5 Players Who We Wished Had Longer Careers With New Jersey Devils
There are a lot of interchangeable parts in life. There are so few constants from when we are young until we are in the real world. Everything from friendships, relationships, jobs all come and go, but one of the few constants in life is our love for our sports teams. No matter how good or how many times a team lets us down, we always remain loyal. I won’t go into much detail, but there are plenty of teams in the metropolitan area that have not won much, or anything at all since 1994 yet still support those teams.
Back to the point. We love our sports teams because of that emotional connection we have towards the players and the team as a whole. We look at the players as if we have known them forever. One of the difficult aspects of being a fan is when one of your favorite players leaves via free agency, trades or in the case of many New Jersey Devils‘ fans, abrupt retirements. With a man like Lou Lamoriello running things for so long, some of us Devils fans were programmed to not get get too attached to a player because he could jettison them off just like that. However, we are all humans, and as fans sometimes it is hard to let go.
Have you ever looked inside of your closet and saw a jersey of a player who was on Devils for such a short amount of time and just wished that you could see him play on the team longer? There are so many guys to choose from but here are five players who we wish had longer tenures with the Devils.
Brian Boyle
When Brian Boyle was a member of the New York Rangers, he was a guy you hated playing against. He was big, physical, nasty and the type of player that would always have a teammates back. He even was the type of player that could chip in offensively as well.
Soon after the Devils signed him to a two-year contract back in the summer of 2017, we all found out why Rangers fans loved him so much. In such a short amount of time with the team, he was a heart and soul type player. He accomplished so much both personally and professionally in his short tenure with the team.
Boyle had three defining moments in his career with the Devils. One came on November 9, 2017, his first goal since being diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia against the Edmonton Oilers. The second was his goal on Hockey Fights Cancer Night at the Prudential Center against the Vancouver Canucks. The raw emotion after scoring that goal is something that we will all remember so vividly. He didn’t even need to score goals on those nights to show his fight or resiliency.
His third defining moment was his hat trick against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Boyle was key in helping the Devils to their first playoff appearance since 2012. You would never know that he spent just a year and a half in New Jersey. When you of think Brian Boyle, you think of a guy who is an inspiration to many. In such a short period of time he left such a big impact on the franchise, something we will all never forget.
Alexander Mogilny
The New Jersey Devils acquired Alexander Mogilny at the NHL Trade Deadline in 2000. He was an immediate contributor and a key component in winning the Stanley Cup that year. Mogilny had a short stint with the Devils but still managed to make his impact felt with the team scoring 43 goals during the 2000-01 season which ranks 5th most in franchise history for a single season.
Mogilny was such a breath of fresh air for a team that was deemed ‘boring’ by so many. After the 2001 season, Mogilny signed a four-year, $22 million deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was another situation where the Devils could not afford to pay market value for one of their stars.
He did return to the Devils during the 2005 season, but only played in 34 games that season before being exiled to Albany to finish off his career. By all accounts, he should be a Hall of Famer, but for some reason he has not been enshrined yet. It would be a sight to see for Mogilny to have spent his prime with the Devils. He was one of the most prolific goal scorers in team history despite only seeing his best hockey for less than two years.
Scott Niedermayer
Okay, we’re being selfish here. Scott Niedermayer spent 13 seasons with the Devils, but that never seemed like enough. When he left the Devils after the 2004 season-long lockout, he had some good hockey left in his career. This is the type of player that should have spent his entire career with the New Jersey Devils.
He was the best defenseman ever drafted by the Devils and was a huge reason why the team won three Stanley Cup Championships. The Devils were never able to fully recover after he left the team via free agency.
From a fan’s perspective it is difficult to fully grasp his departure, but from a human element standpoint it’s understandable. He wanted to play with his brother Rob in Anaheim. Lou Lamoriello knew this as he had tried to acquire Rob on multiple occasions only to be told no. Devils fans were spoiled to have this Hall of Famer for 13 seasons, but he left us wanting so much more.
Doug Gilmour
Doug Gilmour is one of the most talented centers and playmakers in NHL history. If you blinked an eye, you may have forgotten that he played with the Devils. He was acquired from the Toronto along with Dave Ellett in 1997 in exchange for Jason Smith, Steve Sullivan and Alyn McCauley.
If you are old enough to remember him lace it up for the red and black, you would have known how much fun that he was to watch. He was on some Devils’ teams that were good during the regular season but disappointed in the playoffs with early round exits. However, he was the best player for the Devils in the 1998 playoffs scoring 5 goals. Much like Mogilny, he is the type of player that you wished spent longer with the team because he was that good.
He ended up leaving to sign a deal with the Chicago Blackhawks. It was an obscure tenure for a Hall of Famer that he himself might not remember his time in New Jersey.
Zach Parise
If Zach Parise spent most, if not all of his career with the Devils, he would be the team’s all time leading scorer and the next player to have his jersey retired in the Prudential Center rafters. Parise was the epitome of what meant to play for the Devils. He was a leader, and prolific goal scorer. He was a homegrown player who Lamoriello traded up to acquire in the NHL Draft and was a fan favorite the second he laced up his skates for the Devils.
Parise had four seasons of 30-plus goals and captained the Devils to the 2012 Stanley Cup Final, falling just two games shy of winning it all. His departure later that summer to go home to Minnesota left fans stunned. His departure was the beginning of a sharp decline for the franchise.
Lamoriello should have signed Parise to a long-term contract extension well before he became a free agent, but as we all know Lamoriello works in mysterious ways. Parise also had a major knee injury, so there was likely hesitation to sign him to a long-term contract.
It was a risk that eventually didn’t work out. Lamoriello was also too busy signing another player in a long, tedious negotiation in 2010 that may have prevented the team from doing business with Parise. In the long run, it probably was a blessing in disguise that Parise opted to sign with the Wild, but in the short term it hurt. Devils fans are numb to players leaving via free agency, but next to Niedermayer this was one that really stung. He could have been a Devil for life and one of the most prominent players in team history.
Coming up with just five players is difficult, and there are so many more good options to put on the list. Two notable omissions include Ilya Kovalchuk and Taylor Hall. Along with Parise, had these two players stayed for the duration of the careers they could have broken team records and/or had their numbers retired. The name Kovalchuk still brings sour tastes to Devils fans, but his ‘retirement’ was the best thing to happen for the long term of the franchise. Just think, the team would still be on the hook for his massive cap hit if he didn’t ‘retire.’ And don’t think for a second that Lamoriello at the time was not relieved to get that cap off of the books.
dark. Next. A Thank You Letter To Cory Schneider
Saying goodbye is never easy, so think long and hard on the player that you want to get personalized on your next jersey purchase.