The reaction to Connor Hellebuyck's comments shows the misunderstanding of the New Jersey Devils fanbase

“The Devils have no fans.” “You had your Stanley Cup parade in a parking lot.” “ New Jersey is the armpit of America.” 

Devils fans have been hearing these types of comments for decades. At this point, we’re asking for a little creativity in the insults, but we know that every time the Devils are in the spotlight, New Jersey is going to get some level of criticism.

The New Jersey Devils made the big move, adding Connor Hellebuyck on Friday for a package of players and picks, including Dawson Mercer, Nico Daws, and 2026 first-round pick Alexander Command. The trade was going to put a bigger spotlight on the Devils, but the hate from Canada is only going to grow.

Hellebuyck and Jack Hughes are the two most important players to Team USA ending their gold medal drought, beating Canada in the Gold Medal Game in overtime. Hughes scored the Golden Goal, and Hellebuyck stopped a barrage of high-danger chances en route to glory.

These two are not well liked north of the border because of the win and everything that happened after that. Hughes has had a chance to shake off some of the animosity, but Hellebuyck just ramped it up when he forced a trade from the Winnipeg Jets. He forced the issue in August by going public with his request, then he got suspended for refusing to go to training camp. When he tried to return for the regular season, the team used the CBA to send him back home without pay. 

The whole thing was pretty nuts, but now he’s in New Jersey and he can move on. During his introductory press conference, he said something that had Canadian media going nuts. 

"Canada loves their hockey, and I felt that to the bone. I loved my time there, and I loved the people that I met. Made a lot of good friends and a lot of good relationships. I can't say one is better than the other (hockey fandom in U.S. vs. Canada). "

Connor Hellebuyck, Devils goalie

Later, there was a question about being "bothered" at the grocery store and how he felt about less attention in public and whether he was looking forward to that. To be fair, it was a bizarre question, but the reaction to the question from Canadian media is insane.

We get it. Canada is mad, and New Jersey is an easy target. Just like Winnipeg is an easy target for being boring and having no WiFi access. 

However, calling out New Jersey fans like they aren’t passionate about hockey is just dumb. Truly, it’s idiotic to paint everyone with this broad of a brush. When you looks at a typical night at the Jets game, there are just as many open seats as there are at a Devils game. And both, it’s not that many. 

The Devils are competing with two other hockey teams in market and two others within three hours of them, two basketball teams, two baseball teams, two football teams, two soccer teams, the greatest arts and entertainment in North America, Broadway, and a million other things grabbing people’s attention in the New York Metropolitan Area, and yet, the Devils fanbase will still cheer as loud as anyone and get the arena rocking. People are often impressed with the response of Devils fans, especially on national broadcasts.

Sid Seixeiro, who has a certain media brand that is unique to hockey, went even further. 

This narrative has always been incorrect, but it’s easy and nobody listens on social media anymore. These podcast and radio hosts have taken what used to be social media discourse and brought it to the airwaves. “Embrace debate” has become the mantra is sports, but maybe we have to do a little research before doing that. 

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow