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Travis Zajac retires - will join the team as a consultant


Nicomo

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28 minutes ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

Can you imagine being the guy who has to ask Lou to participate in something like that?? That’s such a very unLou thing but you are totally right,  it only makes sense to have it be McMullen, then him, then the players. 

Just have Marty call him. 

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On 9/20/2021 at 6:28 PM, Nicomo said:

No to both. Ring of honor type guys. Retiring #’s needs to be super special. 

Disagree. Brylin's number needs to be retired. He was a life long Devil who was only 1 of I think 4 to be on all 3 cup winning teams. In addition, he was clutch and the very idea of a guy who left it all out on the ice every night

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2 minutes ago, CarpathianForest said:

Disagree. Brylin's number needs to be retired. He was a life long Devil who was only 1 of I think 4 to be on all 3 cup winning teams. In addition, he was clutch and the very idea of a guy who left it all out on the ice every night

He’s probably an easier argument than Zajac because of the 3 cups plus the longevity. 

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19 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

He’s probably an easier argument than Zajac because of the 3 cups plus the longevity. 

Brylin played in far less games than Zajac, FWIW.

Neither one is worthy, really…I like Brylin, and he had a nice career, but he was the guy who more happened to be there for all three Cups.  He had his moments, but it’s not like he was a such a huge part of all of that his number should go up with the others.  

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12 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Brylin played in far less games than Zajac, FWIW.

Neither one is worthy, really…I like Brylin, and he had a nice career, but he was the guy who more happened to be there for all three Cups.  He had his moments, but it’s not like he was a such a huge part of all of that his number should go up with the others.  

I don’t disagree. He basically had two good seasons on a stacked team. And by good, I mean a 50+ point season when the league point leader had 120+. 

50 points then is not like 50 points now, IMHO. 

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Retiring Brylin’s # would be the exact type of sh!t we’d make fun of the Rags or Preds for doing.

Honestly even picturing the ceremony feels odd. Imagine watching all of them back-to-back. 3 HoFers, a borderline HoFer, a guy literally called “Mr. Devil”, and then…Sergei Brylin? Idk, I’d cringe a bit. 

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9 hours ago, Nicomo said:

Retiring Brylin’s # would be the exact type of sh!t we’d make fun of the Rags or Preds for doing.

Honestly even picturing the ceremony feels odd. Imagine watching all of them back-to-back. 3 HoFers, a borderline HoFer, a guy literally called “Mr. Devil”, and then…Sergei Brylin? Idk, I’d cringe a bit. 

I would add to that, if Brylin is cringey, so is Zajac. Sure, he played longer, scored more points, but he was certainly not around for the "glory days" (so far) of this franchise like Brylin was. 

There might have been an argument against Daneyko on similar grounds to Brylin had he not been here from basically the very start (our first draft pick in NJ). 

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4 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

I would add to that, if Brylin is cringey, so is Zajac. Sure, he played longer, scored more points, but he was certainly not around for the "glory days" (so far) of this franchise like Brylin was. 

There might have been an argument against Daneyko on similar grounds to Brylin had he not been here from basically the very start (our first draft pick in NJ). 

I think Daneyko, Brylin, and Zajac are prototypical Lou-era Devils. By that I mean guys who knew and accepted their roles on the team even if it wasn’t always glamorous. The “orchestra” thing Lou was into.  Dano’s story on the Spittin Chiclets interview about filling in for Bruce Driver really drives that home. You’re a drum, not a violin. 
 

Like you said, Daneyko has the extra distinction of bridging the gap from Mickey Mouse joke to Stanley Cup Champion plus 20 years playing and retiring on top. It just made sense to retire his number. 

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12 minutes ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

ILike you said, Daneyko has the extra distinction of bridging the gap from Mickey Mouse joke to Stanley Cup Champion plus 20 years playing and retiring on top. It just made sense to retire his number. 

I’ve never heard anyone argue against it, actually. So there’s that as well. 

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37 minutes ago, Devil Dan 56 said:

I think Daneyko, Brylin, and Zajac are prototypical Lou-era Devils. By that I mean guys who knew and accepted their roles on the team even if it wasn’t always glamorous. The “orchestra” thing Lou was into.  Dano’s story on the Spittin Chiclets interview about filling in for Bruce Driver really drives that home. You’re a drum, not a violin. 
 

Like you said, Daneyko has the extra distinction of bridging the gap from Mickey Mouse joke to Stanley Cup Champion plus 20 years playing and retiring on top. It just made sense to retire his number. 

When Zajac put up those back-to-back 60+ point seasons in Year 3 and 4 of his career (in first-line duty), I thought he was going to be a consistent 55-65 point guy...maybe on better teams that might've happened (not every year, but more often), but we'll never know.  But like many players, Zajac's numbers were hurt by playing on so many meh to bad teams, after 2012. 

Re:  Dano, yeah, was here 20 years (and as was pointed out, right from the beginning), played on all three Cup winners, never played anywhere else, and just has that "I'm a Devil dammit" persona.  Yeah being glamorous was never going to be his thing, but once Lou told him where he was in the orchestra, he was a plenty solid "drummer".  And yeah, never heard a Devils fan question his or any of the other jersey retirements, and I like that a lot...that all five were no-brainers.  I brought up Zajac as a potential "longevity" retirement, and that was quickly squashed (which I have no issue with...I wasn't endorsing it, as much as I was bringing it up to see what the feeling was).  And opinions are plenty divided on Brylin as well...which to me is the point...if it's that debatable, then there's really not much of a debate...those numbers don't go up.  

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