Tonight, the New Jersey Devils will retire their third number in franchise history. From a four-game stint in the 1991-92 season to his last (and best) season as a Devil in 2003-04, Scott Niedermayer has worn number 27. In between, Devils fans were enthralled with the way he carried the puck, his excellence at both ends of the rink, and just how effortlessly his strides looked on the ice. A few players (e.g. Mike Mottau) have worn that number since Niedermayer left New Jersey; but no more will do so after December 16, 2011.

Niedermayer oozed such skill and defensive awareness; and his importance to the team's success for a decade was massive. Like Ken Daneyko and Scott Stevens, no other Devil wearing #27 can possibly measure up to what Niedermayer had done on the ice for the franchise. Therefore, it does not only make sense but it is right that his number is raised to the rafters of the Rock in honor of his service to the franchise.

Please continue after the jump for an account of Niedermayer's time in New Jersey, from the improbable way he got here, how he left New Jersey, and (mostly) everything in between.

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One of the biggest reasons why the New Jersey Devils rose to prominence in the mid-1990s (1995-1996 excepted) and won the Stanley Cup in 1995 was their use of the neutral zone trap.    It's a defensive system that head coach Jacques Lemaire drilled into the team, who collectively bought into it to great success.  The Devils didn't invent the trap or created it out of nowhere.  Per this Toronto Hockey article that explains it somewhat, the Montreal Canadiens of the 1970s used this system as well - and it's origins lie further back in international play. Lemaire was on those incredibly successful teams, so it's not really a surprise that he recalled it and implemented it when coaching New Jersey and elsewhere.   Granted, the Devils weren't loaded with talent as those Montreal teams; but it certainly gave the Devils an edge at the time.

I bring this up because of a comment to a recent post about the 1995 Devils made by user NJGuy:

This is a good question to ask.  After all, even today, some decry any kind of defensive hockey as a "trap." Others decry the Devils simply because they've used it before.  Nonetheless, it's important to understand what it is if only so we can properly recognize it.  Fortunately, there are several videos explaining it.  I've included a few along with my thinking as to why the Devils were so good at performing the neutral zone trap when other teams weren't after the jump.

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In the comments to Friday's post about Neal Broten, I made the following statement:

I would disagree that the 1995 Devils were spectacularly deep or all that talented, at least comparison to other teams in that season. They were good, but not great.

The problem here is that I didn't provide any evidence to back that up.  It was just my remembrance of that lockout-shortened 1994-95 season.  Since I've been looking back at the team's history over the past week or so, let's look at how the New Jersey Devils did in the regular season and the playoffs back then.   Of course, it was a successful season: the New Jersey Devils won their first Stanley Cup. They won all of their series in less than 7 games, sweeping the Western Conference champions, the Detroit Red Wings.  You can't ask for much more than that.   However, the team wasn't as excellent during the season; and relied on several players to get hot in the playoffs to get to the top of the mountain.

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As a season begins or gets closer to playoffs, teams evaluate themselves and find room for improvement.    A team recognizes that they need help in some way or form at a position; so they need someone to provide stability to a seemingly shaky dimension of the team or to add some depth. They want some additional experience in the lineup, someone who's been through all sorts of situations and will have some idea of what to do in each of them.   They want someone who has some hunger left in their game; a desire to get to achieve a championship before time, injuries, or other matters force an end to a career.  They want someone who could be had at a reasonable cost; a contributor but without a long-term committment in terms or years or money.   As a result, the addition of a veteran player is a common transaction - both in the offseason and during the season, especially at the trade deadline.

The New Jersey Devils usually get a veteran at the trade deadline in most seasons for several of the above reasons.  Some are just for depth, and ultimately didn't make a big impact on the team either for the rest of the season or during the playoffs.  For example, the Devils picked up defenseman Richard Smehlik in 2003 to add some (really slow moving) cover to their blueline.  As a second example, the same mindset led to the Devils acquiring Niclas Havelid in 2009.   Others had more substantial impact.   My second favorite example was when the Devils got Alexander Mogilny in 2000, who really blossomed in the 2000-2001 season and was crucial to that team's run to the Stanley Cup Finals. 

Today, I want to talk about my favorite - and the franchise's best - example of the concept of "adding veteran presence" the New Jersey Devils ever accomplished.  On February 27, 1995 (not the trade deadline), the New Jersey Devils obtained Neal Broten from the Dallas Stars in exchange for Corey Millen.  This move was absolutely instrumental for Broten to get his game back and for the Devils to push on ahead to contend and win their first Stanley Cup.   Let's discuss the move and what Broten had done for the Devils after the jump.

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When putting together yesterday's post on Patrik Sundström, I got curious as to how many Swedish players have suited up for the New Jersey Devils franchise.  Through Hockey-Reference, I found out that there have been only 19 Swedish players who have played at least one game.  Moreover, I found that Sundström remains second in games played for New Jersey among Swedish players.  

I then got curious about the other three major European countries for hockey players.  The Devils haven't been shy about selecting, signing, and utilizing European players. Lou Lamoriello played a big role in bringing players over from the Soviet Union, so there has always been plenty of USSR-born players throughout the years.  Swedes have been around the franchise since their days in Colorado, though it wasn't until Sundström that any had a significant impact on the team. One of the current team's top players is Czech and several past Czechs were important players for the team.  Finnish players weren't as prominent but they've been around to various points.  There were a handful of other European players, but it's not really worth going over due to the small numbers of players (e.g. Uli Heimer and Sacha Goc are sole German-born Devils; Krzysztof Oliwa was the only "player" from Poland).

