Most Hated New Jersey Devils Opponents Of All Time

To get us through this quarantine, Pucks and Pitchforks let the New Jersey Devils fans vote on their most hated rival in the history of the franchise. The results were interesting, but the ending was exactly what you thought it might be.

The New Jersey Devils have been around for less than 40 years. Now, four decades is a long time when it comes to any length of time, but when it comes to building rivalries in sports, it’s not a long time at all. The most hated rivalries in sports go back sometimes 100 years, especially in baseball. In hockey, the rivalries seems to transcend on the ice even today.

Since the Devils came into the league in 1982, they’ve built some great rivalries between New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and even some strange teams like the Carolina Hurricanes and Tampa Bay Lightning. Rivalries have extended well beyond just the “team versus team” variety. There are players that we just absolutely hate, even if they’ve been retired for years.

Sometimes it’s one play that makes us hate a player. Someone who may have hurt one of our stars in a crucial moment. Other players, we hate because they broke our hearts. The way they acted in victory made it so much worse. There are so many reasons to hate an opposing player, and the Devils have faced just about every scenario.

Being a team that makes the playoffs almost every year for three decades, there are going to be rivalries to be had. If the Devils go in the direction we hope, there are many more rivalries we could be having in the future. For now, these are the players we hate the most, as voted by you, and their biggest transgression against us.

8. Brian Leetch

Players Taken Out On The Way: Nikita Kucherov and Rob Scuderi

This was the most surprising player on this list. Brian Leetch is a long-time New York Rangers defenseman that for a long time had his name synonymous with the team we hate for 17 years. He was on the team that beat the Devils in the Eastern Conference Finals in 1994. In that game, Leetch pulled out this spin-o-rama goal that put the Rangers up 1-0.

The reason we were so surprised was because of his opponents. Nikita Kucherov is hated by Devils faithful for giving Sami Vatanen a concussion during the 2018 NHL Playoffs. Rob Scuderi is the one who got hurt during the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals, leading to a major penalty that ended in three goals on the power play. Still, Leetch won both matchups, even if he just skated by Kucherov (53.8% to 46.2%).

The Moment He Became The Enemy:

The real moment was when he beat us during that Eastern Conference Finals. He obviously wasn’t our favorite player, and fought Devils stars multiple times, (there’s an especially good fight between Leetch and Pat Verbeek from the late 80s). Still, plenty of players have fights with Devils, and with how often the Rangers and Devils played Leetch was bound to fight the Devils often.

Leetch was actually much better in the Stanley Cup Finals than he was in the Eastern Conference Finals. He only had that one goal and then five assists. He had 11 points in the seven-game series. It was an interesting pick by the fans, but the pick the fans made. Hating the Rangers knows no bounds.

7. Ilya Kovalchuk

Players Taken Out On The Way: Darcy Tucker and Adam Graves

This one might be the most controversial. This is the only player on this list who is here because of what he did while he was a member of the New Jersey Devils. He left the Devils worst than any player in franchise history. This fanbase has seen some great players leave unceremoniously. Scott Gomez, Bobby Holik and John MacLean eventually went to play for the New York Rangers. Zach Parise and David Clarkson left to go home. However, the way Kovalchuk retired makes us hate him.

Some Devils fans realize how much Kovalchuk actually helped the Devils in the long run. He could have retired after the years where he was making more than $11 million, which would have cost the Devils millions against the salary cap. Still, leaving when the Devils needed him to lead this team, pushing the franchise into an early rebuild, and watching them miss the playoffs in what will be seven times in the next eight seasons.

The Moment He Became The Enemy:

It was a July afternoon. The Devils lost Clarkson just a week earlier to Toronto. They spent big money on Ryane Clowe, Michael Ryder and re-signing Marek Zidlicky. The team was doing its best to rebound after missing the playoffs in a lockout-shortened season. With Kovalchuk in tow, the Devils still had the chance to be a contender.

