This was the decade in which the Devils, Lou Lamoriello, Martin Brodeur and Scott Stevens dominated hockey in our nook of the hockey world. It was the decade in which Jaromir Jagr established a presence in Manhattan that came just a bit too late in his career and ended just a bit too early.
It was the decade that contained the only canceled season in the history of North American big league sports. There is no reference to 2004-05, or to the lockout, or to the CBA, or to the NHLPA, or to Gary Bettman in this review. This review is about what transpired on the ice, not off it:
NHL Player of the Decade:
1. Martin Brodeur, Devils
2. Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit
3. Scott Niedermayer, Devils-Anaheim
4. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh
5. Alexander Ovechkin, Washington
6. Scott Stevens, Devils
7. Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay
8. Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh-Washington-Rangers
9. Jarome Iginla, Calgary
10. Henrik Lundqvist, Rangers
Metro Player of the Decade:
1. Brodeur
2. Stevens
3. Jagr
4. Lundqvist
5. Michael Peca, Islanders
6. Niedermayer
7. Patrik Elias, Devils
8. John Madden, Devils
9. Chris Osgood, Islanders
10. Michael Nylander, Rangers
Best Stanley Cup Champion
1. 1999-2000 Devils
2. 2001-02 Red Wings
3. 2007-08 Red Wings
4. 2000-01 Avalanche
5. 2003-04 Lightning
6. 2008-09 Penguins
7. 2002-03 Devils
8. 2006-07 Ducks
9. 2005-06 Hurricanes
Decade’s League of Their Own:
1. Detroit
2. Devils
NHL First All-Star Team
G: Brodeur
D: Niedermayer and Lidstrom
LW: Ovechkin, Washington
C: Joe Sakic, Colorado
RW: Jagr
NHL Second All-Star Team
G: Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary
D: Chris Pronger, St. Louis-Edmonton-Anaheim-Philadelphia, and Zdeno Chara, Ottawa-Boston
LW: Markus Naslund, Vancouver-Rangers
C: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh
RW: Iginla
Metro All-Star First Team:
G: Brodeur
D: Stevens and Niedermayer, Devils
LW: Patrik Elias, Devils
C: Scott Gomez, Devils-Rangers
RW: Jagr
Metro All-Star Second Team
G: Lundqvist
D: Brian Leetch, Rangers, and Brian Rafalski, Devils
LW: Zach Parise, Devils
C: John Madden, Devils
RW: Jamie Langenbrunner, Devils
Most Overdone Story of Decade:
Raymond Bourque, who attempted to block a trade from Boston to Colorado so he could be dealt closer to home to Philadelphia the previous year, winning 2001 Stanley Cup with Avalanche in 22nd and final NHL season.
Most Dastardly Deeds of Decade:
1. Vancouver’s Todd Bertuzzi assaults Colorado’s Steve Moore, March 8, 2004.
2. Boston’s Marty McSorley cracks Vancouver’s Donald Brashear across the head with his stick, Feb. 21, 2000.
3. Toronto’s Darcy Tucker kneecaps Islanders’ Peca in Game 5 of the 2002 first round, April 26, 2002.
4. Toronto’s Tie Domi delivers concussion-inducing drive-by elbow on Devils’ Niedermayer in Game 4 of the 2001 second round, May 3, 2001.
5. Islanders’ Chris Simon delivers two-hander across Rangers’ Ryan Hollweg’s face in retaliation for possible hit from behind at Coliseum, March 8, 2007.
Best Hockey Day of the Decade:
1. Nov. 22, 2003, The Heritage Classic in Edmonton, the original and yet unmatched NHL outdoors event. Evening NHL game played in the bitter cold between Oilers and Canadiens at a sold-out Commonwealth Stadium upstaged by afternoon Legends’ contest between franchises in which Wayne Gretzky (in his one and only old timer’s appearance, ever), Mark Messier (while still an active player for the Rangers), Grant Fuhr et al skated for Edmonton while Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson and Co. played for Montreal, with the Hall of Fame athletes shoveling snow off the rink during stops of play.
Worst Return in Trade of a Legend:
1. Pittsburgh GM Craig Patrick taking Kris Beech, Michal Sivek and Ross Lupaschuk from Washington in exchange for Jagr, July 11, 2001, in order to spite both No. 68 and Rangers, who had offered more.
