50 Greatest New Jersey Devils Players of All Time: Numbers 50-41
The New Jersey Devils have a long, wonderful history in the NHL which includes three Stanley Cup wins. Which players are the best that have ever graced the ice in New Jersey?
We just finished the 40th year of New Jersey Devils hockey. There have been incredible highs with this franchise and devastating lows. This season, the Devils set multiple franchise records, including wins (52) and points (112). The recent lows made this high feel so much better. It has us thinking Three Stanley Cups, five Stanley Cup Final appearances, 11 Hall of Famers, and the greatest goalie of all time. Overall, Devils fans are lucky.
The Devils came into the league officially in 1982. The legendary Dr. John McMullen brought the franchise to the Garden State from Colorado. It’s the third stop for a franchise that started in Kansas City eight years prior to their move to the Northeast. At the time, there were 21 teams in the league, and expansion was close to a decade away.
Since then, there’s been talk of relocation, which includes a very awkward Gary Bettman interview at the Stanley Cup Final. There have been incredible highs (Henrique, it’s over might be tops among them), and there have been incredible lows (we’d need some time for this one, but the day Zach Parise left has to be at least close to the top).
One thing that unites all Devils fans is the love for this franchise and the love for this sport. The Devils are considered the third team in the New York Metropolitan Area. That makes fans even more ravenous when rooting for them. It started in Brendan Byrne Arena. It eventually evolved into a championship arena in East Rutherford called the Continental Airlines Arena. Now, the games are played at the Prudential Center.
At the peak of it all is the players. We wear their jersey. We scream their name. Some of us wait for hours to get a glimpse of them, and others buy season tickets to spend a little time with them. You’ll still see jerseys around the arena of players who once called this team home. Now, let’s celebrate them and rank them based on their impacts to this franchise. To be clear, we are ranking the players based on their contribution to the Devils only. All active players will be judged based on their contributions to this date as if they retired today.
Greatest New Jersey Devils players Honorable Mention: Patrik Sundstrom
Patrik Sundstrom was another player who had big moments, but his overall impact is tied to those moments. He played five seasons with the New Jersey Devils after he was traded from the Vancouver Canucks. His first season in Jersey wasn’t great. He had just 15 goals and 51 points, 20 points fewer than the season prior. However, something clicked in the playoffs. The Devils made the postseason for the first time in franchise history.
He had a three-point game when the Devils closed out the Islanders. He had three points in Game 6 against the Boston Bruins to push the Eastern Conference Finals to Game 7. However, it was their first home game of the second round that set records. He had eight points in that game. Eight! It put the Devils ahead in the series 2-1, a series they eventually won in seven games. He did that entirely at even strength. Eight points at even strength for a baby Devils team looking to make a statement.
Nobody has ever scored more in one playoff game. Mario Lemieux got to eight himself, but he did it with two power-play points. Wayne Gretzky never did it.
Sundstrom was much better the next two seasons, scoring 28 and 27 goals, respectively. Eventually, injuries broke him down. He turned down a contract from the Devils at 30 years old so he could return to Sweden and finish his career in his home country. That 1988 playoff run and the two seasons after that will always live on in the Devils fans who were here from the beginning.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 50. Jaromir Jagr
There’s not much to celebrate for this franchise over the last 10 years. One thing that was surprisingly fun was Jaromir Jagr’s time with the Devils. He signed with the team after one of its lowest points, the retirement of Ilya Kovalchuk. He said that was one of the reasons he signed there. In reality, Jagr and the Devils both desperately needed a reset.
Jagr’s return to the NHL had been uninspiring at best. He spent two seasons with three teams. He signed with the Philadelphia Flyers, spent less than a season with the Dallas Stars, and he had an interesting playoff run with the Boston Bruins. He was being doubted for the first time in his career, but the Devils seemed to get the most out of him.
