The New Jersey Devils have had a great start to the season. They have had a ton of injuries, including to their star player Jack Hughes, but they are in a playoff spot at American Thanksgiving. That’s important because statistically, 77% of teams in a playoff spot on this day make the playoffs in the salary cap era.
However, it’s not the only statistic that’s impressive coming out of the first quarter of the season. The Devils fans have shown up for the team despite the lack of big names in the lineup. It’s helped that at the time of this writing, the Devils have won all but one game at home, and that was an overtime loss to the New York Islanders.
The fans have responded to the quality play at the Prudential Center in the best way they can. They are showing up.
We’ve reached U.S. Thanksgiving, one of the big demarcation points on the NHL calendar, which gives us an appropriate number of games to take a snapshot of various trends across the league.
— The Athletic NHL (@TheAthleticNHL) November 26, 2025
Today, we’re analyzing attendance. pic.twitter.com/Vu8Lcs7ttV
The Devils getting to 99.9% capacity this early in the season is incredible. Now, The Rock is one of smaller arenas in the NHL, but it’s still great that fans are filling the arena on a nightly basis.
At the end of last season, the Devils were averaging around 16,154 fans per night, a few hundred fewer than they are averaging this season.
While it’s appreciated that the Devils have come to play, it’s lowkey crazy that they find themselves ahead of the New York Rangers in capacity percentage. Devils fans know all too well that they constantly hear about how they can’t fill the arena or how during every Rangers-Devils matchup at the Prudential Center the Rangers fans will try to fill the arena since they aren’t being priced out.
However, Rangers fans can’t even blame fans of other teams for the Devils' capacity. They haven’t faced their two biggest rivals, the Rangers and Carolina Hurricanes, at home yet. They don’t play the Rangers until March, in a massive mistake by the NHL Schedule Makers.
New Jersey Devils fans should get credit for team's great attendance
It’s still early in the season, but good teams usually see their tickets sales go up after November and December when the team is still in the playoff race. Even without Jack Hughes in the lineup and the laundry list of other injuries, the Devils should remain in the playoff race all season long.
Could the Devils be one of those rare teams that is over 100 percent capacity this season? They are incredibly close right now. It’s possible. The Devils broke their average attendance record in 2022-23, their record-breaking season under Lindy Ruff. They are still a ways away from that right now, but with a few huge matchups and the Hudson River Rivalry still to come, Devils fans could make it happen.