Devils 2024 All-Time Team

[Classic Devil]

It's time for my annual Devils All-Time Team challenge!

It's basically a puzzle challenge: make the best roster you can out of players in Devils' team history.

But there are a few rules to make this harder than it might immediately seem:

(1) You're selecting players by season. So, for instance, you can take Patrik Elias' 2000-2001 season. But you can only take one player per season. If you take Elias 2000-2001, you cannot take Mogilny 2000-2001; the 2000-2001 team only gets one player to represent it.

(2) You can only select a player once. So, if you take Elias 2000-2001, you can't have Elias 2005-2006 also.

(3) You cannot have two players wearing the same number. If you take Bruce Driver, you cannot also take Scott Gomez (each gets assigned #23). For players who wore more than one number in Devils history, they're assigned the one they wore for longer (so, if you're taking Rolston, he wears #14, which he wore for 7 seasons, and not #12, which he wore for 3 seasons, regardless of which season you're taking him for).

You can otherwise make selections based on any criteria you want. You can choose players based off their regular season performances, or playoff performances; you can focus on choosing only long-time Devils or go for best single-season performances . Whatever feels right to you, go ahead and run with it.

Also choose a head coach and two assistant coaches. No restrictions on these, you can pick anyone from the team's history.

Once you have your team selected, assemble a lineup (lines and pairings, reserve forwards and defense) and post!

Suggestions:
I'm providing something to make this a little easier this year. Because I'm a nerd and do this challenge for fun in my free time, I've put together a Microsoft Excel file complete with all the players I think are genuine candidates for the team. (If you think there are players that should be added to this list, just tell me and I'd be happy to incorporate them.) The list is based on the statistics found at NHL Stats, History, Scores, & Records | Hockey-Reference.com, and takes adjusted scoring and goal contributions, to make it easier to compare statistics across eras. Every row is a player-year, with their number and position, so if you're trying to sort through all the options for a given number, player, or season, the excel file should make it easy.

You can sort it by season point-share, to see which players this particular statistical method thinks were the best in Devils team history.

Note: because of the way these statistics are calculated, and because I shortsightedly did not include Games Played when I made the sheet, players who had shortened seasons are underrated. In particular, everyone in 1994-1995 is underrated by the model (Richer has a ridiculous season that year), as is Elias in his shortened 2005-2006 season.

Also, all statistics are for the regular season only, which is a shame. There's definitely room for improvement.

My suggestion for how to go about starting your team: start by picking players who are going to be represented on basically every team: Brodeur, Stevens, Elias, Niedermayer have lots of good years to pick from and no competition for their numbers (Peter Stastny notwithstanding). Then pick between #9s (Parise/Muller/Hall), #23s (Gomez/Driver), #17s (Sykora/Kovalchuk/Sundstrom), #15s (Langenbrunner/MacLean), etc; these numbers are all also likely to get representation.

I expect this year's teams might not change a whole lot compared to last year's, but I may be wrong about that. 2023-2024 was Jesper Bratt's best career season by many metrics (although not by much), which provides some additional roster flexibility on the wing.

I'll post my roster in a few days.

Click to read more...

 

[Classic Devil]

To help people get started, here are some of the previous years of the challenge!

2023 Devils All-Time Team
2022 Devils All-Time Team
2021 Devils All-Time Team
2019 Devils All-Time Team
2018 Devils All-Time Team

Edit: also, Kasatonov wore 7, not 8. Not sure how I was making that mistake for so many years...

 

[MasterofGrond]

So many years I could have been using kasaronov and I wasn’t!!!!!!

 

[Hollywood Nosebleed]

08-09 Parise #9 21-22 Hughes #86 11-12 Kovalchuk #17
(45g 49a 94pts 1.14pts/pg) (26g 30a 56pts 1.14pts/pg) (37g 46a 83pts 1.07pts/pg)

99-00 Elias #26 23-24 Hischier #13 00-01 Mogilny #89
(35g 37a 72pts 1pts/pg) (27g 40a 67pts .94pts/pg) (43g 40a 83pts 1.10pts/pg)

89-90 Maclean #15 05-06 Gomez #23 92-93 Lemieux #22
(41g 38a 79pts .98pts/pg) (33g 51a 84pts 1.02pts/pg) (30g 51a 81pts 1.05pts/pg)

90-91 Shanahan #11 97-98 Holik #16 05-06 Gionta #14
(29g 37a 66pts .88pts/pg) (29g 36a 65pts .79pts/pg) (48g 41a 89pts 1.08pts/pg)

