In the second installment of our two-part series, we’re taking a look at the players you probably forgot about who played for the New Jersey Devils and for each Western Conference team. The Western Conference was a bit trickier, since some of the NHL’s newest franchise’s built from ground up call that conference home. We were still able to find one from each of the 16 teams.

As for some of the trickier teams, we went with a former Arizona Coyotes player instead of someone who played for the Mammoth, which at this point would be Vitek Vanecek and John Marino. Like the last edition, we tried to stick to players who actually played a decent amount of games with their team instead of random minor leaguers who got a call up here and there. We did make a slight exception for the St. Louis Blues. Like the Eastern Conference edition we might have had a slight recency bias choosing these.

Central Division

Chicago Blackhawks

In the Eastern Conference version of this article we talked about how one of our picks, Andrei Loktionov, was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for Tuomu Ruutu. Now, it’s Ruutu’s turn in the spotlight! The player who has like 50% of his name made up of the letter “U” played from Chicago from 2003-08. He played parts of three season with the Devils following his acquisition at the 2014 trade deadline. His most memorable Devils moment was scoring the game-winning goal against the Hurricanes shortly after leaving there.

Colorado Avalanche

Those 2013-15-era Devils teams weren’t the best. One of the few bright spots was the bomb of a slap shot Éric Gélinas had. He used it for an overtime win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden in December 2013. He was traded to the Avalanche at the 2015-16 deadline and would play there the next season before signing with Laval of the American Hockey League. He currently plays overseas.

Dallas Stars

There’s quite a few good options here. We decided to go with a Devils’ cup winner in Bill Guerin. Guerin, who won the Stanley Cup with the Devils in 1995, also played for the Dallas Stars from 2003-06. We also chose him because he’s still relevant in the hockey world as general manager of the Minnesota Wild. 

Minnesota Wild

We know your mind immediately went with Zach Parise but we didn’t chose him. Jim Dowd was the first, and so far only, native born New Jersey player to win a cup with the Devils. He was also an inaugural member of the Minnesota Wild back in the 2000-01 season. That would be the star of four years in Minnesota for Dowd. He had a personal best NHL season with the Wild in 2001-02 when he scored 13 goals and 30 assists for 43 points.

Nashville Predators

We’ll go with Jordin Tootoo, who has become more known for his inspirational story than his on ice achievements. He was the first Inuk player to make the NHL when he broke through with the Nashville Predators in in the 2003-04 season. He would play for the Devils from 2014-16 before retiring as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks the next year. He’s also known for his memoir, “All The Way: My Life on Ice,” about his upbringing, life and career, and time spent overcoming alcoholism in the NHL/NHLPA program.

St. Louis Blues

Martin Havlat was a cheap and misguided attempt to fix a heavily broken Devils roster when he was signed as a free agent before the 2014-15 season. This was after he was bought out the previous offseason by the San Jose Sharks. Havlat began the 2015-16 season with the Blues and scored his only goal, a game-winner, against the Devils. He only played two games before requesting his contract to be terminated.

Utah Mammoth/Phoenix Coyotes

The Arizona Coyotes are no longer in the league, but that’s not stopping us from picking the player they traded to the Devils at the 2012-13 deadline. Steve Sullivan was a journeyman nicknamed the “Timmins Tornado.” He was drafted and played parts of the 1995-16 and 1996-97 season with the Devils. He returned for a second stint to finish out his final season in 2012-13.

Winnipeg Jets/Atlanta Thrashers

The Jets are one of the NHL’s newer teams. We also wanted to choose a player from their current name of the Winnipeg Jets and not their former Atlanta Thrashers identity. We ended up witha player who played for both! Johnny Oduya moved with the Jets to Winnipeg after being traded from the Devils after being traded for Ilya Kovalchuk. Oduya would get traded to the Chicago Blackhawks and win two Stanley Cups.

Pacific Divison

Anaheim Ducks

There were quite a few good options with the likes of Petr Sykora, Adam Henrique, Scott Niedermayer, and Kyle Palmieri to name a few. We decided on Steve Thomas who played on the Devils during the 1995-96 and 1996-97 season. He would be traded from the Chicago Blackhawks to the then Mighty Ducks of Anaheim during the 2002-03 season. Who would he face in the Stanley Cup final that year? His old team, the Devils.

Calgary Flames

Jaromir Jagr is a living legend. In the back nine of his career he was still a productive player for the Devils in 2013-14 and 2014-15 before being traded to the Florida Panthers. Jagr played for nine different NHL teams. Perhaps the most forgettable was his 22-game stint with the Calgary Flames in 2017-18. After only scoring seven points (one goal and six assists) he returned to the Czech Republic where he’s still playing.

Edmonton Oilers

Valeri Zelepukin’s claim to fame is scoring the goal that sent Game 7of the 1994 Eastern Conference finals to overtime. We know how that ended. We also known Zelepukin redeemed himself with a Devils’ cup win the next season. He played the second half of the 1997-98 season with the Edmonton Oilers after beginning the year in New Jersey. 

Los Angeles Kings

All aboard the Poni Express! No, that’s not a typo. Alexei Ponikarovsky was a major part of the Devils run to the 2012 Stanley Cup finals. That included an overtime goal against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 3 of the second round. Ponikarovsky was with the Los Angeles Kings the season before both teams met in the final.

San Jose Sharks

Before there was Brodeur the Devils crease was guarded by Chris Terreri. The 1983 Devils’ draft pick was on the 1995 Stanley Cup winning team, came back on a second stint to win a cup in 2000 and later returned as the team’s goaltending coach. After playing four games of the 1995-96 season with the Devils he would take his talents to San Jose. He played for the Sharks from that season until partway through the 1996-97 season.

Seattle Kraken

They’re the newest NHL team build from the ground up. At first we thought our only options would be Adam Larsson or Nate Bastian. A little research brought me to current Kraken John Hayden. Hayden was acquired by the Devils during the 2019 NHL Draft for John Quenneville. As a restricted free agent he was not given a qualifying offer once the season ended.

Vancouver Canucks

This was one of the harder ones for us to find. Eventually we landed on Greg Adams. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Devils in the 1984 offseason. He would play three seasons in New Jersey before being traded, along with Kirk Muller who was mentioned in part one of this series, to the Vancouver Canucks for Patrik Sundstrom and a draft pick. Maybe one day another Hughes brother will appear on this list.

Vegas Golden Knights

Like the Kraken, they’re one of the NHL’s newest teams built entirely from the ground up. The Golden Knights have had massive success, which has led their roster to having a bit more turnover than a team taking the slow approach to building a roster like the Kraken. The list of former Devils who also played for Vegas is slightly longer. It also includes Colin Miller. He was taken by Vegas from the Boston Bruins in the 2017 expansion draft. He signed as a free agent with the Devils prior to the 2023-24 season and was later traded to the Jets for a draft pick.