The New Jersey Devils have a surprising amount of rivals. For being a team that’s not an original six, and for being out of contention for quite a while, there are so many teams who hate the only team in the four major sports that bears the Garden State’s name.

Of course, there are the rivalries that are derived from regionality. The Devils and New York Rangers have one of the best rivalries in hockey. When the Philadelphia Flyers are good, they have great rivalries with everyone in close proximity to them, including the Devils. New Jersey and Carolina are beginning to have some real hatred towards each other. Heck, even the Penguins and Islanders have some animosity towards the Devils.

Beyond that, old rivalries have fanbases hating the Devils (or the Devils hating them). Many Devils fans haven’t gotten over the atrocity that was the call in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final, handing the Stanley Cup to the Los Angeles Kings. Others can’t believe the Devils messed up Games 6 and 7 against the Colorado Avalanche, putting a bad taste in fans’ mouths about the franchise’s former home.

There are other rivalries, like the Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Vancouver Canucks (simply because they must be over the Quinn Hughes talk). That makes future alignment of the NHL harder once the league goes to 34 teams.

Right now, the league has 32 teams, which is perfect to break teams down into four equal divisions. The Devils currently sit in the Metropolitan Division. We already discussed how a proposed Atlanta expansion would likely move the Hurricanes out of the Devils’ division, and further expansion would further divide rivalries. However, an 84-game NHL schedule might force the issue earlier than expansion.

Fansided hockey writer Todd Matthews brought this up for our Detroit Red Wings site Octopus Thrower. His proposal includes eight different divisions, broken down with four teams in each. The Devils would follow the Rangers and Islanders into a division with the Boston Bruins. Matthews broke it down as his “favorite” division.

“Boston and the New York Rangers maintaining a historic Original Six rivalry. The Blueshirts and Islanders also stick around, and it gives the Devils nearby geographic rivalries. Plus, there’s history of bad blood between the cities of New York and Boston in other sports, AND between the states of New York and New Jersey.”

Todd Matthews, Octopus Thrower

Of course, adding more matchups with the Boston Bruins is fun. Howver, it’s not worth losing the Hurricanes AND Flyers rivalry. The Flyers-Devils rivalry came to a national stage during the Stadium Series for a reason.

However, we understand the concept. Many want to bring the Rangers and Bruins back together to get the Boston-New York rivalry more prominent in hockey. To do that, you have to have the Devils follow along to keep that rivalry.

Trying to find the right schedule is not an easy task. We’d propose replacing the Bruins with the Flyers and keeping that rivalry. It would hurt the Flyers’ biggest rival (the Penguins), but Pittsburgh is closer to Detroit and Columbus to make sense in a division with them, anyway.