Since the 2022-23 New Jersey Devils are playoff-bound, and the next three games do not mean much, let’s look ahead and predict what could happen on and off the ice for the NHL and the Devils over the next 30 years.
Yesterday, I turned 40. I have been following the New Jersey Devils from the 1993-94 season, when I turned 10. Over the last three decades, I have witnessed my favorite team win it all twice, come close two more times, and loads of playoff appearances save for the last decade or so. What I can also say is that I saw a lot of changes in the NHL along with changes in my own life, including starting a blog and continuing it to what you see today.
First: Thank you all for continuing to read the site. You are the People Who Matter; living proof that there are indeed fans who support the New Jersey Devils. And you matter. Hence, the term.
Second: As the 2022-23 New Jersey Devils are in this odd spot where their playoffs are secured for a change and the next three games mean little for both teams involved (no, I don’t believe in Buffalo), let me indulge in trying to make some predictions about what the NHL and the Devils may look like in the next 30 years. (And what Sunday content from me may look like in this coming offseason.) What will hockey look like when I am about to turn 70, close to 60 years of being a Devils fan? Will this site even exist to look back on these predictions just to be sure? Will anyone care? Will I even remember this list of mostly-bound-to-lose predictions that I am about to write up? Who cares. Let’s predict away!
But first – let me establish where I am coming from. What was it like 30 years ago?
A lot has changed since those three decades. Brodeur would become a legend. As would Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Patrik Elias, and Ken Daneyko. Cups were brought to New Jersey in 1995, 2000, and 2003 with attempts made in 2001 and 2012 to add more. Lou was the constant among a roster full of incoming players, outgoing free agents, all manners of trades, and coaches being replaced. That lasted until 2015. Ownership changed hands three times going from John McMullen to YankeesNets to Jeff Vanderbeek to a group led by Josh Harris and David Blitzer. The Devils got out of East Rutherford and made the Rock in Newark, which opened in 2007. Checking lines are a thing of the past, every team runs some kind of neutral zone tactic to try to slow down the opposition, there have been multiple lockouts including an entire season killed to get a hard salary cap in place, the game remains a mix of American, Canadian, and European hockey, the league is now at 32 teams as expansion halted until the past five years, ads are even more everywhere, the Devils are now aired locally on MSG, and the Devils underwent a massive decade of changes that they are now emerging as, hopefully, a team to contend with for several years at a minimum. And, thanks to the Internet, everyone all over the world can watch the Devils if they so correctly choose. I even started a blog called In Lou We Trust in October 2006 that has become this thing you now read. Again, thank you.
OK, that’s the past. Now let me predict (and be wrong) about what may happen by 2053.
Hopefully that team will include the Devils. As this is a New Jersey Devils blog, let me close out this series of predictions that probably will not turn out to be correct by adding some Devils-specific ones I really do hope become correct.
Now I want to read from you, the People Who Matter. What do you think the NHL game will look like in the next 30 years? What do you think will change on the ice? What will change off the ice? What will the Devils do in the next 30 years? Will they continue to outclass Our Hated Rivals and the Second Rate Rivals? Please leave your best guesses and predictions in the comments. Thank you for reading.
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