September 4, 1991: Edward Houston, an arbitrator hired by the National Hockey League, awards St. Louis Blues defenseman Scott Stevens to the New Jersey Devils, as compensation for the Blues signing left wing Brendan Shanahan. Each player had been a restricted free agent.
Aside from the move of the team itself, from Denver as the Colorado Rockies, to the Meadowlands on May 27, 1982, this is the most important day in the history of the franchise now known as the New Jersey Devils, as it began their rise from pretenders to contenders to champions.
A native of Kitchener, Ontario, outside Hamilton, Stevens debuted in the NHL with the Washington Capitals in 1982. He became one of the nastiest players in the League, racking up at least 154 penalty minutes in all 8 seasons he played with the Caps, topping 200 minutes 4 times, and peaking with 283 in 1986-87.
In 1990, he signed with the Blues as a restricted free agent. The Caps refused to match the offer, and received 2 draft picks as compensation, 1 of which was used on Sergei Gonchar, who became another All-Star defenseman, and helped the Caps reach their 1st Stanley Cup Finals in 1998. So they didn't lose much in the deal.
The Blues named Stevens their Captain for the 1990-91 season. He scored only 5 goals, but had 44 assists. He also had 150 penalty minutes, a career low, but still a lot.
But he wasn't just a dirty player: He was good one. In his 1st 9 seasons, he had scored 103 goals, had 375 assists, had a plus/minus of 113, made 3 All-Star Games. In 1991, Team Canada selected him for the Canada Cup, hockey's version of the World Cup, which Canada won.
When the Blues signed Shanahan, who had already scored 94 goals for the Devils and was a key figure in their run to the 1988 Prince of Wales Conference Finals, the Devils were owed compensation, and Stevens was awarded to them. At first, he didn't want to report, citing organizational disarray, including the trading of their Captain, Kirk Muller, to the Montreal Canadiens for Stéphane Richer and Tom Chorske. The team had already promised the Captaincy to defenseman Bruce Driver, but Stevens was offered an Assistant Captaincy -- an "A" on his jersey, rather than a "C." He accepted.
After just 1 season, Driver willingly gave up the C, and it was awarded to Stevens without hesitation. Driver himself said, "What has Scott Stevens done for this team? What hasn't he done?" He got them into the Playoffs in 1992 and 1993, to the Eastern Conference Finals in 1994, and to their 1st Stanley Cup in 1995.
And he never racked up more than 124 penalty minutes in his 13 seasons with the Devils, although he became famous for his devastating hits, including on Vyacheslav Kozlov of the Detroit Red Wings in the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals, Eric Lindros of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2000 Eastern Conference Finals, and Paul Kariya of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. His weapon became known as simply "The Shoulder," and a meme was made up: "Guns don't kill people, Scott Stevens kills people."
Ranger fans treated Mark Messier as "the Messiah." But he only captained 2 Stanley Cup winners, and only 1 of those was in the New York Tri-State Area. Stevens captained 3, short only of the Islanders' Denis Potvin with 4.
Before his career ended with a concussion early in 2004, Stevens had been selected for 13 All-Star Games, helped the Devils reach 4 Stanley Cup Finals, winning 3 of them, and was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Most Valuable Player of the 2000 Playoffs.
In 2006, his Number 4 became the 1st uniform number retired by the Devils. In 2007, he was elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 2017, he was named to the NHL's 100th Anniversary 100 Greatest Players, along with Devils teammates Martin Brodeur and Scott Niedermayer -- and Brendan Shanahan, who had also gone on to win 3 Stanley Cups, but with the Detroit Red Wings, after leaving the Blues.
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September 4, 1991 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees beat the Texas Rangers, 3-2 at Arlington Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Scott Sanderson started for the Yankees, but reliever Greg Cadaret became the winning pitcher. Steve Sax hit a home run. Don Mattingly went 0-for-4.
* The New York Mets lost to the Houston Astros, 8-3 at Shea Stadium. Jim Deshaies outpitched David Cone. Howard Johnson hit 2 home runs for the Mets, but it was far from enough.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Atlanta Braves, 8-4 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
* The Boston Red Sox beat the California Angels, 2-0 at Fenway Park in Boston. Joe Hesketh had a 6-hit shutout going with 2 out in the 6th, but manager Joe Morgan (not the great Cincinnati Reds 2nd baseman) took him out, and replaced him with Greg Harris, who got through the 8th. Jeff Reardon pitched a perfect 9th, to preserve the 4-hit shutout. It was almost a reverse of the previous night's game, when the Angels had a 3-pitcher 2-0 shutout win.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 5-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 3-1 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Cal Ripken went 1-for-4.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals, 4-1 at the new Comiskey Park (now Rate Field) in Chicago. George Brett was injured, and did not play.
* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Oakland Athletics, 2-0 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Bill Wegman pitched 8 innings of 4-hit shutout ball, and Doug Henry completed the 4-hit shutout. Greg Vaughn hit a home run. Robin Yount went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a sacrifice fly. Paul Molitor went 2-for-4 with a walk. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins, 8-4 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Chicago Cubs, 5-1 at Jack Murphy Stadium in San Diego. Tony Gwynn did not play.
* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-3 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants, 8-3 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Barry Bonds came in as a pinch-hitter, stayed in to play left field, and went 0-for-2.
* And the Seattle Mariners and the Detroit Tigers were not scheduled.
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