The NHL's Atlantic Division was formed in 1993 as part of the Eastern Conference in a league realignment, the predecessor of which was the Patrick Division. It is the only division in the NHL where all of its members have won the Stanley Cup at least once (though only two teams have won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Atlantic Division).
New Jersey Devils:
The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Devils have won the Stanley Cup three times, in 1995, 2000, and 2003. The club was founded in Kansas City, Missouri in 1974, moved to Denver, Colorado after only two seasons, and then settled in New Jersey in 1982. Under current general manager Lou Lamoriello, the Devils have made the playoffs in 17 out of the last 19 seasons, including each of the last 10.
Since their move to New Jersey, the Devils have played their home games at the Continental Airlines Arena. This season, the team will switch arenas to the Prudential Center, which is finishing construction in the city of Newark. The first game at the new arena will take place on October 27, 2007 against the Ottawa Senators, who the Devils played against in the last home game at Continental Airlines Arena.
They have rivalries with their trans-Hudson neighbor, the New York Rangers, and with the Philadelphia Flyers, as either the Devils or Flyers have won the Atlantic Division title every season since 1995.
Style of play:
The Devils have been known as a defense-first team since Jacques Lemaire's tenure, when he implemented a system commonly called the neutral zone trap. This system is designed to force teams to turn over the puck in the neutral zone leading to a counterattack. This style of play, coupled with poor attendance and television ratings, led the team to be chastised by the media and hockey fans for "making the NHL boring". Nevertheless, the Devils were successful using this style of play, and Devils coach Larry Robinson asserted that the Montreal Canadiens (who also won the Cup many times) he played on in the 1970s used a form of the trap, though it did not have a name.
Under Jacques Lemaire, the team adopted less of a trap and more of a transitional, "run and gun" style of play. Players such as John Madden, who excels at shorthanded goals, have led the team in placing a greater emphasis on speed and forechecking for the puck. Likewise Brian Gionta and Patrik Elias are known as strong playmakers on the offensive side of the ice. Newcomers Zach Parise and Travis Zajac emphasize speed and solid puck handling.
Mascot:
The current mascot is "NJ Devil", a 7-foot tall devil who plays into the myth of the Jersey Devil. NJ Devil keeps the crowd excited, signs autographs, participates in entertainment during the intermissions, skates across the ice, and runs throughout the aisles of the Continental Airlines Arena to high five fans.
New York Islanders:
The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Uniondale, a hamlet located on Long Island in Town of Hempstead, Nassau County, New York, United States.
The team is a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Islanders began play in 1972 and rapidly developed a dominant team that won four consecutive Stanley Cup championships in the early 1980s.
Islanders Jerseys:
The Islanders debuted in 1972 with traditional-style jerseys: either white with orange and blue stripes near the waistline and on the sleeves or blue with white and orange stripes. The design remained largely the same, save for minor tweaks, through the 1994-95 season.
The shoulder logo of the Islanders:
Prior to the 1995-96 season, team executives decided to change the jersey. The fisherman logo replaced the "NY" circular design, and the new uniforms incorporated a darker blue and brighter orange and introduced teal and grey shades as well. The team was seeking increased merchandise revenues, with the outward justification of connecting the team more overtly to Long Island. The jersey included a lighthouse shoulder patch, a nod to the Montauk Lighthouse, and featured uneven stripes resembling an ocean wave near the waistline, on the sleeves, and across the shoulders. All of the numbering and lettering on the jerseys also followed the wave pattern. Late in the season, the team decided to do away with the fisherman logo, but league rules forbade them from switching jersey designs for the 1996-97 season on only a few months' notice. Instead, the Islanders debuted their first third jersey, which was identical to the jerseys then worn by the team except that it used the circular "NY" crest in place of the fisherman. The team wore this jersey in approximately fifteen games during the 1996-97 season and adopted it permanently for 1997-98.
Prior to the 1998-99 season, the team's new ownership reverted to the initial traditional design but kept the dark blue and bright orange from the "wave" era jersey. They added a shoulder patch of four bars, alternating in color, to represent the Islanders' four straight Stanley Cup championships. The new design also changed the borders around the numbers and "C" and "A" letters: instead of leaving no space between the orange border and the white or blue numbers, the jersey featured a raised outline. A third jersey was introduced in 2003. It is orange and has blue stripes, outlined in white, going vertically on the sleeves and then cutting horizontally on the bottom of the sleeve. The blue stripes come out of the sleeve diagonally and jab out to a point into the bottom of the jersey. The team wore these jerseys through the 2006-07 season.
For the 2007-08 season, all NHL teams changed over to the Rbk Edge jersey system. The design of the Islanders Rbk Edge jersey is similar to the prior generation, with a few exceptions. The new jersey features uniform numbers on the right chest above the logo. On the upper arms, between the elbow and shoulders, the jersey has an additional orange stripe, where prior jerseys had no stripe. The new jerseys have a thin stripe tracing around the shoulders, and they feature "retro" laces at the neck.
New York Rangers:
The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York, New York, U.S.A. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). Playing their home games at Madison Square Garden, the Rangers are one of the oldest teams in the NHL, and are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six. The Rangers have won the Stanley Cup four times.
