The New Jersey Devils have the best Twitter account in the NHL

The New Jersey Devils have a way with memes.

As the NHL attempts to recapture a young audience more excited by a 140-138 scorcher than a 1-1 nail biter, social media has rapidly become the new battleground where teams wage war for an incredibly perceptive yet wholly underserved potential fanbase.

Unless you grew up in a ‘hockey household’, or have some other connection to the sport, there’s not exactly a high probability you’ll get into the sport organically. The league’s players aren’t littering television commercials like Tom Brady, Baker Mayfield, and Cam Newtown, people don’t casually wear their signature shoes around town like with Michael Jordan, LeBron James, or Seth Curry, and there isn’t the sheer volume of exposure that baseball still holds over the culture, ranging from tee-ball and office softball leagues all the way up to what feels like hundreds of professional teams ranging from unaffiliated to minor league all the way up to the MLB.

Factor in the learning curve to fully appreciate a game of hockey – from line shifts to terms like ‘blue-line’ – and there’s no wonder why professional hockey, at least stateside, is more akin to a regional obsession than a true pastime.

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But through social media, teams are actively changing that perception.

Through the power of memes, highlights, and video content, hockey teams with savvy social media departments have been able to reel in a new generation of fans and make an otherwise stuffy sport feel a bit less intimidating.

In that regard, there isn’t a better team in the NHL than the pride of Newark, the New Jersey Devils.

Now, in theory, this shouldn’t be too surprising, as the team is owned by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment. For those out of the know, Harris-Blitzer also owns the Philadelphia 76ers, who are widely regarded as one of the best social media follows in the game – which I can personally attest to, as I’ve been covering the team since 2017.

I mean honestly, the team’s bio says it all: “3X Stanley Cup champs. The dynasty that haters love to hate. You’re now trapped here”.

From a fantastic palette of memes for any occasion to a lights out reply game as savage as it is relatable, the Devils have consistently found ways to keep fan engagement up while generating content worthy of frequent returns to the site. The Devils are also masters of digital content, like creating Ninja Turtles memes to promote their perfect Reverse Retro jerseys, to appropriating TO quotes and having players like P.K. Subban and Mackenzie Blackwood test their hands in the kitchen with Game Host Erika Wachter.

For what it’s worth, NJ Devil (@NJDevil00) is a pretty fantastic follow too and weirdly enough, looks remarkably similar to Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

See what I mean? It’s like looking in a mirror.

Now granted, following the New Jersey Devils on Twitter isn’t going to magically make you a hockey aficionado. You’re still going to have to watch the games, and maybe even pick up a secondhand copy of ‘Hockey for Dummies’ so you don’t get flamed online for using the wrong term – not that I have any experience with that… – but what the Devils’ various social media accounts can do is get you excited about following the sport and make that initial learning curve feel a whole lot less daunting. Now, if only the team would make their Reverse Retro jerseys for sale before the end of Cyber Monday so I can buy myself a nice early Christmas present *wink wink*.