The New Jersey Devils should have a lot of gripes with the NHL schedule. The main gripe has to be their lack of games with the New York Rangers. The way the schedule works every year, the Devils play five of their Metropolitan Division opponents four times in a season and two they only play three times. Not only that, but the Devils only get one home game against their hated rivals.
Rival scheduling aside, the Devils also have 15 back-to-backs, but that’s not the most in the league. There have been multiple years where they’ve had the most back-to-backs in hockey, so this might not be the gripe it has been in the past. It’s still a lot, but with Jake Allen and Jacob Markstrom in net, it shouldn’t be a problem.
And both veteran netminders must have loved one nugget of the schedule. The New Jersey Devils are traveling a lot less than most other teams, even within the division.
NHL Miles Traveled 2025-26
— Bill Speros (@billsperos) July 28, 2025
The 32 NHL teams will travel more than 1.3 million this season, with Pittsburgh and Nashville visiting Sweden, and the Oilers taking a 7,114-mile trip acoss North America.
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Only four teams have less travel scheduled than the New Jersey Devils, and only one of those teams (Toronto Maple Leafs) was a playoff team last season. The Devils were given a gift with an easy travel schedule, which is good for those looking to avoid injuries, rehab with the team, and rest aching bodies, since the Devils aren’t so young anymore.
It’s not a huge surprise the Devils have less travel. They are incredibly close to the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals. Most of those trips, if not all of them, can be done by bus instead of plane. Trips to Pittsburgh, Boston, and Toronto aren’t very far, either.
Meanwhile, the Rangers have to travel 8,000 more miles than the Devils this season. It’s good to see our Hudson River Rivals avoid getting a gift from the NHL for once.
The Devils need to take advantage of what’s in front of them this season. This is a really important year to prove this is a perennial contender and not just a tweener team who has a few more missed playoff appearances ahead of them. The lack of travel will really help going into the playoffs, especially with how many injuries they suffered last season.
If the name of the game in 2025-26 is to stay healthy, this is an important step towards that. While it’s out of their control, it’s good to see one go their way.