Devils History: Verbeek looks back on 'different era'

If you want an idea of how much hockey has changed in the past 30 years, you only need to look as far as what Pat Verbeek did for the Devils in 1987-88, when New Jersey reached the playoffs for the first time.

Verbeek scored 46 goals that season, a Devils record that stood until Brian Gionta's 48-goal campaign in 2005-06, and still ranks as the second-highest tally in team history. Although he notched 31 assists, Verbeek's total of 77 points only ranked third on the Devils, behind Kirk Muller's 94 on 37 goals and 57 assists, and Aaron Broten's 83 on 26 goals and 57 assists.
The crazy part to someone only accustomed to 2018 hockey, though, is that Verbeek did all that scoring in a season where he racked up 227 penalty minutes - a total that also did not lead the Devils because Ken Daneyko had 239. New Jersey had 10 players with triple-digit penalty minutes in 1987-88, while last season there were 14 players penalized that much in the whole NHL. The last time anyone in the league had as many as 227 penalty minutes was 2014-15, when Steve Downie had 238 - in a season where the then-Penguins winger tallied 28 points in 72 games.
"It was a different era," said Verbeek, now an assistant general manager with the Lightning. "We had a pretty scrappy bunch. "We had a pretty scrappy bunch when I played there, and that was part of what made it fun, too. We were highly competitive and we took enough crap for a lot of years, where we got to the point that we didn't want to take it anymore. So, we stuck up for ourselves."
Anyone who has been to a game at The Rock this season has seen the pregame video in which Daneyko describes the lack of respect that the Devils got in their early years - of which Verbeek was part, having been drafted in the third round in 1982 and debuting in March of the 1982-83 inaugural season in New Jersey. The nadir was in Verbeek's rookie season, when the Devils lost 20 of their first 22 games, including an eight-point game for Wayne Gretzky that was somehow overshadowed by Jari Kurri scoring five goals.
"I was part of the 13-4 game that was as low as we probably got, as a team, and to that particular point as a franchise," Verbeek said. "It sparked a little fire within a bunch of us as players, and that was probably the beginning of the turnaround as an organization. You hit your worst, but you start your way back up."
By 1988, it was the Devils who were lighting up the scoreboard, including Patrik Sundstrom setting an NHL playoff record with eight points in a 10-4 rout of the Capitals in Game 3 of the Patrick Division finals. Verbeek somehow did not crack the scoresheet in that contest, but he did have four goals and eight assists during the run to Game 7 of the Wales Conference finals, a series notorious for Devils coach Jim Schoenfeld's shouts of "have another donut!" at referee Don Koharski during a hallway confrontation, and Game 4 being worked by replacement officials.
"We lost to Boston in seven, and a couple of us, myself included, had a couple of opportunities to score that we missed, and it was crushing," Verbeek said of getting so close to the Stanley Cup Final. "As much fun as it was, it was equally as crushing as we lost. … And there's a lot of things that went on with that series, the referees and all, that's a whole other conversation, my goodness. It was a game we had to win. We couldn't lose. We had to win that game. So, waiting around, sitting in the locker room, to see, it was just a weird feeling going out on that ice. We had to play the game, but it was weird not having regular NHL referees officiate the game."
The Devils did win that game, 3-1, with Verbeek scoring what proved to be the decisive goal - and also getting called for a slashing penalty and a roughing double minor by the substitute officials.
That was the way things often went for the Devils in 1987-88, a season in which they won two playoff games in which they faced elimination, and won several other must-win games before that. To finish tied with the Rangers for fourth place in the Patrick Division and secure the final playoff spot, the Devils needed to win 11 of their last 15 games, including seven of their last eight, and their last five in a row.
The strong finish, which followed a three-game home losing streak that was capped by a 2-1 defeat by the Rangers, started with a game against the North Stars on Feb. 28. That game started with Minnesota scoring three goals in the first 12:47, but at the 14:22 mark, Verbeek got on the board - with the first of his four goals in an 8-6 triumph.
"That was one of the weirdest games," Verbeek said. "Kirk Muller had a hat trick that game, too. I had four and he had three. Just one of those nights. We weren't playing really good, and I remember Jim Schoenfeld wasn't too happy with the way things were going, but we ended up winning the game. It was just one of those games where you're playing hard and pucks were finding their way into the net. I remember that one pretty well."
The Minnesota game helped get the Devils going on their way to their first playoff appearance and a memorable run. It was the only time Verbeek played for New Jersey in the postseason, as he was traded to Hartford for Sylvain Turgeon after the 1988-89 season. Verbeek went on to win the Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1999, but New Jersey will always be where he got his start.
"It was just a really exciting time," Verbeek said. "When you're getting close to the NHL, you're getting close to having your childhood dream come true. That was really an exciting time for me, even though the team struggled to put some wins together that first season."
That was 35 years ago. It was 30 years ago that the Devils put together those wins and had even more excitement, making their first playoff appearance in a wild season, with Verbeek a big part of it.