New Jersey’s Scott Stevens stands alone as the NHL’s most enduring defenseman.
MIAMI – While starring in I Was A Teenage Panther, Ed Jovanovski sometimes stumbled over his lines. Then-general manager Bryan Murray would try to quell the criticism by bringing up Scott Stevens wild early years in Washington.
Defensemen, especially young, rambunctious ones, can take time.
Time is what Stevens has conquered. He’s put in more of it on the official clock than any defenseman in NHL history, 1,617 games going into Sunday’s contest with Colorado.
What’s stunning is that Stevens, unlike previous record holder Larry Murphy, did this while playing a bruising, emotional game every night. There are no easy ways through 1,617 NHL games, but some are harder than others.
Murphy poked, restrained, foiled. Stevens dares you to come into his neighborhood then beats on you with those Buick shoulders and battering ram physique.
“I really don’t know any better, so my body doesn’t know any better,” Stevens said in a conference call this week.
Then again, you deliver enough of those massive hits and life gets easier.
Forwards decide you play too rough and go to work on the other side of the rink.
Or, they dump the puck into the zone, hoping somebody else will go get it.
Or, they pull up, get a little jittery while looking for anybody to take the puck and eventually give up the puck out of self-preservation.
That’s what a reputation for bringing hurt for over 22 seasons does for you.
“The biggest difference is the game is much quicker and the players are much bigger than when I first came in,” Stevens said.
Stevens lists (liberally) at 6-2, 215. He was a big defenseman when he came into the league.
He’s still a big defenseman. But big defensemen have become the norm and those forwards keep getting younger, bigger and faster.
When Stevens began, a Bobby Orr-type offensive defenseman was the most prized possession a team could have.
Now, teams want an Ed Jovanovski-type, which is the Stevens mold of size and skating ability with some skill. And a big thick slab of pain ready to be delivered at all times.
“I think more of an all-around defenseman is more versatile and more valued in this day than a guy in the old days with strictly offense because of the way the game has changed,” Stevens said.
Stevens is at the center of that change.
New Jersey’s success with it’s ultra-defensive style, especially that of 1993-1998 and 2001-present, prompted other teams to pull in their horns and play for mistakes.
One of the most overlooked statistics from New Jersey’s first year in the NHL elite, 1993-94, is they had the NHL’s No. 2 offense and Stevens was their leading scorer.
Stevens’ greatness never convinced Norris Trophy voters who didn’t seem him night to night. But he has something perhaps more valuable and probably harder to get a no-trade clause from tough New Jersey general manager Lou Lamoriello.
Stevens began his NHL career in 1982-83 when everybody scored 5.09 goals per two periods, not per game as was the case Friday.
“I think the games are exciting,” Stevens said. “I think some games are more exciting than others, but everybody is playing a smart, disciplined game. If you don’t play the smart, disciplined game and play the system like the good teams are, then you will have trouble.”
Already, the question is asked “When will Stevens have trouble?” When is his point of no return to training camp? His contemporaries on defense, even New Jersey teammate Ken Daneyko, have all left the team.
Stevens almost called it a career before the 2001-02 season.
That was months after the Devils had two shots at getting the Cup, Game 6 and 7, and failed to bring home the tall fruit bowl.
“When you get that far and lose in a Game 7, it makes it really tough to get back to the game and compete at the same level,” Stevens said. “But I think that you have to learn from those things and it makes you a better team and player.”
Stevens went through a number of playoff disappointments in Washington, then a big one in New Jersey when they lost in 1994 to the Rangers in the Eastern Conference final. And there’s the annual NHL Awards Show disappointment, when he doesn’t win the Norris.
By the way, Jovanovski just passed 618 games, played in over eight seasons. At his current pace, he’ll easily pass Stevens – in the year 2017. Check back with us then.
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