Jack Hughes put on a show at the 2022 NHL All-Star Game. He was somewhat of a surprise choice because he only played around 20 games at the time of his selection, but it was clear that Hughes was on the cusp of superstardom. So, it wasn’t a total surprise. It’s not like previous eras of New Jersey Devils hockey.
Going through the history of New Jersey Devils hockey, there are a lot of well-known names who ended up making the All-Star Game. Martin Brodeur made the team 10 times. Scott Stevens made it 11 times. Scott Niedermayer is a four-time All-Star. Taylor Hall made the team three times, but he could only go once because of injuries. Going back to the early decades of Devils hockey, Kirk Muller was the name always on the team.
While there are plenty of stars who made the All-Star Team, there are others who force you to Google that player’s name, or it might make you go into your memory banks to try and remember that season. Sometimes it was a player replacing an injured player when the NHL was forced to take a player from a bad Devils team, or it could be a player that had a one-off great season.
Jack Hughes was the 24th different player to make the All-Star Game representing the Devils. That comes in more than 35 years of time playing hockey in the NHL. The Devils sent at least one player to the All-Star Game in every year except 2012 (ironically the year they went to the Stanley Cup Finals). There was bound to be a few surprises. Here are five that had us trying to remember those magical seasons.