50 Greatest New Jersey Devils Players of All Time: Numbers 50-41

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.