The indomitable all-purpose forward thus will follow original Ring of Honor inductee, Devils founder and No. 1 fan, Dr. John J, McMullen. Knowing the club owner as I did, I'm confident that Doc Mac would have seconded the motion in favor of Brylin. Many NHL critics already have, especially those who have witnessed Sergei in action.
"No Devil epitomized the team's relentless work ethic better than the versatile Brylin," said Allan Kreda, The Associated Press lead hockey writer who has followed the Devils since their inception. "Sergei played all three forward positions with efficient skill year in and year out"
(I kid you not, I was the first reporter to greet Sergei when he literally got off the bus in Albany in preparation for his first training camp in September 1994. More on that in a moment.)
The Ring of Honor also acknowledges Brylin's amazing accomplishments during the franchise's glorious, three-Cup-winning stints. Brylin was one of the precious few who contributed greatly to each of the trio of championship crusades.
"What I admired about Sergei," said Devils play-by-play man Matt Loughlin, "was his relentless professionalism. He was always prepared and did whatever he was asked to do. He could play up and down the lineup and he was a winner. He never sought the spotlight; he just felt that he was doing his job.
"From a coaching perspective, his direct approach with the players makes him popular and successful. It's pretty simple; you either made the right play or you didn't. 'Now let's work on why you didn't.' He teaches without screaming or yelling. He was a no B.S. player and he's a no B.S. coach. The players appreciate his candor and respect his history. That's quite a combo."
Kreda: "Sergei never took a shift off and that dedication and perseverance surely is a reason why No. 18 is one of only five Devils to have won three Stanley Cups."
Let's face it, this Moscow native has done just about everything for the Devils except play goal. (And if Marty Brodeur hadn't been here during Sergei's stint, I dare say that Brylin would have jumped at the opportunity to have gone between the pipes.)
"As a player, Brylin could be plugged into any forward line at any time and succeed," explained Leo Scaglione, Jr. of the MSGSN Devils telecast team and Devils historian. "He could score and, likewise, fit perfectly with any defensive unit."
That's just for starters, but I'll get to the innumerable Brylin kudos in a few Sergei seconds.
First you have to go back to his childhood in 1977 and envision the 3-year-old whippersnapper doing a Russian version of "Figure Eights" on Moscow's neighborhood ice rinks with the wind biting at his ears. (In a sense, this was the birth of a big-leaguer.)
When it was clear that the kid really had the goods, Sergei climbed the very organized ladder of Moscow's prestigious CSKA hockey organization. He kept getting better and better until Devils bird dogs got wind of him. Ultimately, Lou Lamoriello plucked the lad 42nd overall in the 1992 Entry Draft.
At the time, another hockey entity would enter Brylin's young life; and a very curious one, at that.
The professional team was called the Russian Penguins; created by an NHL executive who knew all about winning Stanley Cups.
Pittsburgh Penguins owner Howard Baldwin took over CSKA - including Sergei - in 1993 and renamed them the Russian Penguins. During the 1993-94 season Brylin found himself skating against hard-nosed pros in International Hockey League competition.
Although Brylin still looked as if he was not long out of diapers, the teenager played 13 games as a Russian Penguin, tallying four goals and five assists. The scouting reports were favorable and that inspired Lamoriello to invite Sergei to the Albany River Rats training camp in September 1994 and that's when The Maven met The Prospect.
Coincidentally, that happened to be the year of an NHL work stoppage which would last until early January 1995. In the meantime, the Devils primary focus would be on Albany and the New Jersey farmhands, including Brylin.
"Nobody knew a thing about Sergei when he arrived with the Rats," said the late Peter McNab who, at the time, was SportsChannel's Devils analyst. "Brylin was just another player hoping to make an impression."
The Maven was there, too, when 20 or so players showed up at the Albany rink.
As the players trooped off the bus, Rats publicist Eric Servetah pre-scouted each one for me. About a minute after the clubhouse door slammed shut another prospect entered the arena.
"Who's he?" I asked Servetah.
"I dunno," he shot back. "Lemme check."
The peach-faced lad looked too small and too young to actually be an NHL prospect but Servetah corrected me. "I just got his name," he said. "Sergei Brylin. And I know absolutely nothing about him except that he's on our roster."