2. Rangers’ GM Glen Sather acquiring Maxim Kondratiev (turned into a half-season of Petr Sykora), Jarkko Immonen, Lauri Korpikoski (turned into Enver Lisin), and Michael Sauer from Toronto in exchange for Leetch, March 2, 2004.
Best Trade for a future, essential Cup-winning piece:
1. Tampa Bay GM Rick Dudley acquiring Nikolai Khabibulin from Phoenix with Stan Neckar in exchange for Mike Johnson, Paul Mara, Ruslan Zainullin and a second-round draft pick, March 5, 2001.
Best Draft Day:
1. Ottawa, 2001, trading unwanted Alexei Yashin to Islanders for Chara and 2nd overall pick with which Senators selected Jason Spezza.
2. Washington, 2004, selecting Alexander Ovechkin 1st overall, Jeff Schultz 27th and Mike Green 29th.
3. Anaheim, 2003, selecting Ryan Getzlaf 19th overall and Corey Perry 28th.
4. Nashville, 2003, selecting Ryan Suter 7th overall and Shea Weber 49th.
5. Philadelphia, 2003, selecting Jeff Carter 11th overall and Mike Richards 24th.
Worst Draft Day:
1. Islanders, 2000, trading Roberto Luongo and Olli Jokkinen to Florida for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha before selecting Rick DiPietro first overall instead of Dany Heatley or Marian Gaborik
2. Rangers, 2003, selecting Hugh Jessiman 12th overall instead of Parise, Dustin Brown, Brent Seabrook, Getzlaf, Perry, Richards, Brent Burns or Ryan Kesler.
3. Atlanta, 2003, selecting Braydon Coburn 8th overall ahead of Dion Phaneuf, who went next to Calgary 4. Columbus, 2003, selecting Nik Zherdev 4th overall ahead of Thomas Vanek, who went next to Buffalo.
Most Pristine Performance by an NHL team:
Devils, Game 6 of 2000 Eastern semis, limiting Toronto to six shots (three in first, two in second, one in third) in 3-0 series-clinching victory at Meadowlands, May 8, 2000.
Most Memorable Quotes:
1. Sean Avery’s “sloppy seconds,” reference on Nov. 30, 2008, that earned him an unprecedented six-game suspension for bad language and ensuing three-month exile from the NHL.
2. Bobby Holik’s “I believe fundamentally we are the worst team in the National Hockey League,” following the Rangers’ 9-1 loss in Ottawa on Jan. 24, 2004 in Jagr’s first game with the team.
3. Jagr’s “I also want to say to the people like Mike Milbury who made their living by criticizing me all the time that they can kiss my [butt],” upon leaving the NHL to sign with Omsk of the KHL on July 3, 2008.
4. Avery’s “Fatso there just forgot to shake my hand, I guess,” April 18, 2008, in reference to Brodeur on the handshake line following the Rangers’ five-game. first-round rout of the Devils that included the Game 3 face-guarding fiasco.
Most Outrageous Omission from Hall of Fame:
Fred Shero, coach of the two-time Stanley Cup champion Flyers in 1974 and 1975, and the game’s most accomplished innovator behind the bench.
Most Bizarre Coaching Tactic:
1. Feb. 16, 2000, Rangers at Florida, in which John Muckler uses Brian Leetch as a checking left wing assigned to shadow the Panthers’ Pavel Bure. The Russian Rocket scores first-period goal in Blueshirts’ 3-0 defeat.
2. April 13, 2000, Florida at Devils, Game 1 of first round in which Panthers’ Terry Murray gives Bure, who had led NHL with 58 goals, only five shifts worth 3:27 in first period in opener of what becomes a Devils’ sweep.
Best NHL Free-Agent Signings:
1. Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim, 2005
2. Chris Osgood, Detroit, 2005
3. Michael Nylander, Rangers, 2004
4. Marc Savard, Boston, 2006 5.
Zdeno Chara, Boston, 2006.
Worst NHL Free Agent Signings:
1. Vladimir Malakhov, Devils, 2005
2. Wade Redden, Rangers, 2008
3. Michael Nylander, Washington, 2007
4. Alex Kovalev, Ottawa, 2009.
Finally, best postgame press conference, Slap Shots’ style:
We know what it was.
larry.brooks@nypost.com
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