The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey that competes in the National Hockey League (NHL).
They are a part of the league's Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference.
The club was founded as the Kansas City Scouts in Kansas City, Missouri in 1974. The Scouts moved to Denver, Colorado in 1976 and became the Colorado Rockies. In 1982, they moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey and took their current name.
For their first 25 seasons in New Jersey, the Devils were based at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford and played their home games at the Brendan Byrne Arena (later renamed to the Continental Airlines Arena).
Beginning with the 2007–08 season, the Devils relocated to Newark and now play their home games at the Prudential Center.
The franchise was poor to mediocre in the eight years before moving to New Jersey, a pattern that continued during the first five years in New Jersey as they failed to make the Stanley Cup playoffs and never finished higher than fifth in their division.
Their fortunes began to turn around following the hiring of president and general manager Lou Lamoriello in 1987.
Under Lamoriello's stewardship, the Devils made the playoffs all but three times between 1988 and 2012 (including 13 berths in a row from 1997 to 2010) and finished with a winning record every season from 1992–93 to 2009–10.
They have won the Atlantic Division regular season title nine times (most recently in 2009–10) before transferring to the newly created Metropolitan Division as part of the NHL's realignment in 2013.
The Devils have reached the Stanley Cup Finals five times (winning in 1994–95, 1999–00 and 2002–03). They were known for their defense-first approach throughout their years of Cup contention, but have since moved towards a more offensive style.
The Devils have a rivalry with their cross-Hudson River neighbor, the New York Rangers as well as a rivalry with the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Devils are one of three NHL teams in the New York metropolitan area; the other two teams are the New York Islanders and the New York Rangers.
The franchise is the only major league team in any sport that explicitly identifies itself as a New Jersey team.
History
1982–1993: Building the Foundation
On June 30, 1982, the team was renamed the New Jersey Devils after the legend of the Jersey Devil, a creature that allegedly inhabited the Pine Barrens of South Jersey. Over 10,000 people voted in a contest held to select the name.
The team began play in East Rutherford, New Jersey at the Brendan Byrne Arena (later renamed the Continental Airlines Arena and then the Izod Center) where they called home through the 2006–07 season. The Devils were initially placed in the Patrick Division.
Their first game ended in a 3–3 tie against the Pittsburgh Penguins with their first goal scored by Don Lever.
Their first win, a 3–2 victory, came in New Jersey at the expense of the Rangers. The team finished with a 17–49–14 record, putting them three points above last place in the Patrick Division.
In the following season, the Devils were criticized by Wayne Gretzky after a 13–4 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
In a post-game interview, Gretzky said that the Devils were "putting a Mickey Mouse operation on the ice." Later, Gretzky said that his comment was "blown out of proportion."
In response, many Devils fans wore Mickey Mouse apparel when the Oilers returned to New Jersey. Also in the 1983–84 season, the Devils hosted the annual NHL All-Star Game.
New Jersey's Chico Resch was the winning goaltender and Devils defenseman Joe Cirella tallied a goal as the Wales Conference beat the Campbell Conference 7–6. Overall, the team did not achieve much success.
Head Coach Bill MacMillan was fired 20 games into the season, whereupon Tom McVie was named the new coach. The Devils won only 17 games and after the season, Doug Carpenter succeeded McVie.
The team assembled a core of players that included John MacLean, Bruce Driver, Ken Daneyko, Kirk Muller and Pat Verbeek with Resch as their goaltender. Their record improved each season between 1983–84 and 1986–87, however, they were unable to reach the playoffs.
Despite their improvement, the Devils remained last in the Patrick Division in 1985–86 and 1986–87.
McMullen hired Providence College athletic director Lou Lamoriello as team president in April of 1987. To gain greater control over franchise operations, Lamoriello appointed himself general manager before the 1987–88 season.
The 1987–88 Devils garnered the franchise's first winning record.
On the final day of the regular season, they were tied with their rivals, the Rangers, for the final playoff spot in the Patrick Division.
After New York defeated the Quebec Nordiques 3–0, the Devils needed to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks for a post-season berth. The Devils were trailing 3–2 midway through the third period when John MacLean tied the game and with 2:39 left in overtime, he added the winning goal.
Although the Rangers and Devils both finished with 82 points, the Devils had two more wins, sending them to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history as the New Jersey Devils. The team made it all the way to the Wales Conference Finals in the 1988 Stanley Cup playoffs, but lost to the Boston Bruins in seven games.
