Eggtimer
Registered User
I held off getting his jersey because of this . Pretty sure he would go back once Severson was gone .
Im glad he is going back because on the ice I would get him , Haula , Jack , mixed up sometimes
Devils team discussion (news, notes and speculation) - 2023 offseason part II
- Thread starter NJDevs26
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I held off getting his jersey because of this . Pretty sure he would go back once Severson was gone .
Im glad he is going back because on the ice I would get him , Haula , Jack , mixed up sometimes
It’s a Chat GPT list I’m surprised it doesn’t have like grant hill on it or something
Andre Palot
Registered User
Would be funnier if it hallucinated that Satan actually did make it to the Devils.
Devils731
Registered User
- Jun 23, 2008
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Hischier and Hughes
“I love to hockey”
- Jan 28, 2018
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aw i liked Meier's high 90s number, schucks!
anyhow - i decided to take my first stab at the lines for this season
i tried to keep shooters, speed, and grinding to each line
Meier - Hischier - Tofolli
Palat - Hughes - Mercer
Bratt - Haula - Holtz??
Foote?? - Nosek - Bastian
Lazar, McLeod
i left McLeod out for fear he may be gone soon; if not just slide Foote out i guess?
what does everyone think!
*slightly edited
anyhow - i decided to take my first stab at the lines for this season
i tried to keep shooters, speed, and grinding to each line
Meier - Hischier - Tofolli
Palat - Hughes - Mercer
Bratt - Haula - Holtz??
Foote?? - Nosek - Bastian
Lazar, McLeod
i left McLeod out for fear he may be gone soon; if not just slide Foote out i guess?
what does everyone think!
*slightly edited
Last edited by a moderator:
Classic Devil
Spirit of 1988
Me too. I’m gonna hate having to choose between him and Rafalski on my all-time teams. Meier probably just made it impossible for him to make the roster.
Hischier and Hughes
“I love to hockey”
- Jan 28, 2018
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Zippy316
aka Zippo
If Luke has a big season soon, he may replace Rafalski while Meier slides into #28. Maybe not for all lineups but could see the argument for some.
Classic Devil
Spirit of 1988
Weird list.
Stevens, Niedermayer, Daneyko, Brodeur, Elias are top-5 (not in order)
The next five are more difficult, but I think it should be: Lemieux, MacLean, Zajac, Greene, Holik. Lemieux gets the nod thanks to his Conn Smythe.
Luke is a lefty, Rafalski is a righty. They’re not really in competition.
Zippy316
aka Zippo
Our lines are so hard to predict, even harder when Ruff consistently goes to the line blender.
I’d personally like to see Hughes - Mercer stay together, but the second Haula moves up to pseudo LW alongside Hughes, Mercer is the first candidate for 3C unless McLeod/Nosek step up.
I’d have to guess this is how the Devils start:
Meier - Hughes - Mercer
Bratt - Hischier - Toffoli
Palat - Haula - Holtz
Nosek - McLeod - Bastian
Foote - Lazar
Hischier and Hughes
“I love to hockey”
- Jan 28, 2018
- 9,408
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the only problem id have with that lineup is the big dropoff at the third line
but wow those top two lines!!
- May 1, 2011
- 133,508
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Holik belongs on there (probably one of the more underrated Devils of all time), but I'm thinking there's a few other names that probably shouldn't be on there.
Langenbrunner? I'd put him on the other side of 10.
Kirk Muller? He was really good in the very early days of the franchise and the early days of the franchise becoming competitive. He's also borderline for me.
Now for the biggest problem I have with this list. Zach Parise at 8th? I remember we did a top-20 Devils all time poll the offseason that Parise left and the wounds were still very fresh at the time and Parise barely made it into the top-20. And that was 11 years ago.
I can't rationalize putting Parise in a top-10 all time Devils list. I just can't. Maybe if he had played here a few more years (even if we were bad) and some of those seasons he spent in Minnesota were spent here, I could probably justify putting him into the top-10. He just didn't really play here long enough to make it. I don't think I would put Parise on this list any sooner than Gomez or Rafalski, though neither of them played here much longer than Zach did. Zach missing almost the entire 10-11 season is almost definitely the difference in Gomez 1.0 and Rafalski having played more regular season games for the Devils than Zach did. Zach had a better career than Gomez for sure, mostly because Gomez fell off the face of the earth at a younger age than Zach did, but this list isn't about overall NHL careers.
With all that said, it's better than Kovalchuk being on a top-10 list, who is clearly the most overrated Devils player of all time. At least out of players that actually are good, Kovalchuk is easily the most overrated Devil of all time,
For kicks, here's my all time Devils team.
Elias-Muller-McLean
Parise-Holik-Kovalchuk
Sykora-Arnott-Verbeek
Pandolfo-Madden-Lemieux
Richer, Hall
Stevens-Niedermeyer
Daneyko-Rafalski
Fetisov-Greene
Albelin
Brodeur
Schneider
- May 1, 2011
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Rafalski may have still had that much hair when he just turned 25, which Bratt will turn 25 in 2 days.
None of us really knew what Rafalski looked like at 25 because he wasn't playing over here in North America. We didn't see Rafalski for the first time until right around his 26th birthday. I've tried really hard to look for helmetless pictures of him from his days playing in Europe and I can't find any. The only picture they have of him on his hockeydb profile is with the Wings. I was hoping maybe there was one from Finland in the 90's or even a college shot from Wisconsin. His hair was extremely fine from as far back as I can remember. Obviously, this isn't a rule, but unfortunately many men with that really lighter blonde hair like Bratter and Raffi have are cursed with baldness and sometimes very premature baldness.
I'm glad the darker/black hair is the more dominant trait and I inherited that from my mom's side. If I had my old man's hair, I would have had less than Bratt at 24, just like he did lol.
- May 1, 2011
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Here we go! Here’s a college shot of Rafalski.
Yeah, he was a little bit further along in the process at 18-21 than Bratt is at 24 lol.
Even better! This one is in color. Found this under his Wisconsin player profile.
Yeah, if Bratt is really lucky and doesn’t use any products, he may still have another 5 or more years before it gets this thin lol.
HischierSeDgewOrk
Registered User
When doing all time lines the A line and crash lines need to stay together imo. They were both unstoppable in unique ways.
Well… guess I’ll call my jersey a throwback. ugh
MasterofGrond
No, I'm not serious.
Nieds was obviously a better player, but for me he’s not a greater Devil.
There's no denying the effect of a 4th line come playoff time. When the Devils won their first cup in 1995, they had the runaway best 4th line in the NHL with Holik centering McKay and Peluso. Opposing defenses outright feared that line.
Timo is just doing a favor for all the announcers who get him, Jack, and Haula confused.
I think flip Tofolli and Mercer given how well Nico and Mercer played together and move Bratt up with Hughes.
Nico and Tatar formed 2/3rds of our most dominant lines with Zetterlund and Mercer. Hope Meier and Nico can form some chemistry and bring a similar dominance (or more).
Palat-Haula-Holtz would be where I start for the 3rd line...Holtz has to make the most of the opportunity.
4th line will be some combo of the player listed there.
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