5 Surprise New Jersey Devils Who Made All-Star Game

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.

Brian Boyle – 2018 NHL All-Star Game

Brian Boyle was an immediate fan favorite after putting on the New Jersey Devils uniform. Of course, we know the story. Right before the season, we learned that Brian Boyle was diagnosed with cancer. We all learned about chronic myeloid leukemia to see what Boyle was going through. He was lucky, as this was something that was caught incredibly early and Boyle ended up beating cancer. He was the greatest story of the Devils 2017-18 season, and that includes Taylor Hall winning the Devils only MVP award.

Hall was the clear choice to play in the All-Star Game, but he was dealing with a thumb injury at the time of the game. So, Boyle was chosen as his replacement. The game was in Tampa, a place where he was once again a fan favorite when he played for the Tampa Bay Lightning. It just made sense. Was Boyle the second-best player on the Devils at the time of the All-Star Game? Well, he already had 11 goals on the season despite not getting into a game until November 1st.

Boyle was able to play in the accuracy shooting challenge, and he surprisingly did quite well. He came in second with 11.6 seconds to hit all five targets. Only Brock Boeser did better.

Boyle was a little out of place when it came to the 3-on-3 format of the All-Star Game. The Devils very rarely used him for overtime, actually on second check, Boyle played zero seconds at 3v3. It was still fun seeing him on the ice for the All-Star Game. Boyle and Noah Hanifin were the only two skaters to fail to record a point, but Boyle got to skate with the likes of Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, and this year’s All-Star MVP Claude Giroux.

Craig Billington – 1993 NHL All-Star Game

We asked a trivia question on Twitter over the weekend. Which New Jersey Devils goalie was the last to make the team prior to Martin Brodeur’s run in net? There were a lot of answers. Chris Terreri, Sean Burke, and Chico Resch, but not many knew the right answer. Craig Billington made the All-Star Game in 1993, one year before Martin Brodeur took over as the starter in net. Billington had a bright future when the Devils drafted him. He was the 23rd-overall pick in the 1984 NHL Draft.

He bounced around minor leagues for most of his career, playing for different AHL teams and eventually spending an entire season with Team Canada before entering the 90s. Once he came back from Team Canada, he became a full-time NHLer. In 1992-93, Billington split time with Chris Terrerri.

Going into the All-Star break, Billington was 15-9-2. It’s not exactly the mark of an All-Star goalie. This is especially true because Scott Stevens also made the All-Star team, so there was no need to hit a quota or anything like that.

The Devils traded Billington in the offseason for fellow All-Star Peter Sidorkiewicz. Neither the Senators or Devils got much out of that deal, as Brodeur was ready to take over the net. It’s a strange All-Star that most Devils fans don’t even realize happened.

Robbie Ftorek – 1999 and 2000 NHL All-Star Games

Not many people can say they made an All-Star Game and was fired in the same season. Robbie Ftorek had a lot of history with the Devils. He was leading the team, but was canned right before the playoffs. The Devils made it to the Stanley Cup Final and beat the Dallas Stars. He was still put on the Stanley Cup because Lou Lamoriello still made him a team scout after letting him go as head coach.

Everyone knows the story of Ftorek watching the Devils make the Stanley Cup Final without him, but did you know he made the All-Star Game not once but twice?

Ftorek was the assistant head coach of the Eastern Conference twice. The Devils were quite good in 1998-99 and 1999-00. Obviously, they were really good in 2000, and the Eastern Conference wanted to recognized the Devils head coach.

Just seven weeks after Ftorek represented the Devils at the All-Star Game, he was no longer a coach. He made a lot of mistakes that caused the locker room to turn their backs on him. He went to the Boston Bruins, where he was once again first with nine games left in the season of his third year. He replaced Peter Sidorkiewicz a few years later, marking the second time that Sidorkiewicz made this list.

Joe Cirella – 1984 NHL All-Star Game

Not many New Jersey Devils fans knew the name “Joe Cirella” prior to this weekend, but there were multiple references to him during the All-Star Game, so maybe this isn’t as surprising as it was last week. It’s still not a well-known member of the New Jersey Devils. Cirella was the fifth overall pick of the 1981 NHL Draft, a team that was then the Colorado Rockies. He made his NHL debut during the Devils first year in New Jersey.

He was named this weekend because he is the same exact age as Jack Hughes when he made the All-Star Game. 20 years and 267 days old when both Hughes and Cirella made the All-Star Game. Since they both scored a goal, they are tied for the youngest player to score a goal in Devils All-Star history. Cirella also had an assist on his conference’s game-winning goal. Hughes ended up scoring the game-winning goal in this All-Star Game.

Cirella was able to play in the one All-Star Game that was played in New Jersey. However, it wasn’t in the Prudential Center or even the Continental Airlines Arena. It was played at Brendan Byrne Arena. Cirella scored the first goal of the game, which we imagined excited the home crowd. Chico Resch also made the All-Star Game.

Cirella gave hope to Devils fans in 1984. He was someone who had a ton of talent. He never hit the heights that he had in the 1983-84 season. He had 44 points that season. That is a statline he never hit again. It happens sometimes, where players hit their peak at a very early age. Cirella still carved out a 14-year NHL career.