Top 50 New Jersey Devils
The New Jersey Devils first began in Kansas City Scouts, but a poor product and poorer attendance forced relocation to Colorado after two years. The Colorado Rockies hardly fared better, and six years later they were the Devils.
It took years for the franchise to become successful in the Garden State, but a dedication to defense, a superstar Goalie (Martin Brodeur) netted the Devils three Stanley Cups (1995, 2000 & 2003).
This list is up to the end of the 2022/23 season.
Note: Hockey lists are based on an amalgamation of tenure, traditional statistics, advanced statistics, playoff statistics, and post-season accolades.
While Martin Brodeur was ranked at #1, we can argue that the Devils run as a Stanley Cup contender truly began with the signing of Scott Stevens.
We just spoke of the importance of Scott Stevens to the Devils defense and overall success of the team. Consider Scott Niedermayer at a similar level in both. Niedermayer was drafted Third Overall in 1991, the same season where Stevens was allocated to New Jersey as compensation for the signing of…
Patrik Elias played 20 years in the National Hockey League, all of which were in a New Jersey Devils uniform.
This is one where you don't go by the number of times a hockey player showed up on a stat sheet.
John MacLean was taken Sixth Overall in the 1983 Draft, and the Right Wing played 23 Games that year for the Devils that season.
Another member of multiple New Jersey Devils Stanley Cup championships, Brian Rafalski, was either a late bloomer or incredibly overlooked.
Zach Parise was taken with the 17thOverall Pick in 2003, and the American Left Wing would debut for the New Jersey Devils two years later.
The New Jersey Devils had the number two choice in the 1984 Draft, and since they were not going to get Mario Lemieux (who went number one) they went with Kirk Muller, who was a damned good player in his own right.
Bruce Driver was a Sixth Round Pick by New Jersey when the team was still located in Colorado.
Bobby Holik played for the Hartford Whalers for the first two seasons of his NHL career, but a trade to the New Jersey Devils in the Summer of 1992 would place him on the team where he would have the most productive period of his life.
From Trenton, Michigan, Andy Greene was never drafted by a National Hockey League team, and he needed to prove himself with the Miami Redhawks in the MAC. Greene performed well enough for the New Jersey Devils to sign him in 2006.
Travis Zajac was taken in the First Round in the 2006 Draft (20thOverall), and the native of Winnipeg cracked the New Jersey Devils roster immediately, with a 42 Point Season and a tenth-place finish in Calder voting.
In his eighth season in the National Hockey League, Right Wing Jamie Langenbrunner was traded from his first team, the Dallas Stars, to the New Jersey Devils. The Minnesotan won a Stanley Cup with Dallas in 1999, and the on-ice leader was set to the same with the Devils.
We finally have an entry where we get to look at a player before the franchise relocated to New Jersey. Actually, we have a player before they got to Colorado. Let’s do one better. The player in question, Wil Paiement, was the first man drafted by the team.
The brother of Neal and Paul Broten, Aaron Broten was a First Round Pick in 1980 by the Colorado Rockies.
Colin White was taken in the Second Round of the 1996 Draft, but he would not make the main roster until 1999, where he played 21 Games that year and was on the playoff roster that won the Stanley Cup. White was excellent in the playoffs, leading all skaters with a…
Undrafted from the University of Michigan, Canadian Center, John Madden was considered one of Hockey's hardest working players. Madden signed with New Jersey, and the former Wolverine was not content with just making the NHL; he became one of the best defensive forwards in hockey.
With every top 50 list we do for a major sports team, we always have one who is a complete struggle to rank. For the New Jersey Devils, that player is Taylor Hall.
A First Round Pick in 1995, Petr Sykora made the Devils roster right away, and the Czechoslovakian Right Wing scored 42 Points and was a First Team All-Rookie.