Gosh it’s so frustrating when people do carousels like this without indicating who each player is. I’ve been a crazy fan since 1993 and even I’m not certain who some of these players are.
Chickenfats
I don’t know if Shanahan really belongs this list. He was drafted by the devils and played there for 5 years
septimus29
Idk if Poni counts for this. Pretty meaningful role player for our cup run. We also required him a little after that as well
Ok_Jackfruit_5181
Steve Sullivan… hard to put him on with 2 stays, particularly the last run (Lou always loves the bring the old band back together). And met him when I was a young kid (he sat in the stands when injured). I was devastated when we traded him (I think it was Gilmour, which was a bust).
Same goes for Shannahan. Although not an iconic Devil, we got Stevens as compensation for him, which altered the course of history for our franchise.
Harrisonmonopoly
How are you gonna do this and not include Ilka Pikkarainen
PM180
Tikkanen, Housley and Jocelyn Lemieux all being on the 1995-96 team is so random. Combined to play 49 games and (I believe) never overlapped with each other.
Also just a weird year for the team in general. Bobby Carpenter, Denis Pederson, Dave Andreychuk, Neal Broten, Steve Thomas, Steve Sullivan and Jason Smith. Most of them spent too long with the team to be on a list like this, but I doubt they’re too familiar to most of the modern fanbase.
SnooBunnies1406
Brendan shanahan and scott niedermayer really?
30carbine
Every one of these should include Jagr.
scumbagstaceysEx
Shanahan and Steve Sullivan were Devils’ draft picks lol
DashFromtheGash
I’d add Fetisov, he’s more remembered for his USSR days and then his tragedy with the Wings. Larionov and Malakhov in the same vein. Doug Gilmour, Peter Stastny, Joe Nieuwendyk and Dave Andreychuk as well. All amazing players with shorter stints with the Devils that folks wouldn’t necessarily remember, especially since for the most part it was toward the end of their careers.
For lower tier players, Henrik Tallinder, Eddie Lack, Kevin Weekes, Nicolas Havelid, Marcus Johansson, Viktor Kozlov, Pat Maroon, and Joel Quenneville.
Alamoth
After going through your list and doing some of my own research I agreed with 14 of your picks:
I really tried to pick players who were unusual to see in a Devils jersey. Malakhov, for example, played almost 700 games for the Canadiens, Rangers, and Islanders and had two short trips as a Devil. Larionov played 500 games in Detroit and then 200 in Vancouver so finishing his career in New Jersey was very unusual indeed.
Nicholls won the cup in 95 but played 600 games as an LA King compared to 84 as a Devil. Same goes for Nieuwendyk who won the Cup in 2003 but 94 games out of 1200 mostly played in Calgary and Dallas makes his time as a Devil very unusual. Same for Doug Gilmour who played 1400 games in the NHL and less than 10% of them with the Devils.
I can’t endorse Stempniak here. He played for over 10 teams in his career. Even though he only played one season in New Jersey, and not even a full one, it isn’t unusual to see him in any sweater really. O’Donnell was tougher to leave off, but also played for eight different clubs in his career.
Shanahan I left off because I think he played too many games in New Jersey and is a big part of the team’s history as part of the story of how Scott Stevens ended up a Devil.
Skoula, Tverdovsky, McGillis, and O’Donnell all have compelling cases, but ultimately I think played for too many teams for their time in Jersey to be that “unusual” compared to the players above who I discussed above.
Also, as a final point, I know some folks have said Jagr should be on this list, but he also played for way too many teams in his career, and Jersey was actually one of five teams he played two or more seasons with (Pittsburgh, Washington, New York, and Florida being the others).
12 Comments
I just thought it would be fun to speculate.
It cut off at 20, and I totally left off [Jason Smith](https://www.ebay.com/itm/145005696799), who went on to captain the Edmonton OIlers
Gosh it’s so frustrating when people do carousels like this without indicating who each player is. I’ve been a crazy fan since 1993 and even I’m not certain who some of these players are.
I don’t know if Shanahan really belongs this list. He was drafted by the devils and played there for 5 years
Idk if Poni counts for this. Pretty meaningful role player for our cup run. We also required him a little after that as well
Steve Sullivan… hard to put him on with 2 stays, particularly the last run (Lou always loves the bring the old band back together). And met him when I was a young kid (he sat in the stands when injured). I was devastated when we traded him (I think it was Gilmour, which was a bust).