The Kid played 63 games for AHL Albany, scoring 19 goals and 35 assists for 54 points.
Feisty as a wolverine, the rugged little Russian impressed River Rats coach Robbie Ftorek who was built like - and played like - Sergei when Ftorek was a big-leaguer.
"Don't be surprised if some day he (Brylin) makes the big club," said Ftorek. "He's a winner."
The Devils didn't wait. Once the NHL work stoppage ended and the 1994-95 season got underway New Jersey coach Jacques Lemaire reviewed his lineup long enough to know that he needed something extra; and that something was Brylin.
"What the brass liked about him," asserted Scaglione, Jr. "was Sergei's consistency. Whatever he was asked to do, he did, and rarely missed a game. They also liked the fact that he did the jobs he was given without fanfare but it always was a job well done."
The absolute last thing coach Lemaire expected from Brylin was playoff heroics. Then again nobody expected much from the New Jersey sextet which failed to dazzle during the shortened 1994-95 season. Yet, to everyone's amazement they quickly ousted Boston in the first playoff round and relentlessly reached the Cup Final against the heavily-favored Detroit Red Wings.
As in the previous three rounds the Devils were underdogs especially when the Final round arrived. Detroit had dominated the lockout-shortened schedule with 70 points - a huge 18 more than New Jersey. "Some writers were picking the Red Wings to beat us in four straight," said Brylin.
But Lemaire's skaters ignored the critics and knocked off Detroit with three consecutive wins. The potential Cup-closing Game 4 was slated to be played in East Rutherford on June 24, 1995. By that time Sergei had played 11 postseason games and had one point to his credit. Nevertheless, Lemaire realized that Brylin was a diamond in the rough who could be polished by being played.
"When we got to the fourth game - which could have been the clincher - I had no hesitation to give Sergei a regular turn," said Lemaire. "I realized that he could play the 200-foot game as well as anyone."
Knowing that a Cup win was only three periods away, the capacity crowd on June 24th was on its feet from the opening face-off. Neal Broten obliged the fans by scoring for New Jersey and by the third period, the upstart Devils had the arena rocking with a 3-2 advantage. Determined to protect the lead, Lemaire dispatched Brylin and his former River Rat teammate Bryan Rolston out on the ice to do some good.
As it happened, they outdid themselves. First, Rolston took a shot that failed but Detroit's Dino Ciccarelli tried to regain control. Brylin then moved in and took Dino out of the play, enabling Rolston to gain control up the boards.
Emmy Award-winning hockey analyst David Kolb covered that game and recalled Brylin's deft move that proved a Cup turning point:
"Sergei out-hustled everyone out of the corner while Rolston got control of the puck. Then Brian spotted Brylin in scoring position and sent the puck toward the front of the net where Brylin was able to turn and shoot at Mike Vernon in goal."
"Brylin stopped the puck with his skate before he shot," wrote veteran Devils beat reporter Rich Chere of the Star-Ledger in his 25-Year History of the hockey club, "and scored."
The time was 7:46 of the third period; 4-2 New Jersey. "It felt like the true Cup-clincher," added Kolb.
So did the 19,040 onlookers who almost lifted the roof into the Hackensack River. Meanwhile tears welled up in the eyes of a few over-emotional Devils sitting on the bench.
"That was the biggest goal of the playoffs," said enforcer Mike Peluso, the first to be moved to tears. "I turned to Jacques (Lemaire) and told him, 'I can't play another shift, I don't want to go out there and be weeping on the ice.'"
Disregarded by most in the uproar was the fact that almost 13 minutes remained on the clock. Lemaire knew that it was enough time for an elite team like Detroit to score a pair and send the game to overtime. For sure, the Devils needed one more "cushion" goal to ease the collective tension.
One, Two, Three, Four, Five more minutes elapsed when Brylin was ordered back into action by Lemaire. This time his forward partner would be Bill Guerin as New Jersey pressed the attack.
First Guerin fired a cannonball at Vernon but the shot was blocked. Like a ferret on the spoor of an unsuspecting robin, Brylin captured the six-ounce hunk of vulcanized rubber and skimmed a pass to defenseman Shawn Chambers who was camped inside the blue line, just licking his chops for you-know-what.