In that series, Head Coach Jim Schoenfeld verbally abused referee Don Koharski after the third game, screaming at him.
During the exchange, Koharski fell and Schoenfeld said to him "Have another doughnut, you fat pig!" Schoenfeld was given a suspension by the NHL, but due to a favorable court order, he was able to coach in the fourth game of the series.
In protest, referee Dave Newell and linesmen Gord Broseker and Ray Scapinello refused to work the game. Three off-ice officials (Paul McInnis, Jim Sullivan and Vin Godleski)were tracked down to work the game.
The next season, the Devils once again slipped below .500 and missed the playoffs. Among the post-season player changes Lamoriello made in the off-season was the signing of two Soviet stars: Viacheslav Fetisov and Sergei Starikov.
The Devils drafted Fetisov years earlier in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft, but the Soviet Government did not allow Fetisov (who was a member of the national team) to leave the country. Shortly after, the Devils signed Fetisov's defense partner, Alexei Kasatonov.
The team changed coaches midway through each of the next two seasons.
Schoenfeld was replaced with John Cunniff in 1989–90 and Tom McVie was hired midway through the 1990–91 season and helmed the team through its third-straight first-round elimination in 1991–92.
Herb Brooks (who coached the 1980 U.S. Olympic "Miracle on Ice" team) was brought in for the 1992–93 season, but when the team yet again was eliminated in the first round, he was fired and replaced by former Montreal Canadiens Head Coach Jacques Lemaire.
1993–2000: Championship Franchise
Under Jacques Lemaire, the team played during the 1993–94 regular season with a lineup that included defensemen Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer and Ken Daneyko; forwards Stephane Richer, John MacLean, Bobby Holik and Claude Lemieux; and goaltenders Chris Terreri and Martin Brodeur (the latter goaltender was honored as the NHL's top rookie with the Calder Memorial Trophy.
The Devils scored 330 times in the regular season and set a franchise record with 106 points, second behind the New York Rangers in the Atlantic Division. The Devils and Rangers met in an Eastern Conference Finals match-up, which went seven games. Going into Game 6 in New Jersey, the Devils led the series three games to two.
Before the game, Rangers captain Mark Messier guaranteed that the Rangers would win Game 6. Messier led his team back, netting a hat-trick to help the Rangers overcome an early 2–0 Devils lead and force a decisive content.
In Game 7, the Devils' Valeri Zelepukin tied the score at 1–1 with 7.7 seconds remaining, but the Devils were defeated in double overtime on a goal by Stephane Matteau.
Despite the setback, the team returned to the Eastern Conference Finals during the lockout-shortened 1994–95 season and defeated the Philadelphia Flyers four games to two.
They swept the heavily favored Detroit Red Wings to win New Jersey's first-ever Stanley Cup, as they brought the Cup across the Hudson River from New York, after the Rangers had won it the year before.
The 1995 Devils team became the first to give the players a day with the Stanley Cup, a tradition that lives on with each Cup winner. Claude Lemieux was awarded the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoffs MVP.
The success came amid constant rumors that the team would move for the third time in its history to Nashville. Staring at the prospect of losing the team, the state agreed to fund a renovation of the Devils' arena.
The Devils missed the playoffs by two points the following season with a 37–33–12 record. They were beaten by the Tampa Bay Lightning for the last playoff spot in the East on the last day of the season, after a 5–2 loss to the Ottawa Senators in a must-win game.
It marked the first time in 26 years that a defending Cup champion failed to reach the playoffs. For the remainder of the decade, the Devils won at least 45 games every season, but were unable to make a deep playoff run.
Despite posting 104 points in the 1996–97 season and 107 in 1997–98, they were ousted by the Rangers four games to one in the second round of the 1997 playoffs and in the first round by the Senators four games to two a year later.
Lemaire resigned after that season and was replaced by assistant Robbie Ftorek. However, the next season ended as the previous one, with a first-round loss, this time to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Late in the 1999–2000 season, Lamoriello made the decision to fire Ftorek and replace him with Assistant Coach Larry Robinson, which the New York Post's Mark Everson described as "pure panic" at the prospect of another early-round playoff elimination.
The Devils were in position to reach the playoffs, but Lamoriello reacted to a stretch of 17 games in which the team went 5–10–2. New Jersey followed the move by defeating the Florida Panthers, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Philadelphia Flyers during the post-season to make the Finals.
In the Finals, the Devils reached the top again, defeating the defending champion Dallas Stars in six games to win the Stanley Cup for the second time.
