Current NHL assistant coach Kirk Muller had a massive impact as a player. This 1985 story profiled Muller in his early days as a central component of the New Jersey Devils.
For nearly two decades, star forward Kirk Muller made his mark on the NHL as a player before becoming a coach. And in this cover story from The Hockey News’ March 1, 1985, edition (Vol. 38, Issue 22), contributing writer Rich Chere profiled Muller's impact as a key member of the New Jersey Devils.
(And here’s a reminder – for access to THN’s Archive, you need only subscribe to the magazine by signing up at THN.com/Free.)
The Devils drafted Muller with the second overall pick in 1984, and the Kingston, Ont., native went to work right away, posting 17 goals and 54 points in 80 games of the 1984-85 campaign. In eight of the following nine seasons, Muller generated at least 20 goals, and he learned quickly how to temper his energy as he endured the grind of an NHL regular season.
“In junior I played so much it was tough to go all out for an entire game and hit as much as I am now. I just got too tired,” Muller told Chere. “In junior I’d go out and get two or three points in every game and I was always going out in key situations no matter how much I played. That was a little bit of an adjustment. I can’t expect to score two or three points in every game so I have to make sure if I don’t score, I don’t get scored on.
“I also spent a lot of time over the summer lifting weights and building myself up. I was a little smaller in junior and now I’m stronger and it’s helped my game as far as working in the comers and playing hard.”
Muller wound up playing 1,349 regular-season NHL games and amassed 602 assists and 959 points in that span. He won a Stanley Cup with Montreal in 1993, and though he played with numerous Hockey Hall of Fame players in his on-ice career, he understood how to focus on the task at hand and be an excellent asset for his team.
“At first it’s kind of exciting facing some of the players you watched on TV as a kid,” Muller said. “But you can’t think about idolizing them or it’ll affect your play. You’ve got to respect their talents but you can’t play in awe of the guys you idolized as a kid.”
MULLER HAS A DEAL WITH DEVILS
Vol. 38, No. 22, March 1, 1985
By Rich Chere
Heroes are often created in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan sports realm long before an athlete deserves such status. Through no fault of their own they are built up to legendary proportions before they ever compile the numbers to match the hefty contracts, the sporting press and demanding fans. If they live up to the lofty expectations it is taken for granted, and if they fail to match their press clippings, everyone has a grand time tearing the “heroes” down and picking at the bones.
Kirk Muller walked into this environment eight months ago when the New Jersey Devils selected him second overall in the National Hockey League entry draft behind Mario Lemieux and ahead of Ed Olczyk. The media blitz late that summer and a brief holdout before signing his first pro contact set the familiar scenario into motion.
But Muller, who turned 19 on Feb. 8, is emerging from it all unscathed. While he may not be compiling the big numbers that Lemieux is in Pittsburgh or other celebrated rookies have in the past, Muller is stabilizing a franchise and living up to his advance billing as a budding superstar. He was selected by Al Arbour to represent the Devils in the All-Star game in Calgary and he is proving that all is not bleak in New Jersey. On the contrary, the outlook is brightening every time the center from Kingston, Ont., laces up his skates.
How has he done it? Primarily three ways:
• He has shown previously hidden skills, intelligence beyond his years and an insatiable desire to work on the ice (coach Doug Carpenter has called him “a horse.”)
• He has disregarded the pressure factor while handling the media with diplomacy.
• He has displayed a leadership quality, which usually takes years to acquire, in just 53 games into his NHL career. Muller has gained the respect of the oldest veterans on the team, come to the defense of teammates in numerous fights and on-ice incidents, and raised the quality of play for each player he has skated with, most notably John MacLean and Aaron Broten.
On the ice, the 5-foot-11, 180 pounder has been a force. He is not poetry in motion, just a very talented and wise player who pushes himself to the limit and has reminded some observers of Bobby Clarke without the stick work.
“It’s been different this year as compared to last year,” said Muller, whose 40 points at the All-Star break (13-27-40) ranked fourth on the Devils behind three veterans. “In junior I played so much it was tough to go all out for an entire game and hit as much as I am now. I just got too tired.
“In junior I’d go out and get two or three points in every game and I was always going out in key situations no matter how much I played. That was a little bit of an adjustment. I can’t expect to score two or three points in every game so I have to make sure if I don’t score, I don’t get scored on.
“I also spent a lot of time over the summer lifting weights and building myself up. I was a little smaller in junior and now I’m stronger and it’s helped my game as far as working in the comers and playing hard.”
Assistant coach Lou Vairo saw Muller in the 1984 Olympics when Vairo coached the U.S. team and Muller played left wing on the Canadian squad which defeated the Americans 4-2 in the opening game at Sarajevo. Vairo saw the potential but admits he is stunned at Muller’s quick rise.
“I had no idea how good Muller would be,” said Vairo. “He was a good defensive player playing a defensive role on the Canadian Olympic team. I didn’t think he had the offensive abilities he has. Sometimes I think you’ve got to shoot him to stop him. To be honest, he’s a surprise to me. I never thought he was this good.”