The post-Original Six era:
The Rangers remained a mark of futility in the NHL for several years, missing the playoffs in 12 of the next 16 years. However, the team was rejuvenated in the late 1960s, symbolized by moving into a newly-rebuilt Madison Square Garden in 1968. A year earlier, they made the playoffs for the first time in five years on the strength of rookie goaltender Eddie Giacomin, and acquired 1950s Montreal Canadiens star right wing Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion.
The Blueshirts made the Finals twice in the 1970s, but lost both times to two '70s powerhouses; the Boston Bruins in 1972, in six games, who were led by such stars as Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Ken Hodge, Johnny Bucyk, and Wayne Cashman; and in 1979, in five games to the Habs, who had Bob Gainey, Guy Lafleur, Larry Robinson, Ken Dryden, Guy Lapointe, and Serge Savard. This time the Blueshirts had “Espo”, but it didn't matter; the Habs looked clearly dominant.
Philadelphia Flyers:
The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). Part of the 1967 NHL Expansion, the Flyers were the first of these expansion teams to win the Stanley Cup in 1974 and again in 1975. Despite five return trips to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Flyers have not won the Cup since. More recently, the team suffered the worst season in franchise history in 2006-07 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1994 and only the 8th time in franchise history. The Philadelphia Flyers have the second best winning percentage in the NHL behind the Montreal Canadiens.
The Flyers have played their home games on Broad Street since their inception, first at The Spectrum from 1967 until 1996, and then at the Wachovia Center from 1996 to the present. They have had rivalries with several teams over the years, the most heated rival of late being the New Jersey Devils, with whom the Flyers have traded the Atlantic Division title with every season since 1995 and have faced three times in the playoffs, winning once in 2004 and losing twice in 1995 and 2000.
Jerseys:
Orange and white primary colors, with black accents, numbering, and lettering, have been the Flyers colors since the founding of the franchise. The history of these colors in Philadelphia hockey goes even deeper, as they were also the colors of the city's previous NHL team, the Philadelphia Quakers. These colors were chosen in a city-wide vote, conducted by mail-in ballots obtained from the Philadelphia Inquirer, in which residents of Philadelphia could choose the color combination for their new hockey team. James Hamer, whose orange/white/black choice won for its tie-in to the Philadelphia Quakers, was awarded season tickets for the Flyers' inaugural season. The Flyers' home jersey was primarily white, with orange 'shoulders', up until the 2003-04 season. Conversely, the team's away jersey was orange with white shoulders up until the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The only minor alteration to this general design came prior to the 1982-83 season.
However, in line with many sports franchises in the 1990s, who market tested darker colors and found black to be popular with the coveted urban/hip-hop demographic, the Flyers introduced a primary black jersey in 1997-98. Styled similarly to the traditional orange and white uniforms, this black version served simply as a third jersey until the 2000 Stanley Cup Playoffs. At that point it became the team's primary road jersey, with the traditional orange jersey being retired completely after the 2000-01 season. In 2002-03 a new predominantly orange uniform was re-introduced as a third option. However, it has only a passing resemblance to the more traditionally styled uniforms, with a different color layout, metallic accents added to the lettering/numbering, and is also the only version sporting the aforementioned metallic "3D P".
Entering the 2007-08 season, the Flyers unveiled new home and road jerseys. The black home jersey now features white shoulders with orange and black sections at the elbow and black cuffs. The white road jersey features orange shoulders with black and white sections at the elbow, and black cuffs.
Slapshot and Cooperalls:
The Flyers debuted a shortlived skating mascot named "Slapshot" in 1976 but dropped the character by the next season. It remains the only mascot in Flyers' team history, although the team occasionally employs the services of "Phlex," the mascot of the team's minor league affiliate and next door neighbors, the Philadelphia Phantoms. Also of note is the fact the Flyers were the first, and one of only two (the Hartford Whalers being the other), NHL teams to wear Cooperalls, hockey pants that extend from the waist to the ankles, in 1981-82. They wore them the following season as well, but returned to the traditional hockey pants in 1983-84.
Pittsburgh Penguins:
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL).
Possible relocation:
The Penguins have had their tradition and success on the ice tempered with a shaky ownership group from time to time. As early as the mid 1970s the ownership group experienced cash flow issues and sought to sell the team, even if it meant relocation. In the mid 1980s, only a decade later, a similar financial situation faced the team. As recently as the 2006 and 2007 seasons the franchise ownership sought alternatives that would provide a return on their investment. Various prospective owners sought to buy the team, before the Lemieux group chose instead to keep ownership but move the team to the highest bidder. As in the mid 70s and 80s, the fanbase and local government officials were successful in persuading the ownership that Pittsburgh and its region were capable of meeting the needs of a modern NHL team.
New arena agreement:
On March 13th, 2007, in a joint announcement by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, and Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins ownership group, it was made public that an agreement had been reached between the parties. A new state-of-the-art multi-purpose arena will be built. This agreement will keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh for another thirty years. Following the announcement of this plan, the Lemieux ownership group announced that they no longer have plans to sell the team.
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