Sarge

[Lateralous]

I’m old enough to have watched all of Brylins career. I appreciate that he was a 3 time cup winner with the Devils, a Swiss Army knife in terms of where you could slot him in the lineup, and a completely underrated player throughout his career, but the second he goes up to the rafters, the Devils jersey retirements jump the shark IMO and it cheapens it for everyone else hanging up there.  

I completely get why he’s up there and it doesn’t really bother me but I personally don’t even care to see Daneyko’s number 3 hanging next to the other 4 for eternity either.   Even with all the years, first pick, 3 cups, he just wasn’t that guy for me.   Away fans come to the arena and talk about how amazing the other 4 were.  Any time you have to defend or explain why a guy’s number is hanging up there, he probably shouldn’t have had his jersey retired in the first place.   Maybe some people enjoy explaining the backstory of why he’s up there but for me, that’s a sign he shouldnt be there.    

Edited August 4, 2023 by Lateralous

[MadDog2020]

28 minutes ago, Lateralous said:

I’m old enough to have watched all of Brylins career. I appreciate that he was a 3 time cup winner with the Devils, a Swiss Army knife in terms of where you could slot him in the lineup, and a completely underrated player throughout his career, but the second he goes up to the rafters, the Devils jersey retirements jump the shark IMO and it cheapens it for everyone else hanging up there.  

I completely get why he’s up there and it doesn’t really bother me but I personally don’t even care to see Daneyko’s number 3 hanging next to the other 4 for eternity either.   Even with all the years, first pick, 3 cups, he just wasn’t that guy for me.   Away fans come to the arena and talk about how amazing the other 4 were.  Any time you have to defend or explain why a guy’s number is hanging up there, he probably shouldn’t have had his jersey retired in the first place.   Maybe some people enjoy explaining the backstory of why he’s up there but for me, that’s a sign he shouldnt be there.    

I agree wholeheartedly with the first part of your post; I respectfully disagree with the second part. I do think Sarge is 100% a Ring of Honor candidate, but I don’t believe his number should be retired. Dano is deserving I think, and he is the exception to the rule because of his long tenure and being here from almost day one. We can agree to disagree on that one; I can understand why some would think Dano isn’t jersey retirement-worthy, but he’s the one I make an exception for. 

[Nicomo]

Guy’s nickname is literally “Mr Devil.” He had to be up there. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

17 hours ago, MadDog2020 said:

I agree wholeheartedly with the first part of your post; I respectfully disagree with the second part. I do think Sarge is 100% a Ring of Honor candidate, but I don’t believe his number should be retired. Dano is deserving I think, and he is the exception to the rule because of his long tenure and being here from almost day one. We can agree to disagree on that one; I can understand why some would think Dano isn’t jersey retirement-worthy, but he’s the one I make an exception for. 

Same, Brylin for the Ring of Fire (if it EVER happens), but a HARD no to a jersey retirement…especially now, where waiting this long to do it would feel like some cheap reason just to have a retirement ceremony.

Agree on Dano, in that he’s a guy who gets his number retired based on the entire package (Mr. Devil, having been here forever and then some, through good and bad, all three Cups)…no, he’s obviously not nearly as talented as the other four, but he more than held his own here all those years and never did it feel like he hung on too long.  He got the absolute most out of his talent, for a long long time…20 years.  Me personally, I never questioned his number going up.

The only numbers I can potentially see going up in the future are ones on the current roster (86 and 13, for starters) though we have a LONG time to wait and see before we’ll have any idea of whether or not they’ll be worthy.

Edited August 5, 2023 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Jimmy Leeds]

That article is a joke

Sorry Sergei

[NJDevils1214]

Would love to see Brylin recognized in some way. He has been a part of the organization for a long time both as a player and a coach. The other people around the team rave about how good he is at what he does.

[NJDfan1711]

Late to this topic, but a few thoughts of my own.  Brylin was a fine player for us, but not on the level of the guys whose names are hanging in the rafters.  Frankly, not even close.  That's the difference.  

I also hate the idea of a "Ring of Honor" (err, "Fire") that we and other teams have.  I get the idea, I just disagree with it. I mean, there's a Hockey Hall of Fame to honor the best of the best to ever play the game itself, then each team has their own number retirement and jersey hanging ceremonies to honor those who were the best of the best on a particular team.  Why should it go further than that?  A second tier "Ring of Honor", to do what, recognize guys who were good, but not great?  To me that trivializes the guys worthy of jersey retirements.  Where does it end?  