Veterans such as Stevens, Holik, Niedermayer and Brodeur were joined by new players acquired in the intervening five years, including Patrik Elias, Petr Sykora, Jason Arnott, Alexander Mogilny and Calder Trophy recipient Scott Gomez.
The Devils' second championship run included a come-from-behind victory in the Conference Finals. They trailed the Flyers three games to one, but rebounded to win three-straight games and the series. This was the first time in NHL Conference Finals history that a 3–1 series deficit was surmounted.
This series featured a hit that captain Scott Stevens laid on Flyers center Eric Lindros in the seventh game, which effectively ended Lindros' career in Philadelphia. Stevens was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy, as the Devils clinched the Stanley Cup on Arnott's goal in double-overtime of Game 6 in Dallas.
In 2000, McMullen sold the team to Puck Holdings (an affiliate of YankeeNets) for $176 million.
The owners wanted to program Devils games on what eventually became the YES Network and move the team to a new arena in Newark, but neither of these proposals became reality under Puck Holdings' ownership.
For the start of the next season, Lamoriello was appointed CEO of both the Devils and the New Jersey Nets National Basketball Association team. He remained at the helm of the basketball team until it was sold with the intention of moving it to Brooklyn in 2004.
2001–2007: Third Cup and NHL lockout
Led by the Elias-Arnott-Sykora line (which was called "The A Line") on offense and the goaltending of Brodeur (who appeared in a record 97 games between the regular season and playoffs), the Devils reached the Stanley Cup Finals for the second-straight year in 2001. They lost the series to the Colorado Avalanche despite leading 3–2.
John Madden became the first player in franchise history to win the Frank J. Selke Trophy for top defensive forward.
In the 2001–02 season, they were expected to be contenders once again, and they finished the season as the third-best team in the Atlantic Division, with 95 points.
The Devils entered the playoffs as a sixth seed, but lost in the first round to the third-seeded Carolina Hurricanes.
In 2003, the Devils finished first in the Atlantic Division with 108 points.
Their playoff run included a seven-game Conference Final series victory, decided in the final three minutes on a goal by forward Jeff Friese, over the Ottawa Senators. In the Stanley Cup Finals, the Devils and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim had a back-and-forth battle, as both teams won all of their home games.
The Devils brought the Stanley Cup to New Jersey for a third time, defeating the Mighty Ducks in the seventh game of the Finals in New Jersey.
After the series, Daneyko (a long-time fan favorite) announced his retirement. Brodeur was awarded the Vezina Trophy as outstanding goaltender in the regular season for the first time in his career, having won 41 games in the regular season to top the NHL.
In the 2003–04 season, Brodeur took home the Vezina Trophy again. Despite losing team captain Scott Stevens in the 38th game of the season to a concussion, the Devils finished second in the Atlantic Division with 100 points.
With the sixth seed in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Devils lost to the Philadelphia Flyers four games to one.
In March of 2004, near the end of the season, Lehman Brothers executive Jeff Vanderbeek purchased a controlling interest from Puck Holdings and resigned from Lehman Brothers to assume full-time ownership. He had been a minority owner since the 2000 sale.
Like Puck Holdings/YankeeNets, Vanderbeek largely left the Devils in Lamoriello's hands. Vanderbeek was a strong proponent of the proposed arena in Newark which first received funding from the city council during Puck Holdings' ownership in 2002.
After legal battles over both eminent domain and the city's financial participation in the arena project, the final deal was approved by council in October of 2004, during the early months of the lockout, and the groundbreaking occurred almost exactly a year later.
Nonetheless in January of 2006, financial issues threatened to halt the deal, as the Devils did not provide the city with a required letter of credit until the last possible day.
Though construction was well underway, in late summer 2006, new Mayor of Newark Cory Booker promised to reevaluate the deal and considered backing out.
In October, Booker conceded there would be "a first-class arena built in the city of Newark, whether we like it or not" and soon after the Devils struck a deal including both property and monetary givebacks that appeased city officials.
The arena, which was named the Prudential Center when Newark-based Prudential Financial purchased naming rights in early 2007, opened shortly after the start of the 2007–08 season.
The 2004–05 season was canceled due to the lockout; many Devils players played in European leagues and in the hockey world championships.
Patrik Elias (who was playing in the Russian Superleague) contracted hepatitis A. Faced with Elias' indefinite recovery timetable, plus the loss of defensive stalwarts Scott Niedermayer to free agency and Scott Stevens to retirement, Lamoriello signed veteran defenseman Dan McGillis and two former Devils, winger Alexander Mogilny and defenseman Vladimir Malakhov, none of whom finished the season on the ice.
