New Jersey Devils: 5 Best All-Star Performances In Franchise History
The New Jersey Devils have been around for close to 40 years, which means they have been sending players to the All-Star Game that entire time. Since 1983, 52 players have represented the players at the All-Star Game. Martin Brodeur is the Devils greatest All-Star unsurprisingly. He’s been selected to the team 10 times. He was also a good soldier player in nine of the 10 games he was chosen to play in. What is surprising is he didn’t get selected to the most All-Star Teams.
Scott Stevens was selected to the team 11 times in his illustrious career. He actually made it in 11 out of 12 years, only missing the game in 2002. The Devils still sent a defenseman that season in Brian Rafalski.
There’s nothing like that on the Devils right now. The Devils didn’t have anyone selected to play in the 2012 All-Star Game (which seems preposterous in retrospect), and since then a different player went every single year. That’s right, there’s been a different player to represent the Devils every year for the past seven years (there was no All-Star Game in 2013 or 2014).
The latest All-Star is Jack Hughes, who will take on the new 3-on-3 format for the Metropolitan Division on Saturday. He will likely break the trend of the Devils never getting a repeat All-Star. To be fair, Taylor Hall was selected multiple times, but he only went once. That leaves the Devils with a new player putting on some of those crazy All-Star jerseys every season.
When looking at actual All-Star Game performances, the Devils aren’t always prominent on the score sheet. That’s mostly because the Devils have been defensively focused when it comes to its stars. The Devils main job was to shut down the likes of Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, and Jaromir Jagr. Still, there are some really good performances representing the Devils. Here are the five best.
5. Scott Niedermayer – 2004 NHL All-Star Game
Scott Niedermayer is the surprising name when it comes to All-Star selections. No, it’s not surprising that he made the team. He’s one of the most talented defensemen in the history of the game. However, it is surprising to see that he only made the team three times in his career. Niedermayer represented the Devils in 1998, 2001, and 2004. In two of those years, he won the NHL’s Fastest Skater competition. That’s how he started the 2004 festivities, which was the most magical year of Niedermayer’s career.
Niedermayer was in the midst of his best year, as the league was facing an impending NHL Lockout, but he was having his first Norris Trophy-winning season. The Devils were the defending Stanley Cup Champions, winning an epic series with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The 2004 All-Star Game continued the star ascent of Niedermayer, who was slightly in the shadow of Stevens on the Devils blueline. He is only one of two defensemen to win the Fastest Skater event, and Paul Coffey only won the competition once unlike Niedermayer.
In the game, Niedermayer was named the captain for the Eastern Conference. He was part of an all-Devils backend, pairing with Brian Rafalski (who replaced an injured Stevens) and with Martin Brodeur in net. He ended up getting an assist on Mark Messier’s game-tying goal in the second period. The East scored again just over a minute later, and they never gave up the lead again.
4. Nico Hischier – 2020 NHL All-Star Game
Nico Hischier made the 2020 NHL All-Star Game after Kyle Palmieri couldn’t make it due to injury. The Devils had already traded Taylor Hall, it was a season quickly going nowhere, the team already fired head coach John Hynes, and general manager Ray Shero would be next. However, for one day, Nico Hischier made us forget all of our troubles thanks to a great All-Star performance.
At 21-years-old, the All-Star appearance was well deserved despite getting in due to an injury. Hischier was part of the Last-Man In competition, but he lost the popularity contest to the Washington Capitals’ T.J. Oshie. Still, Hischier got to show his skills.
Speaking of skills, Hischier took part in the accuracy shooting skills competition. He did badly. He finished in last place out of eight skaters, but that would be long forgotten once the game between the Metropolitan Division and Atlantic Division.
Hischier scored two goals and an assist, but the Metropolitan Division could not stop a barrage of scoring from the best the Atlantic had to offer. Despite this, it was clear Hischier was becoming a star in the making. He had a legit shot to win the All-Star MVP if the Metro found a way to win. It showed the Devils had something here with Hischier, who was finally coming into his own offensively. He’s taken a step back since then, but on this January afternoon, Devils fans saw the ability of the 2017 first-overall pick.