Edited August 10, 2023 by NJDfan1711

[aylbert]

On 8/9/2023 at 9:39 PM, NJDfan1711 said:

Late to this topic, but a few thoughts of my own.  Brylin was a fine player for us, but not on the level of the guys whose names are hanging in the rafters.  Frankly, not even close.  That's the difference.  

I also hate the idea of a "Ring of Honor" (err, "Fire") that we and other teams have.  I get the idea, I just disagree with it. I mean, there's a Hockey Hall of Fame to honor the best of the best to ever play the game itself, then each team has their own number retirement and jersey hanging ceremonies to honor those who were the best of the best on a particular team.  Why should it go further than that?  A second tier "Ring of Honor", to do what, recognize guys who were good, but not great?  To me that trivializes the guys worthy of jersey retirements.  Where does it end?  

I don't understand how it trivializes the jersey retirement.

Wayne Gretzky (99 retired by all teams)
Highest honor: Hall of fame
High team honor: Jersey # retired by team
Honor: Enshrining your impact on the franchise, without plastering it in the rafters for all to see... you continue to share your number.

[NJDfan1711]

7 hours ago, aylbert said:

I don't understand how it trivializes the jersey retirement.

Wayne Gretzky (99 retired by all teams)
Highest honor: Hall of fame
High team honor: Jersey # retired by team
Honor: Enshrining your impact on the franchise, without plastering it in the rafters for all to see... you continue to share your number.

I just think it's kind of unnecessary. To me it often seems like the criteria for a great career is lowered when you have multiple tiers of these Honor clubs. 

[aylbert]

9 hours ago, NJDfan1711 said:

I just think it's kind of unnecessary. To me it often seems like the criteria for a great career is lowered when you have multiple tiers of these Honor clubs. 

I think that just makes it an impossible bar to reach...    like John Madden and Sarge were huge for this franchise for many years...  it feels wrong to ignore that because they didn't hit the level where we want to retire their jersey number.  I feel like a ring of honor just archives a tribute night...  and isn't and shouldn't be seen as anything close to a jersey retirement.

Edited August 16, 2023 by aylbert

[NJDfan1711]

6 minutes ago, aylbert said:

I think that just makes it an impossible bar to reach...    like John Madden and Sarge were huge for this franchise for many years...  it feels wrong to ignore that because they didn't hit the level where we want to retire their jersey number.  I feel like a ring of honor just archives a tribute night...  and isn't and shouldn't be seen as anything close to a jersey retirement.

I get it, and those guys were definitely awesome players for quite a while. The best thing I can say in terms of furthering my argument though is, think about other guys similar to Brylin and Madden, guys who were with us for a while, won Cups or other hardware, and had a positive impact on the franchise, BUT, in terms of the rest of the league, both past and present, weren't quite Hall of Fame worthy.  Who's in that list?

 

Rafalski?

Zajac?

MacLean?

Holik?

Gomez?

Gionta?

Parise?

White?

Henrique?

Langenbrunner?

Richer?

McKay?

Lemieux?

Sykora and Arnott?

Chambers, Rolston, Broten, Guerin?

I mean, the list really could include a lot of guys, and that's essentially my point. In another 10-20 years, are we going to have a Ring of Honor that includes 50 players?  Might as well just include anyone who's played more than 3 seasons for the Devils and be done with it. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 hour ago, NJDfan1711 said:

I get it, and those guys were definitely awesome players for quite a while. The best thing I can say in terms of furthering my argument though is, think about other guys similar to Brylin and Madden, guys who were with us for a while, won Cups or other hardware, and had a positive impact on the franchise, BUT, in terms of the rest of the league, both past and present, weren't quite Hall of Fame worthy.  Who's in that list?

 

Rafalski?

Zajac?

MacLean?

Holik?

Gomez?

Gionta?

Parise?

White?

Henrique?

Langenbrunner?

Richer?

McKay?

Lemieux?

Sykora and Arnott?

Chambers, Rolston, Broten, Guerin?

I mean, the list really could include a lot of guys, and that's essentially my point. In another 10-20 years, are we going to have a Ring of Honor that includes 50 players?  Might as well just include anyone who's played more than 3 seasons for the Devils and be done with it. 

I wouldn't include everyone on the list above, but it is fair to keep in mind a couple of key points:

First, the Devils have now been around for 40 years, and yes, it's fair to say that they did have some important contributors over that time, several of whom were here for MULTIPLE Cup wins...the Devils of course won 3 Cups in a 10-season span (also reaching an ECF in 1994 and a SCF in 2001) and put up gaudy records for many of those seasons.  There's some serious history here in NJ now.