09-10 Zajac #19 92-93 Richer #44
(25g 42a 67pts .81pts/pg) (38g 35a 73pts .94pts/pg)


93-95 Stevens #4 22-23 Hamilton #7
(18g 60a 78pts .93pts/pg) (22g 52a 74pts .90pts/pg)

02-03 Neidermayer #27 06-07 Rafalski #28
(14g 40a 54pts .66pts/pg) (8g 47a 55pts .67pts/pg)

12-13 Greene #6 88-89 Kurvers #5
(4g 12a 16pts .33pts/pg ) (16g 50a 66pts .89pts/pg)

13-14 Zidlicky #2
(12g 30a 42pts .51pts/pg)

96-97 Brodeur #30
(37-14-13 1.88ga .927s% 10 SO)

15-16 Schneider #35
(27-25-6 2.15ga .924s% 4 SO)

Basically the same team I did last year, but switched Nico for Arnott. As much has I’d love to keep Elias with Arnott, him and Nico would be amazing together and would let Mogilny focus even more on offense. Injuries this year made it hard to change anything.​

 

[Goptor]

2007-2008 has to be Vish.

I think he got 90 goals, 50 assists, and 383 points that season.

 

[Better Call Sal]

#26 Patrik Elias (A) (2000-2001) - #25 Jason Arnott (1999-2000) - #17 Petr Sykora (1998-1999)
#9 Taylor Hall (2017-2018) - #86 Jack Hughes (2022-2023) - #68 Jaromir Jagr (2013-2014)
#63 Jesper Bratt (2021-2022) - #16 Bobby Holik (1997-1998) - #14 Brian Gionta (2005-2006)
#22 Claude Lemieux (1994-1995) - #11 John Madden (A) (2002-2003) - #15 Jamie Langenbrunner (2008-2009)
#13 Nico Hischier (2023-2024), #19 Travis Zajac (2009-2010)

#4 Scott Stevens (C) (1993-1994) - #27 Scott Niedermayer (2003-2004)
#6 Andy Greene (2012-2013) - #28 Brian Rafalski (2006-2007)
#3 Ken Daneyko (1990-1991) - #2 Slava Fetisov (1989-1990)
#24 Bryce Salvador (2011-2012)

#30 Martin Brodeur (2007-2008)
#35 Cory Schneider (2015-2016)

HC: Jacques Lemaire
AC: Larry Robinson
AC: Pat Burns

I made it a point this year to add in Nico and Dougie somehow, but I can't find a way to do it and keep Bratt and Jack's best years respectively. At some point, I know Jack will have a better year than 22-23 and then I can safely add Dougie to the mix. Until then, Fetisov remains.

Only changes I made were to add Nico's most recent season as one of my extras over Aaron Broten, and Sal's 11-12 (playoff run included of course) as my spare defender over Bruce Driver.

 

[Classic Devil]

08-09 Parise #9 21-22 Hughes #86 11-12 Kovalchuk #17
(45g 49a 94pts 1.14pts/pg) (26g 30a 56pts 1.14pts/pg) (37g 46a 83pts 1.07pts/pg)

99-00 Elias #26 23-24 Hischier #13 00-01 Mogilny #89
(35g 37a 72pts 1pts/pg) (27g 40a 67pts .94pts/pg) (43g 40a 83pts 1.10pts/pg)

89-90 Maclean #15 05-06 Gomez #23 92-93 Lemieux #22
(41g 38a 79pts .98pts/pg) (33g 51a 84pts 1.02pts/pg) (30g 51a 81pts 1.05pts/pg)

90-91 Shanahan #11 97-98 Holik #16 05-06 Gionta #14
(29g 37a 66pts .88pts/pg) (29g 36a 65pts .79pts/pg) (48g 41a 89pts 1.08pts/pg)

09-10 Zajac #19 92-93 Richer #44
(25g 42a 67pts .81pts/pg) (38g 35a 73pts .94pts/pg)


93-95 Stevens #4 22-23 Hamilton #7
(18g 60a 78pts .93pts/pg) (22g 52a 74pts .90pts/pg)

02-03 Neidermayer #27 06-07 Rafalski #28
(14g 40a 54pts .66pts/pg) (8g 47a 55pts .67pts/pg)

12-13 Greene #6 88-89 Kurvers #5
(4g 12a 16pts .33pts/pg ) (16g 50a 66pts .89pts/pg)

13-14 Zidlicky #2
(12g 30a 42pts .51pts/pg)

96-97 Brodeur #30
(37-14-13 1.88ga .927s% 10 SO)

15-16 Schneider #35
(27-25-6 2.15ga .924s% 4 SO)

Basically the same team I did last year, but switched Nico for Arnott. As much has I’d love to keep Elias with Arnott, him and Nico would be amazing together and would let Mogilny focus even more on offense. Injuries this year made it hard to change anything.​

I think a lot of teams will be roughly the same this year as last year. Last year offered a wealth of quality seasons that demanded inclusion, but this year not as much. Adding Hughes and Hischier to our all-time roster has made the team much deeper at center. Holik is a shoo-in for most rosters, and adding Gomez is a very nice center corps... and you have Zajac on the bench!

