50 Greatest New Jersey Devils Players of All Time: Numbers 40-31
The New Jersey Devils have a long history of great players. As we celebrate the 40th season of Devils hockey in the Garden State, we look at some of the players in the 31 to 40 range. We’re in the great depth range here. None of these players are making the Hall of Fame (at least for their Devils contributions), but they are an integral part of a winning culture.
In part two of our series, we look at these very special players. We start with a surprisingly solid trade piece that turned into one of the few players who could call themselves “captain.”
If you missed part one, click here for players 50-41.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 40. Bryce Salvador
Bryce Salvador is a former captain who took over a team coming off an incredible run. Zach Parise captained the 2012 team. Then, Parise left for Minnesota, and the captain’s role was left behind. The Devils named a defenseman captain for the first time since Scott Stevens retired and Scott Niedermayer left for Anaheim. Salvador took on the role in the twilight of his career.
It’s always hard to compare Salvador’s impact to other players across eras. He only had 110 points in his career. This is a career that spanned 15 years (although one was completely lost to a lockout, and another was lost due to injury). The Devils traded for Salvador in February of 2008, sending fan favorite Cam Janssen to the St. Louis Blues.
The Devils wanted to add a veteran to the blue line. This hasn’t always worked out in the past, and Salvador being 32 at the time of the trade could have spelled doom for another Lou Lamoriello acquisition. Instead, Salvador brought consistency to the lineup. In his first full season with the Devils, Salvador scored two game-winning goals. It seemed like in his first few years in New Jersey. He had a knack for clutch play. He would make the right pass at the right time or put the perfect poke check when Martin Brodeur needed it most.
Salvador was incredible during the Devils’ run to the 2012 Stanley Cup Final. He scored four goals and recorded 10 assists during the run. His last few seasons were mired by injuries, which is unfortunate. Salvador’s time in New Jersey will be about his impact on and off the ice. He was a leader who helped this team reach heights it once became accustomed to. Maybe his lore puts him higher on this list, but he deserves that for what he brought to the team.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 39. Bill Guerin
Bill Guerin had an interesting career with the Devils. He was drafted fifth overall in 1989, and he got to join the Devils as they were on their way up. His first season in the NHL was in 1992-93, a relatively long time to wait for such a high pick. He even took some time to get going while in the lineup, but he eventually became a really good player for the Devils.
He helped them in both the 1994 and 1995 runs in the playoffs. His numbers in 94 look putrid (three points), but he was getting everywhere on the ice and recorded 48 shots. The next season, he only took 28 shots as the Devils made their way to the Stanley Cup Final, but he recorded 11 points.
Guerin had the team lead with 29 goals in 1996-97. He was starting to hit his stride, and it looked like the Devils would have another major player to add to the core. However, he made the one mistake so many other greats made before him. He got into a contract dispute with Lou Lamoriello. He reportedly only signed in 1997 so he could play on the 1998 Olympic hockey team. He was eventually shipped to Edmonton with Valerie Zelepukin for Jason Arnott, a player who will be on this list later.
Guerin eventually had a really good career and is now the GM of the Minnesota Wild. He never hit the heights the Devils hoped from a fifth-overall pick, but he had some good seasons on a team desperate for offense. He was probably right that he deserved more, and maybe he felt going into a different system would be best for him. As for his time with the Devils, it was an interesting journey we chose to look at positively.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 38. Brian Rolston
Brian Rolston is another player the Devils drafted after their 1988 playoff run, but before they really started making the playoffs on a yearly basis. They took him with the 11th overall pick. It was the Devils second pick, thanks to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who traded them a pick that ended up being the third overall. They took Scott Niedermayer with that pick. He’ll probably come up later.
Rolston didn’t make the Devils NHL roster until the 1994-95 season. As you may have heard, this is a significant season for the franchise. He played 40 games in the lockout-shortened season and had 18 points. He only played in six playoff games that season, but that didn’t stop him from making an impact. He scored twice against the Flyers in four games and even showed up in two Stanley Cup Final games against the Detroit Red Wings.
Over the next three seasons, he would play a more significant role with the Devils. Then, he would make his most pivotal contribution through a trade to the Colorado Avalanche. Before the deadline in 2000, the Devils traded Rolston and a first-round pick swap for Claude Lemieux. It helped the Devils eventually win another Stanley Cup.
