Most Hated New Jersey Devils Opponents Of All Time

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.