Jagr’s time with the Devils was short, but oh was it fun. He had 96 points in 139 games. He spent the majority of his time on the first line alongside Travis Zajac. Someone even threw him a Hart Trophy vote for his first season in New Jersey, where he did his best to bring the Devils towards a playoff run. They came within five points of making it, and a putrid overtime record kept them out.
Jagr is a top-ten player of all time. He is on everyone’s list when it comes to the impact on the game of hockey. When it comes to the Devils franchise, Jagr’s impact might be small, but he deserves to be on the list. His 139 games were all that got us through a tough time, and it was that impact that means more than a lot of other players in this franchise’s history.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 49. Kyle Palmieri
Kyle Palmieri has been a fan favorite for his entire tenure with the Devils. He was one of the first major moves by Ray Shero when he took over for the legend that is Lou Lamoriello. He sent two draft picks to the Anaheim Ducks in June of 2015. In his very first season with the Devils, he scored 30 goals. He was off to the races, and Palmieri was a natural fit for this franchise.
Palmieri wore a lot of hats during his 397 games with the Devils. He started as a natural middle-six forward, but he became a scorer on the top line for a long time. During Taylor Hall’s MVP season, Palmieri, Hall, and Nico Hischier were considered one of the best lines in all of hockey.
During his time with the Devils, Palmieri was generally a 25-goal scorer with about 25 assists per year. This was during a time when the Devils were desperate for every goal. He was a product of his environment, and he was the best of what he was. The Devils needed a scorer, and he seemed like the only one they had when Hall was doing other things.
Some might think this is too low for Palmieri, but it’s hard to put him higher. Maybe if he was able to put up some legendary playoff performances, things would be different. Since everything he did was mostly in the regular season, it doesn’t rank as highly as others on this list.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 48. Mel Bridgman
Mel Bridgman is a man from a previous era. He would be a player after Lou Lamoriello’s heart, despite never actually playing for the man. He was a consistent scorer who could be very good on both sides of the rink. He didn’t need to be a 30-goal scorer to be a contributor. He came to the Devils in 1983 when they sent future Stanley Cup-winning coach Joel Quenneville (as a player) to the Calgary Flames.
Bridgman was a legend with the Philadelphia Flyers, so it must have been weird for them to see him with the Devils. He was there when they first moved to New Jersey, so the rivalry was still fresh. It would be much different if this was now, but back then it wasn’t that bad.
Anyways, with the Devils, Bridgman gave the Devils a veteran presence on the offense. Six months after the Devils got Bridgman, he was named captain. While the Devils struggled for the majority of the time that he was wearing the “C”, it was a franchise looking for an identity. Bridgman brought that.
During his time with the Devils, Bridgman had three straight 60-point seasons. It was the 80s, so scoring was easy to come by, but it was still impressive on that roster. Some of the young stars on the Devils give him credit for helping show them the ropes. He was a great captain, and he was one of the first stars in Garden State hockey history.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 47. Grant Marshall
Grant Marshall is an interesting case. He’s someone who is still around the Devils all the time. He’s what you think about when you think of a “fan favorite”. Fans still get excited when they see Grant Marshall at the Prudential Center.
Marshall is a massive success story. When in juniors, he suffered a horrific injury and was even temporarily paralyzed. Despite this, he made a full recovery and made it all the way to the NHL. He spent six years with the Dallas Stars before going to the Columbus Blue Jackets. He never scored more than 15 goals in a season.
He was traded midseason from the Blue Jackets to the Devils in 2003. At that point, he only had eight goals in 66 games. He only scored one more in 10 games with the Devils. Then, something miraculous happened.
He ended up scoring six goals during the 2003 playoffs on the way to the Stanley Cup. He scored a series-winning goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round. It came in triple overtime. Those games tend to have the wildest heroes. He scored more big goals throughout the run, including crucial goals in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Ottawa Senators. He also scored a big goal in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Ducks. His playoff heroics will always hold more water than others. It was a great run, but he could never repeat that success. Luckily, he will always have that Stanley Cup ring to fall back on.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 46. Chico Resch
Glenn “Chico” Resch was the hardest person on this list to rank. That might seem preposterous, but he is. He is incredibly important to this franchise. He was a star coming over from the Colorado Rockies.
