Unless you’re living under a rock, you might have come across some of the vitriol being shared between New Jersey Devils and Minnesota Wild fans. After the Wild made the move the Devils should have and traded for Quinn Hughes, Devils fans were immediately taken back to July 4, 2012, when the trade went down. Once again, it felt like a star was stolen from New Jersey so they could go to Minnesota.
However, there was a big difference between Zach Parise and Quinn Hughes. For one, the eldest Hughes brother wanted to come to New Jersey. Also, Quinn Hughes was never a member of the Devils. He was on the Vancouver Canucks when the Wild traded for him.
Also, there was no ill will from Devils fans to the Minnesota Wild themselves. They were opportunistic, but they were a casualty of the moment. There was no real evidence of tampering besides Parise and Ryan Suter texting during the playoffs, which is just a rumor.
The New Jersey Devils should build a new rivalry with the Minnesota Wild
And yet, there is some hate on the internet when it comes to the Wild and the Devils. It seems every day there’s another argument on Twitter or one representative or another jumping into Reddit comments and Facebook groups.
The conversations range from delusional to hilarious. And that’s social media in 2026. However, there is money to be made here. Rivalries are money makers. Building new and fun rivalries is even better.
There will be a natural interest in every Minnesota Wild-New Jersey Devils game while Quinn plays there. However, with him failing to sign an extension as of this writing, there are questions there that should be leaned into.
The Devils can’t use social media accounts to tamper with Quinn Hughes, but they can treat it similarly to how they treat the Rangers’ fanbase. Be a little bit of a troll. Get the conversation going and the engagement flowing. Use this moment to make something fun and give Devils fans something to talk about. This would get Jeff Marek and Greg Wyshynski talking about you. When the 32 Thoughts podcast returns, Elliotte Friedman is going to be talking about you.
It’s the offseason. Let’s have a little fun with a fanbase that’s getting stressed. Because if Twitter existed like it does now when Zach Parise left New Jersey off the heels of a Stanley Cup appearance, we know they wouldn’t have done anything but troll all the same.
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