The 2024-25 New Jersey Devils season opens very soon. On October 4, the Devils will fight the Buffalo Sabres in Prague, Czechia. To get ready for the season, we're doing a daily piece countdown of all the numbers of the Devils sweaters and moments in Devils franchise history. The following few players were a goaltender around Martin Brodeur's years as a backup in Scott Clemmenson, a two-year defenseman from 2015-17 in Seth Helgeson, and a one-time Devil, Vernon Fiddler.
Scott Clemensen
After being selected in the 8th round of the 1997 NHL Draft, it would take a few years for Clemmensen to be called up, as he had to finish playing at college for Boston College. After completing his tenure there, Clemmensen would get called up for a few games in the 2001-02 season to backup Martin Brodeur. He got a 25-save shutout in his first full game of his career.
Clemmensen would remain the backup for Martin Brodeur for several years. However, he would get a chance as a starter in the 2008-09 season after Martin Brodeur suffered a bruised elbow that turned into a torn biceps tendon, which kept him out for 16 weeks of the season. Clemmenon went 39-25 during his tenure as starter before Brodeur returned in February 2009.
In the offseason of 2009, Clemmesen signed with the Florida Panthers, where he served as backup to Tomas Vokoun. In his time with Florida, he never got the job as the starter, as the Panthers went from Vokoun to Jose Theodore, Tim Thomas, and even Jacob Markstrom. In July 2014, he signed a one-year deal to return to the Devils, serving as a backup to Cory Schneider. Clemmensen’s final game on November 22, 2014, ended with a shootout loss to the Flames, and he would retire at age 37 on June 15, 2015.
Seth Helgeson
The Devils drafted Seth Helegeson, a defenseman, in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL Draft. Once he finished his season with the University of Minnesota, Helgeson was called up to spend two full seasons with the Albany Devils. He scored an average of 10 points in each of the two seasons. When he was called to the Devils during the 2014-15 season, he played 22 games, getting only one point on an assist.
Hegelson bounced back up and down from Albany to New Jersey and scored his first NHL goal on February 4th, 2017, in Columbus against the Blue Jackets, with just 29 seconds to go in the game to make it a 5-1 Devils lead. Once the 2016-17 season ended, he would sign with the Islanders as a free agent and would spend the next seven seasons with the Bridgeport Soundtigers/Isles; as his numbers declined, as his last season, he scored 5 points in that season. Helgeson is a free agent in the AHL at 33 years old.
Vernon Fiddler
Vernon Fiddler had a long NHL career before joining the Devils. After going undrafted, he signed with the Nashville Predators in 2002, where he would spend six seasons. Fiddler would average at least 20 points per season. After the 2008-09 season ended, Fiddler signed with the Phoenix Coyotes, where he spent two seasons, as his numbers improved with 30 and 22-point seasons from 2009-2011. At the end of the 2010-11 season, Fiddler would sign a three-year contract with the Dallas Stars. In the first three seasons with Dallas, he continued to average 20 points per season, and after the 2013-14 season ended, he signed a two-year deal to stay with the Dallas Stars, where his numbers declined due to being 34 and 35.
After the 2015-16 season ended, at age 36, he signed with the Devils. In the 39 games he played with the Devils, he scored only three points. He scored his only Devils goal, a shorthanded goal on November 26, 2016, in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Penguins.
On February 4th, 2017, he was traded back to the Predators for a 4th-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft, which became Mirco Mueller. In the final 20 games of Vernon Fiddler’s career, he would score 20 points before retiring at age 37 on September 13, 2017.