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.

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.

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 (20^thOverall), 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.

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.

Bruce Driver was a Sixth Round Pick by New Jersey when the team was still located in Colorado.  

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.  

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 17^thOverall Pick in 2003, and the American Left Wing would debut for the New Jersey Devils two years later. 

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.

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 Brendan Shanahan. Niedermayer played four Games in the year he was drafted but was a full-time member of the roster the year following, and he was quickly regarded as one of the best two-way blueliners in the game. 

After helping New Jersey win the Stanley Cup in 1995, he would have his first top-ten Norris season in 1997-98, where he scored 57 Points, his highest as a Devil, and securing a Second Team All-Star Selection.  Niedermayer won another Cup with the Devils in 2000, and in 2003, he anchored the Devils in another title, where he led all skaters in the post-season in Assists (16) and Points (18).  

Niedermayer would not win another Cup with New Jersey, but in his final year with the Devils (2003-04), he won the Norris Trophy and was ninth in Hart Trophy voting. He was also named a First Team All-Star, the first and only time he did so as a Devil.  Niedermayer left New Jersey afterward for Anaheim, where he joined his brother, Rob.

After joining Anaheim, Niedermayer won his fourth Stanley Cup in 2007.  The Devils retired his number 27 in 2011, and the Hockey Hall of Fame inducted him in 2013, his first year of eligibility.  With the Devils, Niedermayer scored 476 Points with a healthy Plus/Minus of +172.

Patrik Elias played 20 years in the National Hockey League, all of which were in a New Jersey Devils uniform.

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 love it when the decision is this easy.

Jamie Langenbrunner is a two time Stanley Cup Champion with two different teams (Dallas in 1999 and New Jersey in 2003) and was a big part in both of those wins.  In his first Cup win, Langenbrunner scored 17 Points and in the 2003 Playoffs he was the leader in Goals (11) and Points (18).  The native of Minnesota also scored 663 Points over his 1,109 Games in the National Hockey League.  It can’t be forgotten that he had a good run with team U.S.A. where most notably he was the Team Captain on the Americans’ Silver Medal win at the 2010 Olympics.

Known for his seriousness, discipline and overall toughness Bobby Holik came from Czechoslovakia to the National Hockey League where after two seasons with the Hartford Whalers he found a real home with the New Jersey Devils.  Holik would play for the Devils for ten straight seasons where he would score 463 Points over that period with three consecutive 60 Point campaigns from 1996-97 to 1998-99.  In that later season (98-99) Holik would start a new streak where he went five straight seasons where he earned votes for the Frank J Selke Trophy, a testament to his two-way ability.  With New Jersey, he would help the team win two Stanley Cups (1995 & 2000) and he was himself a two-time All-Star.

John MacLean’s long career would see him finish six games shy of 1,200, an incredible feat considering that he would miss an entire season in his prime (the 1991-92 campaign) due to a knee injury.

Brian Gionta was a good two way player over his sixteen seasons in the National Hockey League and everywhere he went he was lauded for his leadership.  This includes his pre-NHL days where he was the captain of his Boston College team that would win the NCAA Championship.

A solid goal scorer during his sting with Montreal, Stephane Richer gave Montreal fans a blast from the past and hope for a future with a French Canadian offensive star playing for Les Habitants. Richer was the first Montreal player since Guy LaFleur to score 50 goals a season. Richer accomplished that feat twice and was known throughout the NHL for his blistering shot. Once Richer’s skills eroded, he lacked the intangibles to remain an effective player late in his career and he bounced around the league. Still, Richer finished with 421 goals and had two Stanley Cup rings and was able to have an effective career.