Second, the list looks overwhelming right now due to the fact that no Ring of Fire/Devils HoF/whatever you want to call it has yet to be implemented (more on this in a bit)...this list spans players who've been here since almost the beginning in some cases.  If the Devils had started a Ring say 20 years, 15 years, hell even 10 years ago, the list wouldn't be so backlogged with worthy candidates...they would've have had their nights through the years, and that would've been that.

 

I really thought (and I'm sure others did too) that McMullen's night meant some kind of Ring of Fire/Honor was on its way...but that appears to have stalled out completely.  If the Devils are waiting on Lou to be the next guy after McMullen (assuming they do really want to continue with some version of a Ring of Fire), they should just give up on that...who knows when Lou actually stops working?  I see no issue with continuing with coaches and/or players at this point, honestly...they're in a different category, and let's face it, the coaches and players themselves (and the fans who remember their glory days as Devils) sure aren't getting any younger.  Might as well get on with it.

And THAT being said, I don't think a Ring of Fire is even on ownership's radar at this point.  I also don't know how they'd try to implement some "permanent" way to honor guys who aren't quite jersey retirement candidates, but have some spot where fans can acknowledge them.  Some teams have their own HoF wings within their buildings, for fans to peruse and check out; would the Devils be willing to build something like that?  If so, where?

I wouldn't mind one of the more "blank" areas in the upper deck being used to show player names and numbers that are clearly not "retired" numbers, but guys worthy of being remembered for being above and beyond and who were clearly very a key part of the successful years (guys like Brylin, Holik, McKay, MacLean and several others were year a hell of a lot longer than three seasons, and like I said, were here for two Cups in a number of cases).

 

To sum up, I'll all for a Ring of Fire, I think there's enough history with special players involved who deserve a day and some visible bit of permanent recognition, but at the same time, if the Devils have any interest in such a thing, please just get on with it already.    

Edited August 16, 2023 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[StarDew]

56 minutes ago, NJDfan1711 said:

I get it, and those guys were definitely awesome players for quite a while. The best thing I can say in terms of furthering my argument though is, think about other guys similar to Brylin and Madden, guys who were with us for a while, won Cups or other hardware, and had a positive impact on the franchise, BUT, in terms of the rest of the league, both past and present, weren't quite Hall of Fame worthy.  Who's in that list?

 

Rafalski?

Zajac?

MacLean?

Holik?

Gomez?

Gionta?

Parise?

White?

Henrique?

Langenbrunner?

Richer?

McKay?

Lemieux?

Sykora and Arnott?

Chambers, Rolston, Broten, Guerin?

I mean, the list really could include a lot of guys, and that's essentially my point. In another 10-20 years, are we going to have a Ring of Honor that includes 50 players?  Might as well just include anyone who's played more than 3 seasons for the Devils and be done with it. 

Who was here for 3 cups? None of the above. Who is still here and contributing? None of the above. Don't give me the "just what they did while they played" bs either. Sweater numbers are retired for many reasons.

Folks are entitled to their opinions, even if others don't agree, without being tried to be proven wrong.  Some think his number should be retired and some don't. That's it. No more no less. 

Just for the record, I think the ring of honor is pure BS! Another gimmick just like the shootout. But some like it and that is fine. 🙂

[aylbert]

6 hours ago, NJDfan1711 said:

I get it, and those guys were definitely awesome players for quite a while. The best thing I can say in terms of furthering my argument though is, think about other guys similar to Brylin and Madden, guys who were with us for a while, won Cups or other hardware, and had a positive impact on the franchise, BUT, in terms of the rest of the league, both past and present, weren't quite Hall of Fame worthy.  Who's in that list?

 

Rafalski?

Zajac?

MacLean?

Holik?

Gomez?

Gionta?

Parise?

White?

Henrique?

Langenbrunner?

Richer?

McKay?

Lemieux?

Sykora and Arnott?

Chambers, Rolston, Broten, Guerin?

I mean, the list really could include a lot of guys, and that's essentially my point. In another 10-20 years, are we going to have a Ring of Honor that includes 50 players?  Might as well just include anyone who's played more than 3 seasons for the Devils and be done with it. 

Yes to pretty much everyone.     None of them deserve to be in the rafters...  but if we had a hallway etc from 1982 (or 1974 from the Scouts) going through the franchise history you could have something dedicated to these players that defined the team during those eras.    As @Colorado Rockies 1976 said, it's overwhelming to add them all "today"...   but if it's something you built up as those guys retired, etc...  you would have a nice collection and a nice night dedicated to the player over the past 20+ seasons...  and it would only be like 1-2 players a year.   Leaving only the truly special players for jersey retirement - of which there are none on the near horizon.    You can only hope this new young core can mimic the success of our last great era, but far too soon to discuss that.