In 1972, the NHL announced plans to add two expansion teams, including one in Kansas City, Missouri, owned by a group headed by Edwin G. Thompson.

[4] In the team's inaugural season, 1974–75, the Scouts were forced to wait until the ninth game to play in Kansas City's Kemper Arena, and did not post a win until beating the Washington Capitals, their expansion brethren, in their tenth contest.

[6] Kansas City fell to 36 points the following season, and had a 27-game win-less streak, three short of the NHL record, which was set when the 1980–81 Winnipeg Jets went 30 games without a win.

[28][29] The Devils assembled a core of players that included John MacLean, Bruce Driver, Ken Daneyko, Kirk Muller and Pat Verbeek, with Resch as their goaltender.

Schoenfeld was replaced with John Cunniff in 1989–90, and Tom McVie was hired midway through the 1990–91 season and helmed the team through its third-straight division semifinals' elimination in 1991–92.

[42][43] Under Lemaire, the team played during the 1993–94 regular season as members of the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division (with the NHL renaming its divisions to better reflect geography that season) with a lineup that included defensemen Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer and Ken Daneyko; forwards Stephane Richer, John MacLean, Bobby Holik and Claude Lemieux; and goaltenders Chris Terreri and Martin Brodeur, the latter goaltender was honored as the NHL's top rookie with the Calder Memorial Trophy.

Messier led his team back, netting a natural hat-trick to help the Rangers overcome an early 2–0 Devils lead and force a decisive contest.

While they finished with more points than all but three teams in the Western Conference, they were beaten by the Tampa Bay Lightning for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East after a 5–2 loss to the Ottawa Senators on the last day of the regular season.

[51] For the remainder of the decade the Devils won the Atlantic Division and finished as the first overall team in the Eastern Conference all three seasons, but were unable to make a deep playoff run.

[52] Late in the 1999–2000 season, Lamoriello made the decision to fire Ftorek and replace him with assistant coach Larry Robinson, which the New York Post's Mark Everson described as "pure panic" at the prospect of another early-round playoff elimination.

[52] In the finals, the Devils reached the top again, defeating the defending champion Dallas Stars in six games to win the Stanley Cup for the second time.

[55] Veterans such as Stevens, Holik, Niedermayer, Daneyko, and Brodeur were joined by new players acquired in the intervening five years, including Patrik Elias, Petr Sykora, Jason Arnott, Alexander Mogilny and Calder Trophy recipient Scott Gomez.

Arnott and Randy McKay were sent to Dallas to acquire forwards Joe Nieuwendyk and Jamie Langenbrunner, while Sykora was part of a package to receive Jeff Friesen from Anaheim.

[75] After legal battles over both eminent domain and the city's financial participation in the arena project, the final deal was approved by council in October 2004, during the early months of the lockout,[76] and the groundbreaking occurred almost exactly a year later.

[77] Nonetheless, in January 2006, financial issues threatened to halt the deal, as the Devils did not provide the city with a required letter of credit until the last possible day.

During that final victory, which clinched the Devils' sixth division title, Brian Gionta set a new team record for goals in a season with 48, topping Pat Verbeek's 46.

[96] The Devils went on to win their seventh Atlantic Division title and earn the second seed in the Eastern Conference after finishing ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins by two points.

[104] After his return, Brodeur broke Patrick Roy's record for regular season wins on March 17, 2009, with his 552nd victory, while Patrik Elias became the franchise's all-time leading scorer with his 702nd point.

[106] In the off-season, the Devils announced that Sutter was stepping down from his position, citing personal and family reasons; he became the coach of the Calgary Flames shortly afterward.

[113] MacLean led the team to a record of 9–22–2, and after sitting in last place in the NHL on December 23, he was removed in favor of Lemaire, coming out of retirement for his third stint as head coach of the Devils and second in less than two seasons.

[141] Among Shero's first moves as general manager was trading with the Anaheim Ducks to acquire Kyle Palmieri, who would become a key forward for the Devils in future seasons.

[142] Lou Lamoriello resigned as team president and became the general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs, replacing Dave Nonis, who was fired at the end of the season.

[151] On the back of Hall's impressive performance and with aid from goaltender Keith Kinkaid and rookie Hischier, the Devils clinched a playoff spot for the first time since the 2011–12 season with a win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

[164] After a good start with great play from goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood and center Jack Hughes, the Devils would suffer an outbreak of COVID-19, which sidelined the team for two weeks.

In addition to a breakout season from newly acquired goaltender Vitek Vanecek, the Devils were led by impressive offensive performances from Hughes, Hischier, Hamilton, and Jesper Bratt.

Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald built further on this impressive offensive core by acquiring All-Star forward Timo Meier in a mid-season trade from the San Jose Sharks.

[183] On August 20, 2009, Lamoriello announced that the Devils would wear their classic red, white and green jerseys on their Saint Patrick's Day 2010 game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

NJ Devil keeps the crowd excited, signs autographs, participates in entertainment during the intermissions, skates across the ice, throws T-shirts and runs throughout the aisles of the arena to high five fans.

[212] Under head coach Brent Sutter, the team adopted less of a trap and more of a transitional, aggressive forechecking style of play which also emphasized puck possession and instilled the cycle to start the 2007–08 season.

[214] However, with the return of Lemaire as head coach, the Devils resumed a more defense-oriented playing style, scoring just 222 goals and allowing only 191, an NHL best in the 2009–10 season, earning Martin Brodeur his fifth William M. Jennings Trophy.