New Jersey Devils History.

New Jersey Devils, professional ice hockey team and one of five teams in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Devils play at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and wear uniforms of red, black, and white. The club formerly played as the Kansas City Scouts and the Colorado Rockies.

Under the direction of head coach Jacques Lemaire, the Devils advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals in the 1993-94 season. In the 1994-95 season the team not only made its first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals, but also captured its first Stanley Cup title. Notable players included goalie Martin Brodeur and defenseman Scott Stevens.

The Kansas City Scouts joined the NHL as an expansion team in 1974. After two losing seasons, the Scouts were sold to oil magnate Jack Vickers. He moved the team from Kansas City, Missouri, to Denver, Colorado, and renamed it the Colorado Rockies. The club showed little improvement, posting six losing seasons from 1976-77 to 1981-82. In the 1977-78 season the Rockies did finish second in their division, but they were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.

In 1982 the Rockies moved to New Jersey and were renamed the Devils after a public contest was held in order to choose a name. The team registered five consecutive losing records from 1982-83 to 1986-87. The club’s 13-season losing streak came to an end in 1988, but in the season’s final game the Devils still needed to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks to secure the final playoff position. New Jersey right wing John MacLean tied the game in the final seconds of the third period and then scored the game-winning goal in overtime. In the playoffs the Devils defeated the New York Islanders and the Washington Capitals before losing to the Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference Finals.

In the 1989-90 season the Devils finished in second place in their division but were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. They also were eliminated in the first round in each of the next three years. In 1993 New Jersey hired Jacques Lemaire as their head coach. A former NHL center, Lemaire had earned six Stanley Cup titles with the Montréal Canadiens during the 1960s and 1970s. In his first year with the Devils, 1993-94, he guided the club to a franchise-record 47 victories and its second-ever trip to the conference finals. New Jersey assembled a talented lineup around John MacLean, Martin Brodeur, Scott Stevens, and right wing Claude Lemieux. Brodeur won the Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL rookie of the year, and Lemaire won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL’s coach of the year.

In the 1994-95 season, the Devils advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they faced the heavily favored Detroit Red Wings. Led by Lemieux, New Jersey defeated Detroit in four games. Lemieux, who scored 13 goals in 20 postseason contests, received the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player (MVP) of the playoffs. After the season, however, he was traded to the Colorado Avalanche. In the 1996-97 season the Devils finished in first place in their division and reached the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. There, however, they were defeated by the New York Rangers. In 2000 New Jersey returned to the Stanley Cup Finals, where, led by the play of defenseman Scott Stevens, they defeated the Dallas Stars in six games. The Devils' bid for a second consecutive title fell short when the team lost a hard-fought Stanley Cup Finals to the Colorado Avalanche in 2001.