3. Scott Stevens – 1994 NHL All-Star Game
No Devils player played in more NHL All-Star Games as a member of the New Jersey Devils than Scott Stevens. Overall, he’s played in 13 All-Star Games, third all-time behind Paul Coffey and Ray Bourque. The most surprising part of Stevens’ All-Star career is he somehow avoided the penalty box. Maybe he wasn’t trying to knock anyone’s head off in an exhibition game.
Either way, looking at his many performances, he didn’t have a lot of offensive performances. Stevens changed his game in the middle of his career, focusing more on stopping scoring over putting the puck in the net as he did earlier in his career. In 1994, it was the last year Stevens was an offensive-driving machine.
Stevens lost out on a starting spot to Brian Leetch, but the game was being played in Madison Square Garden, so we suppose we understand the decision. Stevens still ended up scoring a goal and adding an assist as the Eastern Conference barely squeaked out a 9-8 win thanks to Alexei Yashin’s game-winning goal.
Not only did Stevens score, but he actually played some defense! He dove on the ice to stop a Sandis Ozolinsh shot that was headed towards Mike Richter. It ended up under Stevens and Richter dove on him to stop the play. Who would have thought, a Devils and Rangers player working together in MSG.
2. Kirk Muller – 1990 NHL All-Star Game
Kirk Muller was the Devils’ first homegrown star. He made it to four All-Star Games from 1985 to 1990 (there was no 1987 All-Star Game and he didn’t make the team in 1989). He was pretty good in the game. In fact, Muller is probably the Devils best overall offensive performer in All-Star history. He is one of the few players who have actually scored, and he’s done it on a somewhat consistent basis.
In 1985, he was one of the assists on Mario Lemieux’s goal, which is ironic since they were taken first and second in the 1984 NHL Draft. Two star rookies come together for a goal. You love to see it. However, by far his best performance was his last with the Devils in 1990.
Muller ended up scoring two goals and had an assist. He had what ended up being the game-winning goal when he scored shorthanded in the second period. His second goal came with two minutes left in the third period. That was what made it clear this was a major win for the Wales Conference.
Unfortunately, Muller was still outdone by Lemieux, as he was for most of his career. Lemieux scored four goals in the game, which was held in Pittsburgh. He ended up winning the MVP, and the fact it was the first time we’ve seen Lemieux and Gretzky play on national television is what took all of the headlines, but don’t let them fool you. Muller was imperative in a huge win for the Wales Conference.
1. Martin Brodeur – 1996 NHL All-Star Game
It was always going to be a Martin Brodeur performance that led this list. The All-Star Game isn’t known for big performances by goalies. Martin Brodeur has had his stinkers in the All-Star Game, but there were also a few where he looked really good. He had none better than the 1996 All-Star Game.
Brodeur was given the start in 1996 on a team with Dominik Hasek and John Vanbiesbrouck. He allowed zero goals in the first period despite facing 12 shots from All-Stars. He gave the Eastern Conference a 2-0 lead when Vanbiesbrouck took over in the second period. He allowed three goals to the Western Conference, but Ray Bourque scored with 38 seconds left in the game to give the East the win.
It’s incredibly rare for any team to be completely kept off the score sheet in the All-Star Game. The defense is going half speed, they aren’t hitting or blocking shots, and the stars are allowed to be stars. Despite that, Brodeur was a brick wall in 1996.
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Bourque won the MVP and scoring a goal like that deserves it, but the East isn’t even in this position if Brodeur wasn’t stupendous in the first period. We can only hope more great All-Star Game performances like this can be in our future. We hope we see more of the same from Jack Hughes and other future All-Stars because that means we are sending more than one player to the game, something this team hasn’t done since 2007.