Then, Kovalchuk retired and the Devils quickly became a team too old to do much, with a prospect pool that might be the worst in all of the NHL. Most of their roster was near retirement age and they were looking at Kovalchuk to carry the team to prosperity. Instead of stepping up, he went to a league where his life could be simple while playing at home.

What makes it worse is how Kovalchuk performs since he returned to the NHL. His contract demands made it impossible to trade him before he used the 36+ loophole to return. This past season, he scored the deciding shootout goal in a win for the Montreal Canadiens. In his only other game against the Devils, he scored and the Los Angeles Kings won 5-1. Gross.

6. Sidney Crosby

Players Taken Out On The Way: Chris Pronger and Jeremy Roenick

Sidney Crosby is one of the most hated players in the entire NHL. It has a lot to do with the fact he’s at worst in the top two players in all of hockey, but he doesn’t help himself with how he acts. There has been times where he complains too much, but to be fair it does lead to him getting calls. If it works, how much can we hate him for it? Well it turns out, a lot.

It also doesn’t help that most Devils fans are Americans, and Crosby ruined then Devils star Zach Parise’s moment in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Parise tied the game with mere seconds left, just for Crosby to beat Ryan Miller in overtime to take the gold medal away from this country.

The Moment He Became The Enemy:

This one’s hard to bring to one specific moment. Crosby’s career has had weird ties to the Devils for a long time. He played his first game ever against the Devils, losing 5-1 but getting his first career point (an assist on a Marc Recchi goal). He also had a goal against the Devils two years ago in overtime where he knocked the puck out of thin air.

It’s probably the Olympics where things went awry for our thoughts about Crosby. Hearing about the “Golden Goal” when it should have been our boy Zach Parise who came out of that tournament a hero was too much for us to bare.

It’s weird, but this might just be more about Crosby’s standing around the league as much as his direct hate as a New Jersey Devils’ rival. The Devils and Penguins have never played in the playoffs with Crosby on the team. Everything about this rivalry was about regular season.

5. Mark Messier

Players Taken Out On The Way: Patrick Roy and Wayne Gretzky

This is where things start to get personal. Mark Messier is a player who haunted the early years of those great New Jersey Devils team. Obviously, he was the captain of the New York Rangers, the other side of the Hudson River Rivalry. We talked about the time Mark Messier almost became a member of the New Jersey Devils, but it didn’t happen, and now he will always be a rival.

Let’s not waste any time, we know why he’s here.

The Moment He Became The Enemy:

The guarantee. It’s all you need to hear, and you know exactly what we’re talking about. Before Game 6 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, Messier made one of the most famous guarantees in sports, as the Devils were just one win away from going to their first Stanley Cup Finals in franchise history.

“We know we are going to go in there and win Game 6 and bring it back to the Garden,” is the exact quote. It was then placed in huge font across the back of the New York Post, and the rest is now history.

Not only did he live up to the guarantee, but he scored a hat trick against a young Martin Brodeur to make sure the Rangers won that game. He knew what he had gotten himself into before the game, but he wasn’t going to let the Rangers lose. It had been too long since a championship had gone to the Big Apple. Messier’s big smile, which we hate with all our might, went to life Lord Stanley’s Cup before we ever knew what that felt like.

4. Tom Wilson

Players Taken Out On The Way: Sidney Crosby, Eric Staal and Pavel Kubina

This one might be recency bias since Tom Wilson is one of the most hated players in the NHL, but he isn’t without his transgressions against the New Jersey Devils. He has multiple infractions against Devils players, and was even kicked out of a game back in 2018. What makes it worse is how vehemently hard Washington Capitals fans and some in the media defend his antics, despite his very deserving reputation.

It seems players like this just can’t help themselves. Despite having the skill of a 30-goal scorer, he still has to take cheap shots and hit people just a tick too late. It’s close enough that people say it should be fine, but most of us see what it truly is. It’s a player who gets more out of getting away with hits than scoring.

The Moment He Became The Enemy:

He’s been a league enemy for a long time, but the moment we all decided he was 100 percent against us was after a hit on Brett Seney back in November of 2018.