In July of 2005, the team announced that Head Coach Pat Burns would not return for the 2005–06 season after being diagnosed with cancer for the second time in little more than a year. Assistant Coach Larry Robinson, the team's head coach from 2000 to 2002, was promoted to start the season.
The Devils struggled early in the 2005–06 season, ending the 2005 calendar year with a 16–18–5 record. Robinson resigned as head coach on December 19, and Lamoriello moved down to the bench.
Once Elias returned from his bout with hepatitis, the team quickly turned around, finishing 46–27–9 after a season-ending 11-game winning streak capped with a 4–3 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
During that final victory, which clinched the Devils' sixth division title, Brian Gionta set a new team record for goals in a season with 48, topping Pat Verbeek's 46. The win streak to close the year was also an NHL record.
The Devils won their first round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Rangers four games to none, but were eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes in the next round.
In the off-season, the Devils hired former Montreal Canadiens head coach Claude Julien to replace Lamoriello behind the bench. However, in the last week of the 2006–07 Devils season, with just three games left, Julien was fired, and Lamoriello once again reprised his coaching role.
The Devils went on to win their seventh Atlantic Division title and earn the second seed in the Eastern Conference after finishing ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins by two points.
They then defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in the first round, but fell to the Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference Semi-finals in five. The conclusion of the series marked the end of the Devils' time at the Continental Airlines Arena.
2007–2013: Moving to Newark and Returning to the Stanley Cup Finals
Before the move to Newark, the Devils hired their 14th coach in a 26-season span, Brent Sutter. As the Devils' pre-season came to an end, prospects Nicklas Bergfors and David Clarkson made the final roster.
The Devils opened their new arena, the Prudential Center, on October 27, 2007, against Ottawa after opening the season with a nine-game road trip. The game ended with a 4–1 win for Ottawa.
In the last game of the 2007–08 season against the Rangers, the Devils won in a shootout, giving them home ice advantage over the Rangers in the playoffs.
The Devils lost the series against the Rangers 4–1, losing all three games at home. Brodeur won the Vezina Trophy for the fourth time in five years for his performance in the regular season.
For the 2008–09 season, the Devils signed Brian Rolston and Bobby Holik, both making their second stints with the team.
The Devils were forced to play without Brodeur for over three months after he tore a biceps tendon in November, but strong play by backup goalie Scott Clemmensen kept the Devils atop the Atlantic Division.
After his return, Brodeur broke Patrick Roy's record for regular season wins on March 17, 2009, with his 552nd victory while Patrik Elias became the franchise's all-time leading scorer with his 702nd point. The season also served as a break-out year for 24-year old Zach Parise, who led the team with an impressive 45 goals and 94 points.
In the opening round of the 2009 playoffs, the Devils were eliminated in a Game 7 loss in which the Hurricanes scored two goals in the last minute and twenty seconds to erase a 3–2 Devils lead.
In the off-season, the Devils announced that Sutter was stepping down from his position, citing personal and family reasons; he became the coach of the Calgary Flames shortly afterward. Jacques Lemaire returned to the head coach position.
During the 2009–10 season, the Devils made a trade to acquire star left wing Ilya Kovalchuk from the Atlanta Thrashers.
The Devils had their 12th 100-point season in their last 15 attempts. They finished the season in first place in the Atlantic Division, second in the Eastern Conference, and played in the post-season for the 13th-straight time.
Their seeding matched them up against Philadelphia in the first round, and they were eliminated four games to one.
After Lemaire retired from coaching, the Devils announced that the team's all-time leading scorer, John MacLean would become their new head coach.
During the off-season, the Devils signed Kovalchuk to a 15-year, $100 million contract, keeping him in New Jersey until the conclusion of the 2024–25 season; the move came after the NHL had rejected a 17-year contract for allegedly circumventing the NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
The League still penalized the Devils for trying to circumvent the NHL salary cap with a money fine, a third-round draft pick in 2011 and one future first-round pick within the next four seasons.
MacLean led the team to a record of 9–22–2, and after sitting in last place in the NHL on December 23, he was removed in favor of Lemaire, coming out of retirement for his third stint as head coach of the Devils and second in less than two seasons.
Just a few days later, struggling captain Jamie Langenbrunner was traded back to Dallas after nine seasons with New Jersey.
With the injured Parise missing most of the regular season, the team struggled offensively, finishing last in goals scored.
