The New Jersey Devils are a team used to playing hockey in the Spring. For the 13th season in a row, that's right 13th, the Devils will be playing playoff hockey. The Devils play in the least popular league of the four major North American sports, they have one of the lowest payrolls in that league, and aren't even the most popular team in their own market. Yet somehow, year after year, even though no one talks about them, the Devils are a perennial playoff team and they always contend for a Stanley Cup.
There are two reasons for the success of the New Jersey Devils: Lou Lamoriello and Martin Brodeur.
First, the Devils have the greatest general manager in professional sports in Lou Lamoriello. I may be biased as a Devil's fan but honestly there is no other GM in sports who keeps his team competitive every year with the lack of resources Lamoriello has. Playing in New Jersey, with one of the lowest payrolls in the NHL it is truly incredible how Lamoriello can sign the players that he does (look at the Ilya Kovalchuk signing this year), but especially keep the players that he does. Players are proud to play for the Devils and though they might get bigger contracts and more media attention playing somewhere like Toronto or New York, rarely does a player bail on New Jersey if Lou wants to keep him. And if a player does leave (Scott Gomez) they almost always come to regret it, whether they'll admit it or not. Lamoriello has built a class organization that teams throughout the NHL are jealous of.
Look at the recent olympics, There were a ton of Devils and former Devils representing various countries: Jamie Langenbrunner, Zach Parise, Patrick Elias, Scott Niedermayer, Bryan Rafalski, Martin Brodeur, and more. The amount of Devils and ex-Devils in the Olympics is a testament to Lou Lamoriello. Olympic teams know what they're going to get when they select someone who played for the Devils: someone who puts his team first, always hustles, and plays defense. The New Jersey Devils produce quality players because of the way Lamoriello runs his organization. And Lamoriello's organization wins.
The second reason why the Devils are a consistently great team is their goalie Martin Brodeur. He is, and I'm saying this as a hockey fan not a Devil's fan, the greatest goalie of all time. With three Cups, four Vezina trophys (best goalie of the season), 10 all-star games, the most 40 win seasons of all time, the most shutouts of all time, and with over 600 wins and counting, the most wins of all time. Marty, as the fans in New Jersey affectionately call him, has played his entire career wearing the Devil's red and black. Since he came up to the NHL in 1993, Marty has been lights out for the Devils in net and in 1995 Marty won his, and the Devil's first Stanley Cup. Easily the best athlete to ever play for a New Jersey team, Marty has carved a legacy for himself that will live on forever in the minds of Devil's fans. If he played in say, New York or Montreal or Detroit, Marty would be even bigger than what he is now, but Marty never left. Always loyal and always winning, Martin Brodeur makes the Devils a Stanley Cup contender every single year.
On Wednesday night the NHL playoffs start as the #2 seeded Devils take on the #7 seeded Philadelphia Flyers in Newark. Besides the Rangers, the Flyers are the Devil's biggest rival and this series will surely be as intense as they get. I'm picking the Devils to win for two reasons: Lou Lamoriello and Martin Brodeur.
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