Brett Seney is 5’9. Tom Wilson is 6’4. The puck was away from Seney’s stick for a while, he clearly wasn’t trying to make a hockey play anymore and Wilson did nothing to avoid the hit, or showed no reluctance after the fact.

It didn’t help the hate when the NHL decided it wasn’t enough for Wilson to face suspension, despite the fact he was only back from his previous suspension for nine games. The fact that he just keeps pushing the envelope, and it almost hurt a Devils player makes him infinitely hatable.

2. Tie Domi

Players Taken Out On The Way: Tom Wilson, Brian Leetch, Stéphane Matteau and Henrik Lundqvist

Tie Domi brought his name back into the Zeitgeist of New Jersey Devils fans when he made the cardinal sin of trying to bring down Scott Stevens. Short of calling Martin Brodeur anything but the GOAT, saying bad things about the captain is unforgivable. We wish that was the only thing we hated about Tie Domi.

Still, it’s not Tie Domi’s words that got him on this list. Words only hurt if you let them. Domi made sure he put a more permanent hurt on the Devils, and he might have changed the fortunes for this team in the 2000-01 season.

The Moment He Became The Enemy:

Elbows seem to be an issue for the Devils in the past. This one came at the most crucial time. Domi, with his Toronto Maple Leafs poised to even the series with the Devils 2-2 with less than ten seconds left, hit defenseman Scott Niedermayer with a blind elbow nowhere near the play. Again, the Maple Leafs were up by two and the game was over.

Niedermayer wasn’t even skating as much as he was gliding. He took a hook mere seconds before from Bryan McCabe that changed his direction. Then, as everyone just waited for the clock to run out, Domi comes like a freight train and clocks Niedermayer in the head. For literally no reason.

The Devils ended up beating the Leafs, and Domi was suspended for the rest of the playoffs and eight games the next season. The next game they played with Domi in the lineup, the Devils spent the first period trying to get retribution, and needed to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win the game. The next game, which came just days later, there were 31 penalties between the two teams. This Domi hit had long-standing repercussions. Honestly, we have no idea how this impacted Niedermayer. He had just three points over 12 games for the rest of the playoffs. It’s a play that will have Domi on this list forever.

1. Sean Avery

Players Taken Out On The Way: Matt Cooke, Ulf Samuelsson, Sidney Crosby, Brad Marchand and Tie Domi

Sean Avery went through five different matchups with some of the most hated players in league history, and not one of his matchups were close. He beat Tie Domi 77% to 23%. Brad Marchand went down 78% to 22%. The rest of the matchups, his opponent didn’t even get 10% of the vote. Sean Avery is the most hated person in the history of New Jersey Devils hockey.

The main event of his hatred comes from his very personal rivalry with Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur. He was so terrible, the NHL changed rules because of how Avery would wave his hand and stick in front of Brodeur’s face. When Brodeur and the Devils’ face Avery’s Rangers in the playoffs, Brodeur would not shake Avery’s hand in the handshake line. Just another way Avery made himself the victim despite being the agitator.

The Moment He Became The Enemy:

Probably on February 5, 2007 when he was traded to the New York Rangers. That’s when the name calling started, and the very personal insults. He would call Brodeur fatso, bring up his extra marital affair, and would just hit below the belt as much as he possibly could.

It’s hard to remember, but Avery was only with the Rangers for one full season during his peak. In 2008, he signed a four-year deal with the Dallas Stars, meaning he only spend part of 2006-07 and all of 2007-08 with the Rangers.  He ended his tenure with the Stars for saying other NHL players were getting his… ahem… well it’s a crude term for girlfriends who, god forbid, get other boyfriends after breaking up with someone.

He returned to the Rangers after they picked him up off waivers, undeterred by his remarks and his apparent attitude. His second career was terrible, as he was sent to the AHL on multiple occasions. He was eventually asked not to return to the team, and he retired. His career was short, but he is the most hatable player in NHL history, and Devils fans clearly have him number one on their list.