Despite this, the Devils managed a mid-season turnaround, winning 22 out of the next 25 games. However, the Devils still failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 1996, ending their 13-year streak.
In the 2011 off-season, Lemaire once again retired and was replaced by former Florida Panthers head coach Peter DeBoer. DeBoer's new system helped develop a strong offense, which had seven 40-point scorers by the season's end and broke an NHL record for the best regular season penalty kill since before the Expansion Era. Four players – Kovalchuk, Elias, David Clarkson and newly named captain Zach Parise – scored 30 or more goals, with Kovalchuk and Elias also finishing the season among the NHL's top ten-point scorers. Rookie forward Adam Henrique totaled 51 points and earned a Calder Trophy nomination for rookie of the year.
As the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference, the Devils defeated Southeast champions Florida before overcoming both divisional rivals, the Flyers and Rangers, to win the Conference and return to the Finals after nine years.
Facing the Los Angeles Kings in the Finals, the Devils managed to not be swept after losing the first three games in the series, but still lost the Cup in six games.
During the 2012 off-season, Zach Parise signed a 13-year, $98 million contract with the Minnesota Wild, leaving the Devils after one season as team captain.
The Devils entered the lockout-shortened season with Bryce Salvador as their new captain. However, the Devils failed to repeat the performance of the prior year, finishing 19–19–10 in 48 games and missed the playoffs.
2013–present: The Harris–Blitzer Era
The Devils' longtime financial struggles worsened during the 2012–13 season and at one point, the team needed to borrow $30 million to meet their payroll. This prompted owner Jeff Vanderbeek to sell the team. Andrew Barroway (the attorney who loaned the team the $30 million) was one potential buyer.
Ultimately, the team was sold to Josh Harris (the owner of the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers) and David S. Blitzer, for over $320 million. The sale was formally announced on August 15, 2013.
During the offseason, Kovalchuk announced he would retire from the NHL, expressing a desire to return home to Russia along with his family.
In addition, 30-goal scorer David Clarkson also left the Devils, signing a 7-year deal with Toronto. With the departures of Parise and now Kovalchuk and Clarkson, the Devils were in desperate need of offensive help.
In an effort to full the void, the Devils signed veteran Jaromir Jagr (who despite being 41 years old at the time) led the team scoring in the 2013–14 season.
During the 2013 NHL Entry Draft (hosted in Newark), the Devils acquired goaltender Cory Schneider from Vancouver in exchange for the Devils' first round draft pick. Schneider split goaltending duties with the 41-year-old Brodeur, which led to some controversy over who should be the starting goalie for the Devils.
Despite Schneider's 1.97 goals against average leading the NHL, the Devils missed the playoffs by five points due to lagging offensive production.
In the 2014 offseason, the Devils saw the departure of NHL all-time wins leader Martin Brodeur, who was not re-signed and subsequently joined the St. Louis Blues. Brodeur (who had spent his entire 21-year career with the Devils) played only seven games with St. Louis before announcing his retirement.
The 2014–15 season opened with the Devils' roster suffering with injuries and consequently the team accumulated losses.
On December 26, 2014, Peter DeBoer was fired from the head coach position. To replace him, Lamoriello invested in two head coaches, former Devils player Scott Stevens (who had been DeBoer's assistant for two years) and Adam Oates (with Lamoriello himself supervising the team during the first months).
The Devils finished the season as the sixth-worst team in the league, 20 points away from a playoff spot and with just one victory in the last 11 games.
During the 2015 offseason, Ray Shero was named the Devils' new general manager, and John Hynes was named as the new head coach.
Lou Lamoriello resigned as team president and became the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, replacing Dave Nonis, who was fired at the end of the season.
Jerseys
The team colors are red, black and white, and they can be seen on both the home and road jerseys.
The home jersey, which was the team's road jersey until the NHL swapped home and road colors in 2003, is dominantly red in color. There are three black and white stripes, one across each arm and one across the waist.
The road jersey (the team's former home jersey) is white in color with a similar design, except that the three stripes are black and red.
The shoulders are draped with black on both uniforms. Before the 1992–93 season, the uniforms were green and red with slightly different striping, leading some fans to affectionately refer to them as "Christmas colors."
The Devils have yet to introduce a third jersey and are one of only two NHL teams (Detroit is the other) never to have worn one.
Lamoriello had stated that he did not ever intend to introduce a third jersey for the Devils, saying, "I don't believe in it," Lamoriello said. "I strongly believe that you have to have one identity as a team. We want to create a feeling that our home and away jerseys are special and that it means something special to wear one."