If that was it for him in New Jersey, he probably wouldn’t make this list. However, he returned to the Devils near the end of his career. He ended up playing three more seasons with the Devils and added another 20-goal season in the latter years of his career.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 37. Jay Pandolfo
Jay Pandolfo is one of those players where the score sheet wasn’t exactly where he made his biggest impact. This is also where we get to players who greatly impacted the Devils. Think of everyone on this list prior to Pandolfo as significant contributors, and allow these players to be the winning players. Pandolfo was drafted after playing one year at Boston University. He was phenomenal for the Terriers. The Devils thought they might have a scorer on their hands when he joined them in 1995. Scoring never really became Pandolfo’s game.
In 13 seasons with the Devils, Pandolfo had more than 10 goals four times. He scored more than one goal in the playoffs once. This Devils team always made the playoffs and made two runs to the Stanley Cup with Pandolfo on the roster. (He was a member of the Devils in 2000 but did not play in the playoffs.)
Pandolfo’s real impact was stopping the other team from scoring. He was always on the Devils penalty kill, a well-known unit around the league. He was also incredibly clutch. In 2002-03, he had six goals all season. Four of them were game-winners. Then in the playoffs, he matched his season total with six goals. The Devils needed literally every goal in 2003 to win the Stanley Cup, so Pandolfo found his scoring touch at the right time.
Pandolfo was a fan favorite for how he played the game. He had the skill to score more, but that’s not what the team needed for most of his tenure. He put team needs ahead of his own, and that’s why Lou Lamoriello loved him. Pandolfo was a big reason for the Devils record during his time in New Jersey.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 36. Petr Statsny
Petr Statsny is one of those players who many forget played for the Devils. He surely didn’t earn his Hall of Fame induction in the Garden State, but he was still a star in New Jersey. He did all that with the Quebec Nordiques. However, before the deadline in 1989, the Devils traded for the star to add to a young team.
The Devils sent center Craig Wolanin to bring in Statsny. He never hit 100 points like he did seven times in Quebec. He was no longer a 40-goal scorer, but he was a significant part of a team that was trying to build something in NJ.
Statsny was the captain in Quebec, but he came to New Jersey with an even bigger leadership role. He was fluent in six different languages, which proved helpful as more players were defecting from Russia and Europe to the NHL.
Statsny never hit those offensive stats he did previously, but he did provide the necessary culture the team wanted. This was not a winning franchise that Statsny was coming to. However, the Devils made the playoffs every single year with Statsny on the roster. This was a changing of the guard, with the old Mickey Mouse Devils turning into a defensive powerhouse that put winning over everything. It all started with the acquisition of Statsny, who spent more than three seasons in New Jersey.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 35. Colin White
Colin White is such a hard player to rank. He was a solid player on the blueline and spent 11 seasons in New Jersey. He has a lot of the accolades Devils players need to make it on this list. He was a part of two Stanley Cup Champions. He played all 23 games as a rookie in 2000 as the Devils made it to the Final and won.
White had a great start to his career. He made the NHL’s All-Rookie Team in 2001 (he was still eligible due to a lack of games played in his first season). He was that typical defensive defenseman, keeping pucks away from Martin Brodeur. It was a priority for the Devils.
Things changed for White in 2007. During a preseason practice, a puck off the stick of rookie Niclas Bergfors tipped into White’s face. It came close to his right eye, causing blurred vision and other issues. He came back in November and immediately took on a minutes-eating role, but he was clearly a little hesitant about his usual physicality.
White was always a heavy hitter, breaking more than 100 hits nearly every season. He didn’t lose what made him really good, but he did basically stop fighting. White was still really good, putting up arguably his best performance in the 2003 Stanley Cup Playoffs. He broke 22 minutes per game in the postseason. He was solidified in the Devils top four, a unit that included Brian Rafalski, Scott Stevens, and Scott Niedermayer.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 34. Paul Martin
Right to another defenseman who had pretty much the opposite skillset as Colin White. Paul Martin is like Scott Niedermayer lite. That’s not a knock on Martin. Niedermayer might be the best offensive defenseman of all time. Martin was really good for the Devils for his six years in New Jersey. He was a 30-point player from the blue line in a very interesting part of Devils history.