Therefore, I looked at skaters and goalies from those four European nations from Hockey-Reference and hastily graphed out each player's time with the Devils after the jump.  I think it's a decent short history of how long European players have been on the team, at least.

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Swedish players have recently become very prevelant on the Devils.  The team added two last summer in Johan Hedberg and Henrik Tallinder; their last three first round picks in the NHL Draft were all Swedes: Mattias Tedenby, Jacob Josefson, and Adam Larsson; and Alexander Urbom made his NHL debut last season.  The last game of the season had 5 Swedes playing in the same game.  It's possible for it to be 6, depending on how Urbom and Larsson do in training camp.  This is a surprising development considering the New Jersey Devils franchise has only had 19 Swedes in their entire history (and Larsson will make it 20 soon enough).  This fact along with being partially inspired from yesterday's post about Stephane Richer, I want to talk about the first Swede who made a real impact on the New Jersey Devils franchise: Patrik Sundström.   

I have to emphasize that Sundström was not the first New Jersey Devil who was born in Sweden.  You'd have to go all the way back to the days of the Colorado Rockies for the franchise's first Swede. The first would be goaltender Hardy Åström.  He's most famous for being the butt of a Don Cherry anecdote, as described here by Joe Pelletier at Goaltending Legends. That said, his numbers - found here at Hockey-Reference - were horrific, even by 1980s standards. If he had an impact, it was seemingly against the team.  Åström wasn't the only Swede brought onto the Rockies.  Per Hockey-Reference, Colorado signed wingers Christer Kellgren and Peter Gustavsson right from Västra Frölunda of the SEL in May 1981.  Both forwards spent much of their time in the minors in Fort Worth of the CHL; as they only played in a handful of NHL games in the 81-82 season. They both returned to Sweden in 1982 and remained there for the rest of their careers.  A few years and a move to New Jersey later, the franchise drafted 26-year old center Anders Carlsson of Södertälje SK in the fourth round of the 1986 Draft. Given that he's already developed, they brought him over to the NHL immediately. He hung around the Devils for three seasons, which easily put him ahead of Kellgren and Gustavsson in terms of Swedish Devils.  Plus, he wasn't a sieve, so he definitely was ahead of Åström.  However, he didn't make a big impact in the NHL, he wasn't productive, and so in 1989, he went back to Sweden.

As nobody says, the fifth time is the charm, and the Devils got their first very successful Swedish-born player in Patrik Sundström - the franchise's fifth Swedish player.  He was acquired from Vancouver in 1987 and have a solid five-season tenure with the Devils in those pre-Lemaire days of the Lamoriello Era.  He would go on to become the most successful player to have worn #17 before Petr Sykora, second most in Devils games played among Swedes, and the highest scoring Swedish Devil until this day.   Let's look back at his time in New Jersey after the jump.

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In writing yesterday's post on the trouble with great players, many former Devils came to mind.  I didn't write it with one specific player in mind.  It was about general concept of how new players or players on the team inevitably get compared to great players when they're gone - regardless of how great they are on their own.   While thinking about the past, my mind wandered to the 1995 Stanley Cup winning squad.  Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, and Ken Daneyko were immediately remembered.  So did Claude Lemieux, the super-pest that scored 13 goals and earned the Conn Smythe that year, and John MacLean, who was one of the team's top forwards for several years.  The Crash Line wasn't forgotten, as Randy McKay, Bobby Holik, and Mike Peluso punished fourth lines and made opposing coaches sweat since they could play a little hockey too.   

Then I recalled #44, Stephane Richer.  I remembered that he was good, but it wasn't until I looked up his numbers that I realized how good he really was for New Jersey.  I knew he came over from Montreal, but I didn't know he was a big-time scorer for the Canadiens in the late 1980s.  To this day, he's still the most recent Canadien player to have scored 50 or more goals in a season - he scored 51 in the 1989-90 season.   He was big, he was swift, he had a very powerful shot, and he simply oozed offensive skill.  Yet, this and other facts about his first time as a Devil (his second isn't really worth going over) seemed .

Most summaries of Richer's career focused on his time in Montreal. For example, look at his entry at Legends of Hockey, a Hockey Hall of Fame and NHLPA sponsored site.  This is all that was written for his time with the Devils:

In 1991, the Canadiens decided to go with Kirk Muller, using Richer as collateral to be sent to the Devils. In New Jersey, Richer continued to be a solid offensive performer over the five seasons that followed.  In 1995, he again made his return to the winner's circle as the Devils won their first-ever Stanley Cup.

That's it.  I know it's a short biography of the player, but even I feel Richer deserves much more than just two sentences. While I've admitted my ignorance, some fans loved #44 back in the day.  Let's find out why.  Therefore, I dug a little deeper and I've shared what I found about Richer's time as a New Jersey Devil after the jump.

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Eight years ago, the New Jersey Devils accomplished what many franchises are still attempting to do year after year: win the Stanley Cup.  In fact, this would be the third Stanley Cup victory for the Devils.  Only nine franchises in the post-NHL era have won more than 3 Stanley Cups: both New York teams, Ottawa, Chicago, Boston, Edmonton, Detroit, Toronto, and Montreal.  

Notice that most of that list includes each of the "Original Six" franchises; and Ottawa's Cup wins were way back in their adopted history (1920s and prior). Considering that Edmonton carried their team over from the WHA, the Islanders are the only team on this list who built their team from scratch in the NHL to win that many Stanley Cups.    It really puts the Devils' victories in an impressive perspective (this applies to the Penguins too).

Let's reminiscence about the 2003 team, their playoff run, and the Stanley Cup Final after the jump.

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