"I remember Tom helping the Devils gain their first playoff berth in '88," says Kogen. "He teamed up with Tommy Albelin and they made a good pair."
That was the season when New Jersey entered the playoffs on the final night of the season thanks to John MacLean's overtime winner in Chicago.
Gus Vic, lead columnist for The Fischler Report and Java Jive, followed Kurvers when he played for New Jersey and remembers him well.
"Tom was a sound and steady defenseman who put up very consistent numbers," said Vic. "His career as a Devil was capped by a 15-point postseason during New Jersey's memorable 1988 playoff run.
"That was followed by career highs in goals and assists and points during his next season with the Garden Staters. All together he did well during his Devils experience and so did the team in 1988."
Tom also gained a Stanley Cup ring while playing for the Montreal Canadiens titlists in 1986.
In time, Kurvers would retire and work his way up the executive hockey ladder to his last position as assistant general manager of the Minnesota Wild.
A victim of lung cancer, the Minnesota native bravely fought the good fight. It was one that arrested the hockey world's attention and was chronicled by the best of the media masters.
One among them was The Athletic's Michael Russo, who had been not only Tom's pal but a reporter who was as close to Kurvers as anyone in the journalistic universe.
"I was chosen for the fight," Kurvers told Russo.
Russo also produced an interesting bit of insight that may have been forgotten by New Jersey rooters.
"As a Devil," Russo wrote in a series of Athletic articles throughout the time when Tom was treated, "Kurvers was one of the first players to lose his job when the Iron Curtain was broken."
At the time I was covering the Devils on TV for SportsChannel. A big deal was made over the fact that New Jersey's NHL owner Dr. John McMullen signed Russian defenseman Slava Fetisov.
Little was made of the fact that Kurvers was victimized at the time.
"The Fetisov-Russian acquisition was hot news at the time," recalls former New Jersey News 12 reporter George Falkowski, an Emmy Award-winner. "But what most in the media overlooked was the fact that Fetisov would be taking Kurvers place in the lineup."
No problem. Since Tom had the goods, savvy and motivation he easily moved on from the Garden State.
Kurvers then was involved with what evolved as a historic trade engineered in the Devils favor by then general manager Lou Lamoriello.
Russo: "Tom wound up being the unenviable guy traded for the draft pick that turned out to be (future Hall of Famer) Scott Niedermayer."
A Hobey Baker Award-winner for his work at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Kurvers fittingly concluded his hockey career working in his home state.
"Tom's kindness and enthusiasm will be greatly missed," said the Wild in a statement.
That is an observation that now, sadly, is shared by all in the hockey world who appreciated Kurvers company, especially those who worked closely with Tom during his years as a Devil.