Same goes for Shannahan. Although not an iconic Devil, we got Stevens as compensation for him, which altered the course of history for our franchise.
How are you gonna do this and not include Ilka Pikkarainen
Tikkanen, Housley and Jocelyn Lemieux all being on the 1995-96 team is so random. Combined to play 49 games and (I believe) never overlapped with each other.
Also just a weird year for the team in general. Bobby Carpenter, Denis Pederson, Dave Andreychuk, Neal Broten, Steve Thomas, Steve Sullivan and Jason Smith. Most of them spent too long with the team to be on a list like this, but I doubt they’re too familiar to most of the modern fanbase.
Brendan shanahan and scott niedermayer really?
Every one of these should include Jagr.
Shanahan and Steve Sullivan were Devils’ draft picks lol
I’d add Fetisov, he’s more remembered for his USSR days and then his tragedy with the Wings. Larionov and Malakhov in the same vein. Doug Gilmour, Peter Stastny, Joe Nieuwendyk and Dave Andreychuk as well. All amazing players with shorter stints with the Devils that folks wouldn’t necessarily remember, especially since for the most part it was toward the end of their careers.
For lower tier players, Henrik Tallinder, Eddie Lack, Kevin Weekes, Nicolas Havelid, Marcus Johansson, Viktor Kozlov, Pat Maroon, and Joel Quenneville.
After going through your list and doing some of my own research I agreed with 14 of your picks:
* Commodore (57 Games, 2000 – 2002)
* Housley (22 Games, 1996)
* Havlat (40 Games, 2014-2015)
* Tikkanen (9 Games, 1995)
* Sullivan (58 Games, 1995 – 1997, 2012 – 2013)
* Ponikarovsky (63 Games, 2011 – 2013)
* Niedermayer (71 Games, 2009 – 2010)
* Vanbiesbrouck (9 Games, 2001 – 2002
* Grabner (21 Games, 2017 – 2018)
* McLean (6 Games, 1985 – 1987)
* Matvichuk (63 Games, 2005 – 2007)
* Simmonds (61 Games, 2019 – 2020)
* Smelik (12 Games, 2002 – 2003)
* Ellett (20 Games, 1996 – 1997)
And here’s the 6 players I picked who weren’t on your list:
* Vladimir Malakhov (46 Games, 1999 – 2000)
* Igor Larionov (49 Games, 2003 – 2004)
* Bernie Nicholls (84 Games, 1993 – 1995)
* Joe Nieuwendyk (94 Games, 2002 – 2003)
* Dmitry Kulikov (38 Games, 2020 – 2021)
* Doug Gilmour (82 Games, 1996 – 1998)
I really tried to pick players who were unusual to see in a Devils jersey. Malakhov, for example, played almost 700 games for the Canadiens, Rangers, and Islanders and had two short trips as a Devil. Larionov played 500 games in Detroit and then 200 in Vancouver so finishing his career in New Jersey was very unusual indeed.
Nicholls won the cup in 95 but played 600 games as an LA King compared to 84 as a Devil. Same goes for Nieuwendyk who won the Cup in 2003 but 94 games out of 1200 mostly played in Calgary and Dallas makes his time as a Devil very unusual. Same for Doug Gilmour who played 1400 games in the NHL and less than 10% of them with the Devils.
I can’t endorse Stempniak here. He played for over 10 teams in his career. Even though he only played one season in New Jersey, and not even a full one, it isn’t unusual to see him in any sweater really. O’Donnell was tougher to leave off, but also played for eight different clubs in his career.
Shanahan I left off because I think he played too many games in New Jersey and is a big part of the team’s history as part of the story of how Scott Stevens ended up a Devil.
Skoula, Tverdovsky, McGillis, and O’Donnell all have compelling cases, but ultimately I think played for too many teams for their time in Jersey to be that “unusual” compared to the players above who I discussed above.
Also, as a final point, I know some folks have said Jagr should be on this list, but he also played for way too many teams in his career, and Jersey was actually one of five teams he played two or more seasons with (Pittsburgh, Washington, New York, and Florida being the others).