Ranking the 5 Greatest Rookie Seasons in New Jersey Devils History
The New Jersey Devils prided themselves on drafting well during the height of their dominance from the mid-'90s to the mid-2000s. So it comes as no surprise that they've had some tremendous performances from rookies over the last 20 years.
Who's had the best rookie season in a Devils uniform, then?
The club has had two Calder Trophy winners for the league's best rookie and was powered to a Stanley Cup victory in 2000 with the help of the rookie trio of John Madden, Brian Rafalski and Scott Gomez, so there's no shortage of options.
This list will focus not only on the numbers put up by these players (though those are important, too) but also on the impact the rookies made on the team and its success during both the regular season and playoffs.
Honorable Mention
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Damon Severson
It is only about a third of the way through Severson's rookie season, but he has shown more than enough promise to earn a brief mention here.
Severson was a surprise inclusion on the opening-day roster and was the subject of an even greater surprise when he lined up with Andy Greene on the team's top defense pairing.
On a team that has been constantly in flux due to injury and poor play this season, that combination has been one of the only things to remain consistent.
He has hit a bit of a rough patch of late, with his plus/minus dropping to minus-four after a tough game in Washington on Saturday. Still, given that he and Greene are playing against the opposition's top players on a nightly basis, and that the team's goal differential is minus-15, a minus-four from the rookie is nowhere near as bad as it seems at first glance.
He also has four goals and six assists, five of which have been on the power play.
Travis Zajac
Zajac played 80 games in his first NHL season, 2006-07, a feat in and of itself.
The center from Manitoba picked up 17 goals and 25 assists in his rookie campaign, giving him 42 points, which was seventh most on the team that year.
Zajac also showed off his wide array of abilities in his first NHL season. His defensive play was made clear by his plus-one rating, third best on the team. He chipped in on the power play as well, picking up six goals and six assists.
Kirk Muller
During the 1984-85 season, Muller was a bright spot on an exceptionally bad Devils team. He had 17 goals and 37 assists on a New Jersey club that went 22-48-10.
His 54 points were fourth best on the team that season.
Still, his plus/minus was an abysmal minus-31, second worst on the team. That, combined with the fact that his rookie season came in a different, more high-scoring era of NHL play, means Muller gets an honorable mention, but no more.
5. John Madden
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John Madden's inclusion on this list may come as a surprise, in part because his offensive numbers are not particularly impressive, and also because it is hard to imagine Madden ever playing like a rookie.
But Madden was a rookie in the 1999-00 season, though his play during that season was similar to his play throughout his career.
His top asset as a rookie, and as a player in general, was his defensive soundness. Madden killed penalties and, along with longtime linemate Jay Pandolfo, regularly faced the best forwards the opposing team had to offer.
The Devils killed 87.5 percent of their penalties in the 1999-00 season, in part due to Madden's efforts.
He and Pandolfo routinely displayed how effective they were at shutting down top-six forwards, especially during the Stanley Cup Final. Dallas Stars forwards Brett Hull and Mike Modano combined to score 18 goals in the team's first three rounds of the playoffs.
In the Cup Final, they scored three, one of which came in the Stars' 1-0 triple overtime victory in Game 5.
Madden did have a few notable offensive achievements as well during his rookie season. His 16 goals and nine assists were nothing special, but he also scored six short-handed goals during the regular season. Since 1990, a single player has scored more short-handed goals in a season only 18 times.
He also had two game-winning goals in the 2000 postseason.
4. Brian Rafalski
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Brian Rafalski is another member of the 1999-00 rookie class that helped carry New Jersey to the title.
The Devils, of course, already had two of the game's best defensemen in Scott Stevens and Scott Niedermayer. Rafalski's emergence added depth to New Jersey's defense corps by giving the team a scoring defenseman who also was comfortable in his own zone.
Rafalski's 32 points (five goals, 27 assists) were second among defensemen on the team, behind only Niedermayer.
He contributed both on the team's excellent penalty kill as well as on the power play, which operated at 20 percent, a full four percent better than the league average for the season. He had one power-play goal and six power-play assists.
Rafalski's plus-21 rating was second best among Devils defensemen, trailing only Stevens in that department.
It is the clear contributions made at both ends of the ice that has Rafalski a spot above Madden—as well as the fact that the team needed another strong defender more than it needed another effective forward.
Lyle Odelein, Brad Bombardir and Sheldon Souray played 141 games combined in the team's third defense pairing. They combined to be a minus-22 on a team that had a plus-48 goal differential. If Rafalski had not played so well, one of those players would surely have taken on more minutes, and the team would have suffered.
In the playoffs, Rafalski contributed two goals and six assists, including one game-winning goal.
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3. Adam Henrique
4 of 6"They score! Henrique! It's over!"