Unlike most teams, the Devils kept the same uniform design when the NHL switched to the Rbk Edge jerseys by Reebok for the 2007–08 season.
On August 20, 2009, Lamoriello announced that the Devils would wear their classic red, white and green jerseys on their Saint Patrick's Day 2010 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Lamoriello stated, "The original red, green and white jerseys are a part of our history here in New Jersey. We have always been an organization that takes great pride in its tradition. This is something we believe our fans will enjoy for that one special night."
Martin Brodeur wore a special replica helmet of the one from his first NHL game as the Devils defeated the Penguins 5–2. The throwback jerseys were used seven more times, three of which took place on St. Patrick's Day.
In 2014, they were used twice: January 26 against the Rangers in the 2014 NHL Stadium Series and March 18 against the Bruins.
Logos
The New Jersey Devils' logo is a monogram of the letters "N" and "J", rendered with devil horns at the top of the "J" and a pointed tail at the bottom.
The monogram was red with a green outline when the team began playing in New Jersey, but the outline color was changed to black in 1992 due to difficulties in making the green color consistent between its logo and jerseys.
The logo sits inside an open black circle, and lies on a field of white in the middle of the chest on both uniforms.
Before the Devils' move from Colorado in 1982, then-owner John McMullen's wife designed a prototype logo which was then modified by a professional graphic design and marketing firm & became the green-and-red logo used by the team for the first ten years in New Jersey.
Mascot
The mascot is "NJ Devil", a 7-foot (2.1 m) tall devil who plays into the myth of the Jersey Devil.
NJ Devil keeps the crowd excited, signs autographs, participates in entertainment during the intermissions, skates across the ice, throws T-shirts and runs throughout the aisles of the arena to high five fans.
Prior to 1993, the mascot was "Slapshot" which was a large Devils hockey puck that interacted with the fans.
The man inside the costume resigned after he was accused of touching three women inappropriately while in costume. The lawsuit and all charges were dropped as nothing could be proven. To remove the stigma of the lawsuit, Slapshot was retired and has not returned since.
Style of Play
The New Jersey Devils have been known as a defense-first team since Head Coach Jacques Lemaire's first tenure, although the Devils have twice led the Eastern Conference in goals scored, once leading the NHL in goals scored (295 goals for in 2000–01).
Lemaire gave the Devils their defensive mantra when he implemented a system commonly called the "neutral zone trap."
This system is designed to force teams to turn over the puck in the neutral zone leading to a counterattack. This style of play led the team to be chastised by the media and hockey purists for "making the NHL boring."
Nevertheless, the Devils were successful using this style of play, and Devils Head Coach Larry Robinson asserted that the Montreal Canadiens teams he played on in the 1970s (who also won the Cup many times) used a form of the trap, though it did not have a name.
Under Head Coach Brent Sutter, the team adopted less of a trap and more of a transitional, aggressive forechecking style of play which also emphasized puck possession and instilled the cycle to start the 2007–08 season. This led to many high scoring games early in the season for New Jersey.
The Devils went on to score 244 goals in the 2008–09 season, the most the team had scored in eight seasons.
However, with the return of Lemaire as head coach, the Devils resumed a more defense-oriented playing style, scoring just 222 goals and allowing only 191, an NHL best in the 2009–10 season, earning Martin Brodeur his fifth William M. Jennings Trophy. Lemaire has since re-entered retirement and was replaced by former Florida Head Coach Peter DeBoer on July 19, 2011.
The team showed greater offensive prowess during the 2011–12 season, employing a more aggressive forecheck centered on Ilya Kovalchuk.
Under DeBoer's system, according to Lamoriello, the Devils' defenseman were often sent into the offensive zone to apply pressure on the opposing team's defense. After DeBoer's dismissal, Adam Oates had a similar approach improving the Devils' offense, investing on the versatility of the forwards.
Rivalries
The New Jersey Devils developed strong rivalries with two teams out of geographical proximity and frequent playoff confrontations.
The "Battle of the Hudson River" with the New York Rangers is so-called as the Devils' arenas in the New York metropolitan area were always less than ten miles and across the Hudson River from Madison Square Garden.
New Jersey's proximity with Pennsylvania also led to a rivalry with the Philadelphia Flyers (also known as the "Battle of the Jersey Turnpike"). The Flyers have a large following in South Jersey and train in Voorhees Township.
Both teams had the most titles of the Atlantic Division prior to the 2013 realignment (with nine to the Devils and six to the Flyers).
