The New Jersey Devils record in the AHL is not one the organisation should be proud of particularly.

Since first owning a franchise in 2006, New Jersey has uprooted their affiliation on four occasions, most recently shifting from Binghamton to Utica.

Even before opting to purchase an affiliation of their own, New Jersey bounced between teams and even leagues as venues to develop their prospects.

From 1982 – 1993 New Jersey switched from Wichita Wind (CHL) to Maine Mariners and the Utica Devils of the AHL before a one-season spell with Cincinnati Cyclones of the IHL in 1992-93.

The Albany River Rats were born out of the old Capital District Islanders and immediately agreed upon an affiliation deal with the Devils.

There was an initial success with the River Rats making the playoffs for seven consecutive seasons, reaching the conference final three times and were Calder Cup Champions in 1995.
What followed was six years of failure, the River Rats being sold due to financial issues and New Jersey opting to jump ship and purchase the Lowell Lock Monsters in 2006.

There was a name change as the Monsters became the Lowell Devils but that failed to alter the fortunes of New Jersey’s affiliate on the ice.

During the four years in Lowell, the Devils had just two winning seasons. They made the playoffs once but were bundled out quickly in the first round.

In April of 2010, then New Jersey Devils General Manager Lou Lamoriello, stated that changes presented in the lease with Lowell made it “financially impossible” to stay and moved the team to the Times Union Center in Albany, New York.

The Albany Devils were born but nothing changed in the first three years as the team failed to record a winning season.

Performances on the ice improved in the next four seasons, including making the playoffs on three occasions.
However, their best performance was a second-round exit and attendances having peaked at an average of 3860 in year three, declined to almost a thousand less by the end.

In 2017, the Devils shipped the team to Binghamton, citing falling attendances as the primary reason.

This was slightly baffling as the Binghamton Senators, the affiliate of Ottawa who was being moved to Belleville, had also struggled to pull in crowds and were second-worst in attendance the previous season with the Albany Devils below them.

The Binghamton Devils recorded back-to-back losing seasons but were on the up before COVID impacted the 2019-20 campaign.

Attendance problems, cited for the original moving of the franchise, were still a factor. Declining from 3892 to 3252 by the time hockey was halted in March 2020.

In this shortened, albeit very strange campaign, Binghamton was terrible on the ice, winning just seven of 35 games and recording twenty regulation losses.

New Jersey had their AHL affiliate playing home games at their practice rink in Newark, New Jersey while rumours abounded that the NHL club was once more planning to uproot their farm team.

There is rarely smoke without fire in the American Hockey League and with Vancouver opting to move their affiliate to British Columbia, New Jersey agreed on a deal with Utica to move the Devils to New York, whilst keeping the Comets name.

It’s surely welcome news to Utica fans that they’ll still have an AHL club for the next ten years as per the terms of the agreement.

However, New Jersey’s track record has to be of concern and I have my doubts as to whether a passionate and raucous fanbase like Utica’s will put up with mediocrity on the ice should events transpire that way.

The Comets organisation has an excellent track record when it comes to success on the ice after a rocky beginning and has just spent a good chunk of change on renovating their barn.

They regularly sell out home games and fans create an atmosphere that is the envy of many clubs in the league.

The New Jersey Devils has to get it right this time around. Beginning in 2021-22.