Injury-Riddled Devils Still Have Multiple All-Stars, Will The NHL Snub Them Again?

NEW JERSEY DEVILS CURRENT LIST OF INJURED PLAYERS

From almost day one, the New Jersey Devils have been hit with the injury bug. With the exception of one or two players, it is tough not to notice that the Devils are weak regarding protecting their stars. Out of the six to seven-star players currently on the team, only one or two aren’t known to be injury-prone in his career. The most recent injury is the Broken Foot to the other half of the Devils’ top defensive pairing, Jonas Siegenthaler (taking the Devils 1st D pairing out for the year, most likely) in the game where, Ironically, Jack Hughes was out injured as well for his first game and second time this season. At the end of last night’s loss to Brother Quinn and the Vancouver Canucks it looked as if Luke Hughes was going to be adding himself to the list with an almost slew foot not called with a minute left in a one-goal game. However, the horrendous officiating is for another article. This report is to remind the fans how many important players are out for New Jersey, and also, we will get into how the Devils have been getting the All-Star snub for years now.

DEVILS INJURIES AS OF 1/7/24

• Tomas Nosek* (LW) (Moved to LTIR today ironically)
• Dougie Hamilton (D1)
• Ondrej Palat (LW)
• Timo Meier (RW) (LTIR)
• Jack Hughes (C)
• Jonas Siegenthaler (D1)

DEVILS ALL-STAR SNUBBING HISTORY CONTINUES?

In recent years, the New Jersey Devils have not been the pillar of success around the NHL. Any Devils fan will admit that. However, there has been an ongoing issue regarding players deserving of being called for the NHL ALL-STAR GAME being snubbed year after year. Let me give you one of the most egregious instances of what I am talking about here. Last season, 2022-2023; The New Jersey Devils went 82 games without dropping below third overall in the entire league. So, to make it clear, they either sat in first, second, or third place overall in the NHL without ever dropping to fourth. Meanwhile, the totally legit system of voting, etc. for the NHL’s 2023 All-Stars left the Devils with only one representative in the game, Jack Hughes. Of course, Jack Hughes is well deserving of being in the All-Star Game, but here, I cannot understand. When a team like last year’s Devils has a multitude of All-Star players (including at the time Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, Dougie Hamilton, and even Vitek Vanecek had better numbers than both Shesterkin and Sorokin) gets only one representative in the ASG while bottom dweller teams have multiple players, I don’t believe that is fair. If you think I am off on this, please comment below and let me know why; I will gladly start a dialogue. Now the NHL ASG is coming up again, and Jack Hughes was named from the Devils. The Score rightly so posted a list of “Biggest Snubs” and Jesper Bratt with 44 points this season, on pace with Jack Hughes to possibly one of the first two Devils to ever score over 100 points in a season. If Jesper Bratt, at this point, gets snubbed, I, for one, say the game is rigged. Nico Hischier has been hot lately as well; he missed some time but is back in his stride now. So we are not sure yet, but if Jack Hughes cannot makes the ASG, who will replace him? That’s the first question, and the second one is, would there be any other Devils chosen for the ASG legitimately? I highly doubt it. Here is a list of the most recent New Jersey Devils All-Star Representatives.

• 2023 – Jack Hughes (1)
• 2022 – Jack Hughes (1)
• 2020 – Nico Hischier (Subbing for Palmieri) (1)
• 2019 – Kyle Palmieri (Subbed for Taylor Hall) (1)
• 2018 – Brian Boyle (Subbed for Taylor Hall) (1)
• 2017 – Taylor Hall (1)
• 2016 – Cory Schneider (1)
• 2015 – Patrik Elias (1)
• 2012 – NO DEVILS SELECTED

As you can see here, the New Jersey Devils have not only been snubbed of having more than one player in the ASG since 2007 (Brodeur and Rafalski) they have also, in some cases (like the year they went to the finals), have had absolutely no Devils players repped at the ASG. I, for one, think this is outrageous. We hope Jack Hughes is back and ready for this game, of course. However, we must be praying, pushing, tweeting, and posting about the Devils getting their due, and maybe a few players who have been excellent for the last few years deserve some recognition (Hischier, Bratt) with an All-Star appearance. Both of these guys this season deserve it, and there are other players too, like Luke Hughes (Rookie), Tyler Toffoli, or Motor Mikey Mcleod, that could be playing in this year’s ASG. Last year, our Metropolitan Division Rival, the New York Islanders, had three, yes, three All-Star reps, while the top-of-the-league Devils only had one. We can’t let this keep happening to us as a fanbase, its disrespectful at this point. Please let me know what you think about this situation in the comments below, or come find me on X!

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A Sour Big Apple – Inside The Rink

Join Conrad and Jayd as they kick off another season of hockey coverage on the Inside The Rink Podcast. Join us weekly as we cover the hot topics across the NHL and Minor Leagues. In this episode: – Jacob Trouba Trade- Shesterkin Signs BIG Ticket- Avs & Sharks Goaltending Swap- NHL Trade Rumors& Much More!

1. A Sour Big Apple 44:11
2. Ovechkin's Record Postponed? 56:22
3. Trade Winds Blowing 42:20
4. Injuries All Over 42:55
5. Goalies Getting Paid 24:16