#26 Patrik Elias (A) (2000-2001) - #25 Jason Arnott (1999-2000) - #17 Petr Sykora (1998-1999)
#9 Taylor Hall (2017-2018) - #86 Jack Hughes (2022-2023) - #68 Jaromir Jagr (2013-2014)
#63 Jesper Bratt (2021-2022) - #16 Bobby Holik (1997-1998) - #14 Brian Gionta (2005-2006)
#22 Claude Lemieux (1994-1995) - #11 John Madden (A) (2002-2003) - #15 Jamie Langenbrunner (2008-2009)
#13 Nico Hischier (2023-2024), #19 Travis Zajac (2009-2010)

#4 Scott Stevens (C) (1993-1994) - #27 Scott Niedermayer (2003-2004)
#6 Andy Greene (2012-2013) - #28 Brian Rafalski (2006-2007)
#3 Ken Daneyko (1990-1991) - #2 Slava Fetisov (1989-1990)
#24 Bryce Salvador (2011-2012)

#30 Martin Brodeur (2007-2008)
#35 Cory Schneider (2015-2016)

HC: Jacques Lemaire
AC: Larry Robinson
AC: Pat Burns

I made it a point this year to add in Nico and Dougie somehow, but I can't find a way to do it and keep Bratt and Jack's best years respectively. At some point, I know Jack will have a better year than 22-23 and then I can safely add Dougie to the mix. Until then, Fetisov remains.

Only changes I made were to add Nico's most recent season as one of my extras over Aaron Broten, and Sal's 11-12 (playoff run included of course) as my spare defender over Bruce Driver.

This team in some ways looks a lot like the one I'll post in a bit. Our defenses and goaltending are nearly identical, although I include Hamilton instead of Fetisov. I went with the slightly weaker C position for a D-corps of:

Stevens - Rafalski
Niedermayer - Greene
Daneyko - Hamilton
Salvador

Which... looks so solid,it's irresistible.

 

[Classic Devil]

So I made some unusual choices, compared to the past. Specifically, I prioritized playoff performances a little more than I have, I tried to keep historic linemates together when I could, and I took players from slightly different years to even the lineup out a bit.

Forwards
#26 Elias (2003-2004) (A) - #25 Arnott (1999-2000) - #17 Sykora (2000-2001)
#44 Richer (1994-1995) - #86 Hughes (2023-2024) - #15 MacLean (1988-1989)
#9 Parise (2008-2009) - #19 Zajac (2009-2010) - #22 Lemieux (1991-1992)
#11 Shanahan (1990-1991) - #16 Holik (1998-1999) - #21 McKay (1997-1998) (A)

#10 Broten (1987-1988), #13 Hischier (2017-2018)
​

Taking Elias from 2003-2004 means not taking Niedermayer from that year, but Niedermayer in 2002-2003 was so good in the playoffs that I think that's okay. It also means I get to save 2000-01 and 1999-00 for other players. The whole A-Line, a huge part of our success in the 1995 season but with Hughes between them, the ZZPops line but with prime Lemieux instead of Langenbrunner, and the Crash line with a young Shanahan instead of Peluso. Someday, maybe, we'll end up with a different big bruising LW to fit in there. Also, I feel like I'm the only one who includes McKay, but do not sleep on him! He had some really good seasons.

Defense
#4 Stevens (1993-1994) (C) - #28 Rafalski (2006-2007)
#27 Niedermayer (2002-2003) - #6 Greene (2013-2014)
#24 Salvador (2011-2012) - #7 Hamilton (2022-2023)
#3 Daneyko (1989-1990)
​

The more I think about this, the more I'm convinced this is the right defense corps for the all-time team. Each pairing has a defensive stalwart and an offensive powerhouse, but Stevens was also an offensive powerhouse (I've actually considered taking him from a different season, but 1993-1994 was so good.)

Goaltending
#30 Brodeur (1996-1997)
#35 Schneider (2016-2017)
​

No explanation necessary.

​

 

[Classic Devil]

I'm going to send this back to the top once more to give people a chance to make teams, then let it die until next August.