According to Amanda Stein of the Devils’ official website, former Devil Brian Gionta will be inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame this December.
Gionta, who played for the Devils from 2001 to 2009, was drafted by the team in the third round (82nd overall) in 1998. He also played for the Montreal Canadiens (whom he captained), the Buffalo Sabres and the Boston Bruins, where he signed in 2018 following his time representing Team USA at the 2018 Winter Olympics. He was the American captain at those 2018 Olympics. He played a total of 16 NHL seasons.
Gionta, a Rochester, New York native, had his finest season as a Devil in 2005-06 when he scored 48 goals and added 41 assists for 89 points. That goal mark is a Devils’ single season record (besting Pat Verbeek’s 46 goals in 1987-88). That high-water mark also was his best season in the NHL overall.
According to Stein’s article on NewJerseyDevils.com, Gionta ranks 43rd in scoring among American-born NHL players. He totaled 595 points (291 goals/304 assists) over 1,026 games.
Stein lists the other new members of the US Hockey Hall of Fame as former Bruins goalie Tim Thomas, “two-time U.S. Olympian Krissy Wendel,” Neal Henderson, who was the “co-founder of the Ford Dupont Ice Hockey Club in Washington” and current NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman.
The five will be inducted into the US Hockey Hall of Fame in a ceremony in Eveleth, Minnesota, site of the Hall of Fame and Museum in December.
Congrats to all of the inductees and, especially, to Brian Gionta.