The Albany Devils were a professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team in the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental league of the National Hockey League (NHL). The league comprises 32 teams, with 26 in the United States and 6 in Cana ...

(AHL). The top affiliate of the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL), the A-Devils played their home games at the Times Union Center in

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

. The franchise started in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

as the expansion Lowell Lock Monsters and played their home games in

Lowell, Massachusetts Lowell () is a city in Massachusetts, United States. Alongside Cambridge, Massachusetts, Cambridge, it is one of two traditional county seat, seats of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County. With an estimated population of 115,554 in ...

. In 2006, the Devils purchased the Lock Monsters and rebranded the franchise as the Lowell Devils for the 2006–07 AHL season. Citing low attendance, the franchise was moved to Albany in

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and began play as the Albany Devils. This would mark the second time the New Jersey Devils have been affiliated with an AHL team in Albany; from

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

to 2006, the Devils used the Albany River Rats as their top minor league team. Ahead of the 2017–18 AHL season, the Devils moved to

Binghamton, New York Binghamton ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the c ...

, and became the Binghamton Devils.

History

On February 10, 2010, Albany River Rats owner Walter L. Robb sold his team to MAK Hockey LLC, led by Charlotte beer distributor Michael Kahn, owner of the Charlotte Checkers of the

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

. It was then announced that the River Rats would play the 2010–11 season as the Charlotte Checkers, and the ECHL franchise was relinquished to the league. Meanwhile, Robb, as well as members of the River Rats and Times Union Center's front office, had already begun looking for an American Hockey League team to replace the River Rats. On April 26, 2010, the New Jersey Devils sent Albany County a letter of intent to move their AHL affiliate to Albany, with a five-year commitment, if the county government would make specific changes to its arena. New Jersey Devils General Manager

Lou Lamoriello Louis A. Lamoriello (; born October 21, 1942) is an Americans, American professional ice hockey executive who most recently served as the President of Hockey Operations and General Manager for the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League ...

, in a letter to the members of the Lowell Devils Booster Club, stated that changes presented in the lease with Lowell made it "financially impossible" to stay. On May 10, 2010, the county legislature voted 35–2 to spend $1.6 million to replace the scoreboard, add ribbon board advertising, and improve exterior lighting. On June 10, 2010, the New Jersey Devils announced that they were moving the Lowell Devils to the Times Union Center in Albany beginning with the 2010–11 AHL season to play as the Albany Devils. All but four of their 40 home games would be played in Albany, with the others played in

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city (New Jersey), city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Atlantic City comprises the second half of ...

, at Boardwalk Hall. Soon after that, the New Jersey Devils announced they had promoted John MacLean to fill their head coaching vacancy. MacLean had been the head coach of the Lowell Devils during the 2009–10 season. In August, Rick Kowalsky was named head coach of the Albany team, with former New Jersey Devils defenseman Tommy Albelin being named the assistant coach. On January 13, 2016, the Devils won their 11th consecutive home win to set a new franchise record. On April 1, 2016, the Devils broke the franchise's previous wins record, set in 2013-14, with their 41st win: an overtime victory over the

Binghamton Senators The Binghamton Senators were a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that played from 2002 to 2017. Nicknamed the B-Sens, they played in Binghamton, New York, at the Floyd L. Maines Veterans Memorial Arena. The B-Sens w ...

. On April 4, 2016, the Times Union Center and its managing group SMG announced they had reached an agreement with the New Jersey Devils to extend the lease of its AHL affiliate through the 2018–19 season. However, on January 25, 2017, it was reported that the Albany Devils would move to replace the departing

, in the 2017–18 season. The Binghamton Devils were announced on January 31. At the time of the announcement, the Albany Devils were drawing the lowest average attendance in the league.

Season-by-season results

Records as of the end of the 2016–17 AHL season.

Players

Team captains

* Stephen Gionta, 2010–2012 * Jay Leach, 2012–2013 * Rod Pelley, 2013–2017

References

{{David Blitzer Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment New Jersey Devils minor league affiliates Sports in Albany, New York Defunct ice hockey teams in New York (state) Ice hockey clubs established in 2010 2010 establishments in New York (state) 2017 disestablishments in New York (state) Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 2017