier
Denis Pederson
Jason Miller
Jocelyn Lemieux
Esa Tikkanen
Sasha Lakovic
Peter Zezel
Andreas Salamonsson
Jan Ludvig
Mike Danton
David Emma
Danton Cole

And Captain- Neil Brady

What's the matter with some of you guys?? Is it not possible to debate someone else's opinion without suggesting that it's asinine or insult them? This is a Devils poster who hardly comes around alot and it seems like some of you guys want to make sure it stays permanent. You don't agree with his thoughts that's fine, but to make him feel stupid for them is "Asinine".

You're wrong. I don't have a problem with people's opinions, but when you make a list of Devils disappointments and heroes and reverse half of the names, expect a beating. Give me a break, Lou is God. He's a Devils poster that hardly comes around because he sees a handful of games each year and formulates an opinion based on that. Chorske is good? Pederson? Who would agree with this?

Peter Sidorkiwicz was no prospect, he was the Whalers starter for a few years then got feed to the wolves in Ottawa there 1st season. He was a minor league fill in guy. Not a prospect.

Hall of Shame.

G
Hannu Kampurri
Jeff Reese

D
Sergei Starikov-Dave Ellett
Sean O'Donnell-Timo Blomqvist
Phil Housley-Ray Giroux

F
Rockey Trottier
Denis Pederson
Jason Miller
Jocelyn Lemieux
Esa Tikkanen
Sasha Lakovic
Peter Zezel
Andreas Salamonsson
Jan Ludvig
Mike Danton
David Emma
Danton Cole

And Captain- Neil Brady

Now that's better. These guys were all a bunch of crap for the Devs. If you debate any of them, I feel bad for you.

Jocelyn Lemieux. Now there was a guy who was a colossal bust. 10th overall pick in '86. Compare that to big brother who was drafted in the second round #26 overall.

You're wrong. I don't have a problem with people's opinions, but when you make a list of Devils disappointments and heroes and reverse half of the names, expect a beating. Give me a break, Lou is God. He's a Devils poster that hardly comes around because he sees a handful of games each year and formulates an opinion based on that. Chorske is good? Pederson? Who would agree with this?
Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for a Devils lovefest here at all. But are you telling me that you can't disagree with someone without telling them that opinion is asinine or something like that? If someone responded to a post of mine that way I'd be pissed as hell. I just feel there is no good reason beating somebody up like that just because you disagree with something no matter how stupid you might think it is. That's all. :)

... Larionov did inject a tangible short-term rush of blood to the teams PP

... but it quickly faded to nothing just a month to a month and a half after opening night
The power play can be broken down into three parts. The first part is moving the puck into the offensive zone onsides. The second part is passing the puck around to set up a shot. The third part is actually shooting the puck and, hopefully, scoring.

I think that the Devils did the second part much better in 2003-04 than they did in 2002-03. The third part is clearly the most important, but it should not be the sole measure of a power play. The Devils are not going to be good at that third part with only one high-caliber goal scorer in Patrik Elias.

I also think that Larionov's presence around the Devils was the major reason they were able to improve the power play.

2003-04 Ranked 15th, 16.3%
2002-03 Ranked 30th, 11.9%

Another aspect of Larionov's year as a Devil is, unless Scott Gomez is only concerned with dating lingerie models, he must have gained some knowledge from being around a great hockey mind. Larionov is one of the greatest playmakers in hockey history, and he looks at hockey philosophically. Gomez had to pick up something.

I do agree that Larionov walking out of practice was bad. I have respect for Pat Burns, but he shouldn't have treated Larionov like a rookie. Nevertheless, Larionov should not have left.

Long a$$ quote.Good stuff there, Parise. Take a breath. :)

What you are arguing pretty much ignores the goalscoring capabilities the Devils fielded with the likes of Gomez, Langenbrunner, Friesen, Gionta, Niedermayer, Rafalski, Brylin, Marshall, and Martin though. While its true they aren't in the same class as Elias in terms of pure goalscoring ability (what teams in the NHL actually have the luxury of throwing out two players with Elias' sniping skills though?)
Have any of those players, besides Friesen, done any major goal scoring in their careers? Let us have a look.

Grant Marshall? He scored 15 goals once in Columbus. I would venture a guess that many were of the garbage variety.

Scott Gomez is no goal scorer. He is a great playmaker, but he has never broken the 20 goal plateau.

Brian Rafalski doesn't have a very hard shot, but it is fairly accurate. However, he only scored 6 this past season and only has 30 in his career. He is a fine playmaker, but he is not a goal scoring threat.

Sergei Breylin had 23 in 2000-01. Other than that, he has never gone over 16, and he only has 92 goals in 519 career NHL games.

Langenbrunner is a very inconsistent goal scorer. He has scored 13, 23, 12, 18, 12, 13, 22 and 10 in season since becoming an NHL regular.

Look out Gretzky, Paul Martin is coming. The defenseman is only 888 goals back of the NHL record after scoring a staggering 6 his rookie year.

I think Gionta has the potential to score 30. He is only 25 years old and seems to be coming along nicely after finishing second on the team in goals scored with 21. Much of his scoring is done from point-blank range though.

The Devils were a one-line team. 5 of the 9 goals in the playoff series came from Elias (3) and Gionta (2.)

I think there is more to it then Igor Larionov's limited presence a few times a game (if any) being the primary reason why the PP turned around a bit. It played a part for sure, but I still feel its wrong to make a claim that it was the primary reason for this percentage increase.
I wasn't trying to say that the Professor's on-ice play was what helped the team, but his presence around South Mountain Arena and in the locker room. If a player wants to become better, they are going to take the opportunity to ask Larionov questions about hockey. Larionov is a hockey intellectual.

I think some fans had unrealistic expectations with the signing of Larionov. He was brought in as a power play guru. Lou Lamoriello didn’t sign Igor to rack up 50 assists at three months shy of 43 year old.

He's a Devils poster that hardly comes around because he sees a handful of games each year and formulates an opinion based on that.

What a sadly uninformed person you are. :)

The number of games I watch and the opinion I express are both choices I make. You choose to bash that, a sad way to reply.

All in all, I'd say we all feel different ways about our team, but it remains the team we all cheer for in here, so as we are all unique, so is the way we feel about each person who wears a Devils jersey.

You must at least agree to that much.

Now that's a true Hall of Shame! I disagree with the previous poster's inclusion of Zelepukin (Watch 92-93 tapes with Semak and you'll see some of the prettiest goals since the A-Line). Driver's stick ruined a potentially excellent player. Also, He scored one of the most dramatic goals in Devs history in '94. I also disagree with Nemchinov. He was 35 when he came to the Devs in the twilight of his career. He played a regular shift anywhere they put him for a Cup team and a Cup runner up. I also think Zyuzin never got a fair shake in Jersey. He's played well since being traded to the Wild

Only picking how they played for the Devils i.e no Gilmour, Stastny, Nichols or Broten in their prime, but how they played for you


Elias - Arnott - Sykora
Shanahan - Muller - Richer
Verbeek - Gomez - MacLean
McKay - Holik - Lemieux

Stevens - Rafalski
Niedermayer - Driver
Daneyko - Weinrich

Brodeur
Terreri

where is wheels aka doug sulliman

Forwards:
John MacLean
Brendan Shanahan
Lanny McDonald (as a Rockie :) )
Claude "turtle" Lemieux
Pat Elias
Zach Parise (he's already better than 80% of former Devils' players :D )
Scott Gomez

Defenseman:
Ken Daneyko
Tom Chorske
Kevin Dean :lol
Scott Stevens

Goalies:
Chico Reach
Marty Broduer