Martin never won a Stanley Cup with the Devils. He joined the Devils in 2003-04, joining the defending champions. He put up 24 points in 70 games, and he even finished in the top ten in Calder Trophy voting. He grew his offensive game from there, and he became a power-play star. In his first season after the 2004-05 lockout, he had 17 assists with a man advantage.
Martin was a huge presence for the Devils who were looking into the next era of defensemen. Colin White and Martin were there to replace Stevens and Niedermayer. He did a great job doing that. He went on to play 400 games with the Devils before he left to join the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2010.
Martin’s a complicated ranking. His time in New Jersey was incredibly effective, but he lacked playoff success. He was often on a team that was knocked out in the first round, and he never made the third round in NJ. He was still incredible in six seasons. It was a treat to watch.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 33. Tommy Albelin
Tommy Albelin is not a name that usually comes up when people bring up the all-time greats, but he has a special place in New Jersey Devils history. He was one of the first players to notoriously return to the franchise, something that became a Lou Lamoriello favorite. He was traded to the Devils in 1988, as the franchise was hoping to build off the momentum of their 1988 run to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Albelin was equal parts offense and defense from the back line. He would regularly record 20+ assists per season. Then, he would play a pivotal role in the playoffs. His safe style was not appreciated in his time, but his ability to stay in the right position and stay out of the box gave the Devils an advantage on the ice. During the Devils’ run to the 1995 Stanley Cup, he only had one postseason penalty.
Albelin was traded to the Calgary Flames in 1996 in a deal that brought Phil Housley to New Jersey. After six largely unsuccessful years in Calgary, Albelin went back to the Devils. At this point, he was in the twilight of his career. He ended up winning his second Stanley Cup in 2003. The Devils didn’t ask him to do too much, but at 38 years old, it was impressive he played 14 minutes per game on a Cup winner.
His career came to an end in 2006 at 41 years old. He ended up spending 10 years in New Jersey as a player, and he would be a coach in the system for another eight years before eventually leaving for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He now coaches in Switzerland full time.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 32. Brendan Shanahan
This one might be name value, or it could be that he brought one of the top players on this list to New Jersey, but Brendan Shanahan actually had an interesting, albeit short, career with the Devils. In total, Shanahan played five seasons with the Devils. He left in 1991, signing an offer sheet with the St. Louis Blues. It was a banner day for the Devils, as it turned into Scott Stevens.
Shanahan was the Devils’ second-overall pick in the 1987 NHL Draft. He took some time to get acclimated to the NHL. He was in and out of the lineup in 1987-88, which happened to be the first season the Devils made the playoffs. The next season, he got a lot better. Shanahan posted 50 points in 68 games.
Shanahan quickly became one of the few great young players in the league. He was just under a point per game in his third NHL season. Four years into his career, he had 281 games under his belt, 214 points, and he was primed to be a first-line player. Then, as he fought with the Devils and Lou Lamoriello about money, he found a team to pay him $1.25 million per season.
Shanahan had a Hall-of-Fame career with the Blues and Detroit Red Wings, but he found his way back to the Devils in the end. He spend his last 34 games in New Jersey, as Lamoriello gave him a call in the middle of the 2008-09 season to add a forward due to injuries. He re-signed with the Devils that offseason, but he ended up parting ways before the season started and retired that November.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 31. Andy Greene
On to another defenseman, this one had the same lore as White and Martin, but he had a much longer career in NJ. Andy Greene spent 14 seasons in New Jersey before playing his last three on Long Island (are you also surprised he played three seasons outside New Jersey, too?). He had 923 games with the Devils, spending about five seasons as the team’s captain. He took on the “C” after Bryce Salvador retired in 2015.
Greene had a similar role to Damon Severson in that he was often placed in a position to fail because of the status of the Devils defense. Should he have been averaging over 20 minutes per game in his age-37 season? Of course not, but that was the lore of Andy Greene. He was everything the Devils needed him to be.
While he wasn’t a statistical machine, Greene was very good on both sides of the ice at his peak. He was fearless, often at the top of the NHL in blocked shots. He had more than 200 blocked shots in 2018-19.
Greene was a big part of the Devils defense in 2012 when they made a run to the Stanley Cup Final. He played 22 minutes a game, and he focused solely on stopping pucks. He only had one assist in 24 games, but he made sure the Devils were in a position to win. It was what Greene did for more than 900 games, as he was a leader from the day he left the University of Miami (Ohio).
No. 30. dark. Next