To a gourmet like Chambers the puck was like a sizzling steak served at a five-star eatery. He practically leaped while delivering a crisp thrust from the left circle. The black disk seemed to know where it was supposed to go and that was that, 5-2 New Jersey. In a little more than seven minutes, the Devils would win their first Stanley Cup.
"The victory officially sealed the organization as a legit, post-Mickey Mouse champion," Kolb asserted. " Brylin scored the true Cup-clincher and then set up Chambers for the red light that guaranteed the victory."
Previously unknown, the pint-sized Russian now was sharing the Cup spotlight with such heroes as Martin Brodeur, Neal Broten, Scott Stevens, and Claude Lemieux, among many others.
One who carefully studied them for decades was longtime ESPN hockey guru Vic Morren, now producing the new podcast "NHL Wraparound" with Neil Smith.
Morren: "You can't win a Stanley Cup without players like Sergei Brylin. He was detail-oriented and never seemed to be out of position nor made an ill-advised play. And he would complement the offense with a nice touch around the net. Sergei knew his role at both ends of the ice and executed his responsibilities perfectly."
"Players, The Ultimate A-Z Guide To Everyone Who Has Ever Played In The NHL" was published after Sergei had helped New Jersey win the Stanley Cup a second time in 2000. Author-Historian Andrew Podnieks described the Devils' mainstay with the following words.
"Brylin has established himself as one of New Jersey's best players. Since 1998 he has been a mainstay and in 2000-01 had a career year with 23 goals after winning a second Cup the previous spring."
Over his dozen-and-one years as a player, Sergei surpassed the 20-goal mark twice and exceeded the 40-point mark several times.
During the first Cup run, Bill Guerin was a linemate along with Brian Rolston. When the Drive For Two began, coach Larry Robinson occasionally played Brylin with Patrick Elias and Petr Sykora. Veteran New Jersey hockey TV producer Chris Riley - who covered the 2000 Cup sprint - remembered:
"They were a great line that took the heat off the other lines. They got key goals and made plays all over the ice and fit the system perfectly. Like Butch Goring often was overlooked when the Islanders won four Cups, Brylin was like Butch - a huge part of his team's success."
Sergei played five more years after the third Cup triumph and, after hanging up his playing blades, he turned to the coaching arena. In 2022 Professor Brylin was named Devils assistant coach.
"He paid his coaching dues spending over a decade learning the tricks of the coaching trade," said historian Scaglione, Jr. "Sergei had an advantage having started in the minors as a player. As a result, he can relate to today's players. He had to put in the work and is proof that a solid work ethic provides results."
Now that he's head coach Lindy Ruff's assistant, Brylin is sharing his decades of experience with the next generation of New Jersey skaters.
At age 50, Sergei can look forward to the day when a head coaching job may be within his grasp. But, for now, the Devils' Ring of Honor Award is a vivid testimonial to the esteem with which he's held in the hockey world.
"He merits this award," concluded Leo Scaglione, Jr., "because he is in every way the prototypical Devil!."
In researching this article, I asked many reporters, historians and television veterans if anyone could find a flaw - just one boo-boo - in Sergei Brylin's Devils lifetime.
As you can imagine, it was a challenge and New Jersey News-12 Emmy Award winner George Falkowski searched for more than a week and then came up with what he termed a "Brylin Blunder," with video to support his claim.
"It happened the split-second after the Devils won their first Cup in 1995," Falkowski insisted.
"At the moment of clinching, Sergei did what other teammates on the bench did, he began vaulting the boards to join the celebration on the ice.
"But instead of leaping on to the rink and joining his 'brothers,' circle of celebrants, Sergei fell back off the bench and on his keester. Nevertheless that shouldn't disqualify our hero." Then a pause: "Hey, nobody is perfect."
Bottom Line: Sergei not only "wins the cigar," he will proudly - yet ever modestly - enter the New Jersey Devils' Circle of Honor.
And if you don't mind The Maven saying so, "I'll venture that on January 20th, Doc Mac will be peering down with a glow and look of pride on his smiling face!
Likely musing, "That's my kind of player!"