Let’s start with how Resch got here. He was the Islanders starter in the mid-to-late 70s, but he was pushed to backup duties in 1979-80. That’s when the Isles made a run to the Stanley Cup. That offseason, the Isles traded him to the “struggling” Rockies. After just two seasons, Resch was moving back to the Northeast.
The Devils would ask a lot of Resch over its first three seasons. There was NO defense in New Jersey when Chico was traded here. And it just never got better. He started 65 games in the Devils first season in New Jersey and won just 15. It wasn’t his fault. Only Hartford’s Greg Millen faced more shots that season. He was 13th in save percentage when only accounting for goalies with at least 40 games played.
The Devils took a load off of him a little bit in years two and three in franchise history, but he still played 51 games each year. He was the man to lead this team for better or for worse.
Chico has been with the organization since the beginning, and he’s still with them to this day. He’s the most beloved name in this franchise outside of the retired numbers. His time as a color commentator on TV and later on the radio puts him on Mount Rushmore when it comes to franchise importance. However, when it comes to strictly on-ice performance, Chico just came at a time when it was impossible to succeed. We’re curious what he would do today with the current defense the Devils are putting out there.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 45. Marek Zidlicky
There are many, many trades in Lou Lamoriello’s history that worked out very, very well. Not many of them happened in the later years of his tenure in New Jersey. It seemed like Lamoriello was trying to hang onto something when it was clear the Devils needed a reset. However, something happened in 2012, when the Devils still had the right collection of assets, that led to one of the most improbable runs in this franchise’s history. Prior to the run, the Devils made a near-deadline move to bring in offensive defenseman Marek Zidlicky.
This seems high for Zidlicky, right? Well, he actually spent parts of four seasons with the Devils. It seems inexplicable, but he was here much longer than just that 2012 run. Zidlicky played two full seasons beyond that, and he started another before being traded at the deadline again. In 2013-14, he scored more than half a point per game. He was incredibly durable for the position especially considering his advanced age.
During the 2012 postseason, Zidlicky averaged 23:47 of ice time per game. He changed his role and put himself in the position to shut players down as much as he was scoring. He immediately did what Peter DeBoer needed from him. In Game 7 against the Florida Panthers, Zidlicky played 36 minutes. That’s insane. He would be the Devils workhorse throughout that postseason, and he’s a big underrated reason why they got as far as they did.
Zidlicky is probably the most surprising name on this list, but he absolutely deserves to be there. He brought a lot to the table in a short time, and in his 214 regular season games, he had 92 points. He did what the Devils needed, and he even changed up his game to fit the narrative.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 44. Valeri Zelepukin
Where could we possibly rank Valeri Zelepukin? If a freak practice injury never happens, Zelepukin could be in the same breath as the players in the top ten on this list. Instead, he’s in the 40s. He was incredibly crucial to the Devils’ run in 1994 that ended in overtime of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Then, in 1995, an injury cost him all but four regular-season games. He returned for 18 games in the postseason for the Devils’ run to the Stanley Cup, but his main contribution was a series-clinching goal against the Boston Bruins in the first round.
Let’s stop focusing on the negative. There were a lot of positives in Zelepukin’s short Devils career. He had 64 points in his first full season. This was a rising Devils team, and a 24-year-old Zelepukin looked to be hitting his stride at the perfect time. He hit 57 points the next season, but he increased his goal numbers to 26. Zelepukin was a go-to scorer for a team that prided itself on defense. The team couldn’t win 0-0.
The one moment people will remember Zelepukin for is his goal against the Rangers. It could have been one of the most epic goals in history, but overtime changed the narrative. Remember when Zach Parise scored with seconds left for Team USA? Maybe not, because Sidney Crosby scored the “Golden Goal.” This is the same thing, only it’s the NHL, not the Olympics.