Players & Personnel
Team Captains
- Don Lever, 1982–84
- Mel Bridgman, 1984–87
- Kirk Muller, 1987–91
- Bruce Driver, 1991–92
- Scott Stevens, 1992–2004
- Scott Niedermayer, 2004
- Patrik Elias, 2006–07
- Jamie Langenbrunner, 2007–11
- Zach Parise, 2011–12
- Bryce Salvador, 2013–15
- Andy Greene, 2015–present
Retired Numbers
| No. | Player | Position | Career | Date of retirement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Ken Daneyko | D | 1983–2003 | March 24, 2006 |
| 4 | Scott Stevens | D | 1991–2005 | February 3, 2006 |
| 27 | Scott Niedermayer | D | 1991–2004 | December 16, 2011 |
| 30 | Martin Brodeur | G | 1990–2014 | February 9, 2016 |
Hall of Fame Honorees
Eight Devils players have been inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Peter Stastny (who played for the Devils from 1989–93) was inducted in 1998. A center who defected from Czechoslovakia, Stastny was one of the NHL's top goal scorers in the 1980s. In 2001, he was joined in the Hall of Fame by Devils defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov who was one of the first Soviet players in the NHL. Fetisov played for the team in the 1989–90 season and again from 1990 to 1995.
Scott Stevens (a Devils defenseman from 1991 to 2004 and long-time team captain) was inducted in 2007 in his first year of eligibility. In December of 2014, Stevens returned as head coach for the Devils' defense.
Igor Larionov (a forward with a 15-year career in the NHL who spent the 2003–04 season with the Devils) was inducted in 2008.
Two Devils centers were inducted in 2011: Doug Gilmour (who had played for the team from 1996 to 1998) and Joe Nieuwendyk (a member of the club from 2001 to 2003).
In 2013, the Hall of Fame again inducted two former Devils players: left wing Brendan Shanahan who had played for the team from 1987 to 1991 and again for the 2008–09 season, and defenseman Scott Niedermayer, who was a Devil from 1992 to 2004.
In 2009, Lou Lamoriello (the Devils president and general manager from 1987 to 2015) was inducted into the Hall as a Builder.
Two Devils head coaches have also been inducted in the category.
Herb Brooks, who coached the 1980 U.S. Olympic team to victory in the "Miracle on Ice" and served as Devils head coach in the 1992–93 season, was inducted in 2006. Pat Burns, head coach from 2002 to 2004, was inducted posthumously in 2014.
Longtime Devils broadcaster Mike Emrick was the 2008 recipient of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award.
Three Devils head coaches had been inducted as players prior to joining the Devils organization.
Jacques Lemaire (a 12-season NHL veteran forward who played primarily for the Canadiens) was inducted in 1984 and served as the Devils head coach from 1993 to 1998 and 2009 to 2011.
Larry Robinson (who spent most of his 20-season career with the Canadiens) was inducted in 1995 and subsequently served as Devils head coach from 2000–02 and in 2005.
Adam Oates (a center with 19 seasons in the NHL who was inducted in 2012) began serving as the Devils' head coach for offense in December of 2014.
Head Coaches
- Bill MacMillan, 1982–83
- Tom McVie, 1983–84
- Doug Carpenter, 1984–88
- Jim Schoenfeld, 1988–89
- John Cunniff, 1989–91
- Tom McVie, 1991–92
- Herb Brooks, 1992–93
- Jacques Lemaire, 1993–98
- Robbie Ftorek, 1998–2000
- Larry Robinson, 2000–02
- Kevin Constantine, 2002
- Pat Burns, 2002–05
- Larry Robinson, 2005
- Lou Lamoriello, 2005–06
- Claude Julien, 2006–07
- Lou Lamoriello, 2007
- Brent Sutter, 2007–09
- Jacques Lemaire, 2009–10
- John MacLean, 2010
- Jacques Lemaire, 2010–111
- Peter DeBoer, 2011–14
- Adam Oates and Scott Stevens (co-head coaches), 2014–15
- John Hynes, 2015–present
- Note: Jacques Lemaire took over as interim head coach in the middle of the season after John MacLean was fired in 2010.
General Managers
- Bill MacMillan (1982–83)
- Max McNab (1983–87)
- Lou Lamoriello (1987–2015)
- Ray Shero (2015–present)
Season-by-Season Record
This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the New Jersey Devils.
(Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against)
| Season | GP | W | L | OTL | Pts | GF | GA | Finish | Playoffs |
| 2011–12 | 82 | 48 | 28 | 6 | 102 | 228 | 209 | 4th, Atlantic | Lost in Stanley Cup Finals, 2–4 (Kings) |
| 2012–13 | 48 | 19 | 19 | 10 | 48 | 112 | 129 | 5th, Atlantic | Did not qualify |
| 2013–14 | 82 | 35 | 29 | 18 | 88 | 194 | 206 | 6th, Metropolitan | Did not qualify |
| 2014–15 | 82 | 32 | 36 | 14 | 78 | 181 | 216 | 7th, Metropolitan | Did not qualify |
| 2015–16 | 82 | 38 | 36 | 8 | 84 | 184 | 208 | 7th, Metropolitan | Did not qualify |
Franchise Records
Scoring leaders
These are the top-ten-point-scorers in the New Jersey Devils franchise history.
| Player | Seasons | Pos | Template:Abbr | Template:Abbr | Template:Abbr | Template:Abbr | Template:Abbr | Template:Abbr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Patrik Elias | 1995–present | LW | 1,240 | 408 | 617 | 1,025 | 172 | 549 |
| John MacLean | 1983–98 | RW | 934 | 347 | 354 | 701 | 42 | 1,168 |
| Kirk Muller | 1984–91 | LW | 556 | 185 | 335 | 520 | −62 | 572 |
| Scott Gomez | 1999–2007 2014–15 |
C | 606 | 123 | 361 | 484 | 49 | 385 |
| Scott Niedermayer | 1991–04 | D | 892 | 112 | 364 | 476 | 172 | 478 |
| Bobby Holik | 1992–09 | C | 786 | 202 | 270 | 472 | 134 | 863 |
| Aaron Broten | 1982–90 | C | 641 | 162 | 307 | 469 | −72 | 367 |
| Scott Stevens | 1991–2004 | D | 956 | 93 | 337 | 430 | 282 | 1,007 |
| Zach Parise | 2005–12 | LW | 502 | 194 | 216 | 410 | 57 | 177 |
| Bruce Driver | 1983–95 | D | 702 | 83 | 316 | 399 | 6 | 534 |
Regular Season Records
- Most goals in a season: Brian Gionta, 48 (2005–06)
- Most assists in a season: Scott Stevens, 60 (1993–94)
- Most points in a season: Patrik Elias, 96 (40 G, 56 A) (2000–01)
- Most penalty minutes in a season: Krzysztof Oliwa, 295 (1997–98)
- Most wins in a season: Martin Brodeur, 48 (2006–07)
- Most power play goals in a season: Brian Gionta, 24 (2005–06)
Playoff records
- Most goals in a playoff season: Claude Lemieux, 13 (1995)
- Most goals by a defenseman in a playoff season: Brian Rafalski, 7 (2001)
- Most assists in a playoff season: Scott Niedermayer, 16 (2003)
- Most points in a single playoff game: Patrik Sundstrom, 8 (3 G, 5 A) (April 22, 1988) (also the NHL record)
- Most points in a playoff season: Patrik Elias, 23 (9 G, 14 A) (2001)
- Most points by a defenseman in a playoff season: Brian Rafalski and Scott Niedermayer, 18 (2001, 2003)
- Most penalty minutes in a playoff season: Perry Anderson, 113 (1988)
Team records
- Most points in a season: 111 (2000-01)
- Most wins in a season: 51 (2008-09)
- Longest season-ending win streak: 11 (2005–06)
Affiliate Teams
TheUtica Devils were the American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate team of the New Jersey Devils from 1987 to 1993 & then the Albany River Rats from 1993 to 2006.
The affiliation was broken once the Devils bought the Lowell Lock Monsters and renamed them the Lowell Devils (who in 2010) were relocated and became the Albany Devils.
In 2006, the Devils purchased the ECHL franchise Trenton Titans, who were then renamed the Trenton Devils.
Following four seasons of on-ice struggles and financial losses, the Devils suspended operations of the Trenton franchise in 2011. (The team would return as the Trenton Titans the following year, playing two more seasons before folding altogether in 2013).
Television & Radio
Television: (MSG, MSG Plus and MSG 2)
- Steve Cangialosi or Mike Emrick: play-by-play
- Ken Daneyko: color commentator
- John MacLean: studio and color commentator
- Deb Placey: TV analyst
- Stan Fischler: TV analyst
Radio: (WFAN)
- Matt Loughlin: play-by-play
- Sherry Ross: color commentator