Muller, who shares a stately Tudor-style home in New Jersey with teammates Joe Cirella, Pat Verteek and MacLean, enjoyed a busy 1983-84 season, spending half a season with the Ontario Hockey League Guelph Platers and Team Canada in the world junior championships in Sweden before joining the Canadian Olympic team on Jan. 5. He returned to Guelph, where he scored 52 goals and 112 points in 66 games the previous season, to finish out his junior career.
An example of Muller’s wizardry with the puck came on Jan. 19 at the Forum in Montreal. With two minutes remaining in regulation time and the Devils trailing the Canadians 4-3, Muller won a vital draw with Pierre Mondou, getting the puck back to Phil Russell at the point for a slap shot that was deflected in by MacLean.
Five days before that he set up MacLean’s game-winning goal in a 2-1 triumph over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, and earlier that month against Vancouver he carried the puck over the blue line and stunned Michel Petit and Doug Lidster with a magnificent move past both Canucks and passed to MacLean for another goal.
“To be effective I’ve got to go out and play with confidence,” he said. “I’ve also got to be skating hard. On a night I’m tired, it’ll affect my play. I’ve got to create my own chances. In junior I was able to do all the nifty things, but here I’m more of a complete player and I find I’m more effective.”
Perhaps Muller’s most impressive feats have come without the puck.
“You could tell right off the bat he was good without the puck,” said Devil captain Mel Bridgman. “He has great lateral moves.”
Muller, who gained much of his poise in international competition, has avoided pressure much the way he sidestepped Philadelphia’s Ron Sutter on Jan. 31 at the Spectrum. A quick-thinking move behind his own net sent Sutter, who had ideas of putting Muller in the fifth row, crashing hard into the end boards by himself.
Pressure? No problem.
“The way it’s situated upstairs (New Jersey’s front office) there wasn’t the demand to do everything at once,” Muller said.
“There wasn’t that kind of pressure and that helped. The way they brought me on, slow, was great. As far as adjusting to the league, it made it easy because I started off with two older players (Bridgman and Tim Higgins). I didn’t have to go out and be a hero right from the start.”
That was Carpenter’s plan. He resisted breaking Muller in at his natural center position and kept him on left wing until a quarter of the season had passed in late November.
Muller, who joined former Colorado Rockie Barry Beck as the only rookies to ever represent the franchise in an All-Star game, said playing with Bridgman and Higgins helped him make the transition—off the ice as well as on.
“I just wanted to come in this year and progress each year,” said Muller. “I never expected to become an All-Star in my first year. It helped me to have the wingers I have now and it helped me to adjust playing with Mel and Tim. I owe a lot of credit to some of the older guys on the team. The way they handle the young guys is great. No jealousy.”
Bridgman, a No. 1 draft choice for the Flyers in 1975, knew what Muller faced. He remembered the resentment of his own lucrative rookie contract and sought to remove that kind of friction with Muller.
“A lot of times a guy comes in as a high pick and some guys resent it,” said Bridgman. “The players already on the team have gone through the minor leagues to get here and the high pick hasn’t. With Kirk you can’t help but like him.
“When I broke in with Philadelphia there were a lot of guys who had played in the minors for years and they made me pay my dues. They made sure I wasn’t going to be cocky. I was scared to even buy a sports car. I bought a family car, one of the ugliest cars you’ve ever seen. It took about four months before I felt accepted. I finally sold the car and bought a sports car.”
Muller, devoid of cockiness, purchased a Datsun 300ZX in early November. As far as respect, he gives it to his teammates and in return was voted the Devils’ best possible All-Star representative in a poll taken by all 25 New Jersey players.
“It’s tough to make it in this league,” said Bridgman. “The biggest thing is to gain confidence so when you face a Bryan Trottier or a Wayne Gretzky you can play against them. A lot of it lies in the personality of the player. In Kirk’s case, I’m sure it was difficult at the start because he’s a very shy kid. In a lot of ways he’s from the old school in that he respects the players who’ve been around.”
“At first it’s kind of exciting facing some of the players you watched on TV as a kid,” said Muller, whose relatives and friends watch his games via satellite. “But you can’t think about idolizing them or it’ll affect your play. You’ve got to respect their talents but you can’t play in awe of the guys you idolized as a kid.”
Muller is on his way up the ladder. Barring an unforeseen disaster, it is not unlikely that the blonde teen with the poster boy good looks will inherit the captaincy when Bridgman’s career in New Jersey reaches its end. After all, Muller’s already the cornerstone of the franchise.
The Hockey News Archive is an exclusive collection of more than 2,640 issues and more than 156,000 articles exclusively produced for subscribers, chronicling the complete history of The Hockey News from 1947 until this day. Visit the archives at THN.com/archive and subscribe today at subscribe.thehockeynews.com