Doc Emrick seared those words into the minds and hearts of Devils fans on May 25, 2012, as Adam Henrique scored to send New Jersey to the Stanley Cup Final with an overtime goal against the rival New York Rangers.
It was perhaps the greatest moment in a tremendous rookie season for the center from Ontario.
Henrique did not start the 2011-12 season in New Jersey, but an early injury to Travis Zajac led to a call-up. Short on options at center, head coach Peter Deboer gave Henrique a shot to slot directly into Zajac's spot in the lineup—between star wingers Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise.
The line clicked almost immediately and stayed together much of the season. Kovalchuk's 37 goals and Parise's 31 were due in no small part to Henrique.
The rookie notched 16 goals to go along with 35 assists in 74 games during his first NHL campaign.
Like so many Devils forwards before him, Henrique quickly endeared himself to both fans and the coaching staff with strong defensive play as well.
The young center's plus-eight rating was second best on the team among players who played more than half of the season. He killed penalties, too, contributing four short-handed goals and three short-handed assists. Perhaps most impressively, he took only one minor penalty for the duration of his rookie season.
Henrique was equally impressive during the playoffs, even without the memorable finish that knocked out the hated Rangers.
He put up 13 points (five goals and eight assists) over 24 playoff games and scored three game-winning goals. His plus/minus was a team-best plus-12. All of this came with the reduced ice time brought about by the return of the injured Zajac.
2. Martin Brodeur
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Henrique's goal against the Rangers in 2012 helped finally put to bed the ghosts of Martin Brodeur's 1993-94 rookie season, when the Rangers defeated the Devils to advance to the Cup Final. Although what is probably remembered most about Brodeur's rookie season is how it ended, it is important to remember that he also won the Calder Trophy.
Brodeur split time with Chris Terreri in goal during the 1993-94 season, and he ultimately put up better numbers than the veteran:
| Name | GP | Wins | Losses | Ties | GAA | SV% |
| Martin Brodeur | 47 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 2.40 | .915 |
| Chris Terreri | 44 | 20 | 11 | 4 | 2.72 | .907 |
Brodeur's play during the regular season earned him both the Calder Trophy and the trust of head coach Jacques Lemaire in the first round of the playoffs.
Brodeur played all seven games of the Devils' first-round series with the Buffalo Sabres, culminating in a nail-biting 2-1 victory at home to move on to the next round.
Against Boston, Brodeur got the call in Game 1 and Game 2, but the Devils lost both. Lemaire went to Terreri for the next two games, and the Devils won twice in Boston.
With the series tied at two heading back to New Jersey, Lemaire made the gutsy call to go back to Brodeur for Game 5. The future Hall of Fame goalie did not disappoint.
Brodeur produced a 22-save shutout, putting the Devils up 3-2 in the series. Terreri started Game 6 in Boston, which the Devils won 5-3.
Lemaire went with Brodeur for all seven games of the Eastern Conference Final against the Rangers, which ultimately ended with a Stefan Matteau wrap-around goal in overtime of Game 7.
Though Brodeur finished with an 8-9 record in the postseason, his numbers were impeccable: a .928 save percentage and a 1.95 goals-against average.
Comparing goalies to skaters is difficult, but Brodeur's save percentage and goals-against average in the playoffs just nudges him ahead of Henrique in these rankings.
1. Scott Gomez
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To say that Scott Gomez left New Jersey on less-than-stellar terms would probably be an understatement. But to say that Gomez was anything less than stellar in his first year as a New Jersey Devil would be an understatement as well.
In his rookie season, the Alaskan center led the team in assists, won the Calder Trophy and won the Stanley Cup, all before his 21st birthday.
What is perhaps most impressive about Gomez's 19 goals and 51 assists, aside from the fact that it put him second on the team in points, is that he spent the whole season not playing on the team's top line.
The trio of Jason Arnott, Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora was New Jersey's top unit in the 1999-00 season, and it may go down as the best line in Devils history.
It was on the power play and on the second or third line that Gomez chalked up 70 points in his first NHL season, certainly no small feat.
For his regular-season efforts, Gomez ran away with the Calder. He received 49 of 58 first-place votes and no votes lower than second place.
Gomez's playoff numbers were solid, though unspectacular, as the team worked its way to the Stanley Cup. He notched four goals (two game-winners) and six assists, tying him for the team's fifth-best point total during the postseason.
Though his postseason numbers were not as good as his regular-numbers (0.85 points per game in the regular season as opposed to 0.43 in the postseason), his production in the regular season was more than impressive enough to earn him the top spot in this list above Brodeur and Henrique.
Gomez's rookie season assist total has only been topped twice by a Devil since he picked up 51 in 2000. Such production from a 20-year-old gives the Alaskan the greatest rookie season in New Jersey Devils history.
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