Meet the Devs: G #1 Johan "Moose" Hedberg

The man known as the Moose made his NHL debut in the 2000-01 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. In his first ever game he was called up last minute and had to use his IHL mask where he played for the Manitoba Moose.

The mask had a giant Moose painted on it. Penguin fans started to call out "Mooooooose" whenever he made a save which is often misunderstood as boo's, a tradition that followed him throughout his entire career.

Hedberg went 7-1-1 in his first season in the NHL and made it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals as the starter losing to none other than the Devils.

Over the next few seasons after a tremendous rookie season he started to level off with losing records. He signed with the Vancouver Canucks where he split duty with Dan Cloutier and Alex Auld and had a 8-6 record in 21 games.

After the lockout he went to Dallas. While on the Stars he got two assists in one game and still to this day is the only goalie in Star history to do so. He was a backup to Marty Turco despite going
12-4-1.

The following season he went to the now defunct Atlanta Thrashers. In his first year with Atlanta he got his first taste of playoff hockey since the 2001 playoff run. He split 4 games with starting goalie Kari Lehtonen. The Thrashers lost all 4 games of that series to the Rangers.

Moose became the starter for Atlanta the following season, and had winning records two of the three final seasons on his contract with Atlanta.

Johan Hedberg signed with the Devils in the summer of 2010 and split duty with Marty Brodeur. Marty had extensive injuries and Moose had to stand up to the pressure of fighting for a playoff spot and although they didn't make it he quickly became a fan favorite with Devil fans. He finished his first season with NJ at 15-12-2. He signed a one-year no trade extension for the 2011-12 season with the Devils the same day as defenseman Andy Greene.