New Jersey Devils: Patrik Elias Snubbed From Team Mount Rushmore
By Nick Villano
ESPN is putting out every team’s Mount Rushmore in the NHL. Despite seemingly an very easy choice, they messed up the New Jersey Devils entry by leaving out Patrik Elias.
The New Jersey Devils and ESPN go together like peanut butter and motor oil. That’s with a fan, Greg Wyshynski, as their lead writer. It’s not their fault. Devils fans don’t go to ESPN to see coverage of their team. They go to blogs like Pucks and Pitchforks (shameless plug). But seriously, there are some really good Devils blogs out there that cover the team better than the lack of national coverage.
With that said, we have to talk about the complete whiff that was the ESPN Mount Rushmore for the Devils. The Devils fans even voted in that weird poll. They voted more than Rangers fans, Flyers fans, and every other team besides the Penguins and Capitals.
That just shows Devils fans are passionate about one man; Patrik Elias.
For those who don’t want to click, Wyshynski chose Martin Brodeur, Scott Niedermayer, Scott Stevens and Ken Daneyko. This would be a great list if there wasn’t one player who was the very best in franchise history, spent all 20 years of his career in New Jersey, and produced until the time he retired.
Elias came to the Devils in the 1994 NHL Draft. That was a big year for the Devils, because less than 365 days later the team won its first ever Stanley Cup. However, that has nothing to do with Elias. In fact, that may be a positive to keep Daneyko on the Devils top four.
Listen, I get it, Daneyko is Mr. Devil. He means a lot to the franchise. There is a perfectly good reason why his number will live in the Prudential Center rafters forever. He definitely deserves that. However, there are five numbers up there. There are only four spots on this list.
In my opinion, you cannot remove Marty or the two Scotts from this list. I know that Niedermayer and Stevens were not career Devils, but they were one of the top pairings of all time. There was nobody like them.
The argument really comes down to Daneyko and Elias.
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Elias is a border-line Hall of Famer. He has the most points in a season (96 scored in 2000-01). When he scored 23 points in the 2001 postseason, that was a record. Elias has the most career goals (408), assists (617), points obviously (1025), game-winning goals (80), power play goals (113), goals created (382.8), hat tricks (8), and offensive point shares (89.8).
Daneyko, on the other hand, leads the Devils in games. That’s very important, but not as important as the stats rattled off above.
I understand wanting Daneyko to make the list, but it doesn’t make any sense to put him in over Elias. Wyshynski says he put him in so the Devils can have a tie to the red and green jersey, Mickey Mouse organization days. I get that. You want Mount Rushmore to extend throughout history. However, the Devils history has to include Elias. Now and forever, Elias will be one of the best players to every put on the NJ crest. Whether that’s red and green or red and black, Elias 100 percent deserves on this Mount Puckmore.