There were less than ten seconds left. Zelepukin went to the front of the net. A desperate Claude Lemieux threw the puck to the front of the net, and Zelepukin put it past Mike Richter. 7.7 seconds left, and the Devils had new life. This is Zelepukin’s legacy. It’s a good one at that, but we’ll always ask what if.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 43. Jesper Bratt
There aren’t many Devils players who scored 73 points in back-to-back seasons. For the longest time, Bratt has had trouble getting the fanbase behind him because of his rough contract negotiations. Now that he’s signed for the next eight seasons, we can finally focus on Bratt’s contributions to the franchise.
Bratt has played just 289 games with the franchise. Guess where he lands on the all-time franchise points list? Bratt ranks 24th, just ahead of Kyle Palmieri and just behind Brian Rolston. Rolston played 150+ more games than Bratt did in a Devils uniform alone.
Bratt just passed 100 career goals this season, sitting at 25th in Devils history. He’s right behind Bill Guerin and will likely pass Jason Arnott, Scott Gomez, Adam Henrique, and Scott Niedermayer this season. That’s insane!
It’s really hard to figure out where to rank Bratt. He came onto the scene on absolute fire, a sixth-round pick that shocked everyone by making the opening-night roster in his first go in North America. However, he failed to break 40 points in his first four seasons. Now, he looks like a great player looking for more. He could jump into the top 20 by the end of next season if he is able to break 80 points for the first time in his career.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 42. Nico Hischier
Remember, this is if the player retired today. Nico HIschier is on a trajectory to get into the top ten of players who ever played in the Garden State. However, for now, Hischier finds himself here at number 42. His most recent season, putting up 80 points and being named a Selke Trophy finalist, was by far his best season. He made the playoffs for the second time, winning his first series.
Hischier was the number-one overall pick in the highly-skilled 2017 NHL Draft. It came down to Hischier and Nolan Patrick, and the Devils definitely made the right choice. Hischier immediately made an impact. Travis Zajac got hurt in Hischier’s first training camp. Many thought Pavel Zacha would slide in next to Taylor Hall, but Hischier earned the spot on the top line. Hall has gone on record saying that Hischier was the reason he won his MVP.
Hischier had a few decent seasons, but injuries and the pandemic really ruined any momentum. That was until 2022. Going into last season, the Devils were hoping the rebuild was finally over. The Devils exploded, breaking franchise records in standings points, wins, and more. Hischier was a huge part of that, playing as good a two-way game as anyone not named Patrice Bergeron.
Like we said, Hischier will rise on this list. He’s the team’s current captain, and he’s going to be very good for a very long time. If 2022-23 wasn’t a fluke, top ten is almost a certainty.
Greatest New Jersey Devils player of all time: 41. Damon Severson
Here comes a controversial one. Damon Severson is a very good defenseman. He was a second-round pick who stuck around with the Devils through good times and bad. He joined the Devils as a full-time defenseman in 2014. Back then, he was beloved by all Devils fans. At that point, it was rare to have a drafted player actually join the roster and contribute. He played through his entry-level contract, and he eventually signed a six-year contract with a very fair AAV.
Severson has been everything on the right side of the defense. He’s often thrust into a first-line role when someone gets hurt or a player isn’t playing up to the first-line standards. Severson has been the reliable force on a blueline who’s had so few of them in this era.
Does he make mistakes? Sure, nobody is going to deny that. However, the hate for Severson has always been overstated. In a different era, Severson would thrive. He has the skill set to do it. He has enough defensive acumen and a great offensive game that he would have been an incredible asset to a contending team.
The Devils said goodbye to Severson this offseason, trading his rights to the Columbus Blue Jackets. We shouldn’t forget everything he did for this franchise as it attempted to get through tough times. He was always there for the Devils when he needed them. Now, he looks to do the same for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Next. No. 40. dark