Great thread!
I grew up in Boston area and gravitated to the Bruins (Ray Bourque/Cam Neely era) but "divorced" them around '92-93 when it became clear to me that ownership was taking the fans for chumps, did not truly care about winning a cup and in fact only wanted to sell more hot dogs at the rink. It was not an easy decision, but figured to wait until new ownership came along down the road. Aside from feeling vindicated over the next 10 years watching that franchise penny pinch through season after season, being an NHL orphan was no fun. Having no team to root for just led me away from the NHL altogether, filled my time with the college game.
A few times I wanted to pick up an NHL team to get back into the pro game but you just don't choose a team to follow arbitrarily like that. In 2005 I met a girl from NJ and moved to the Garden State and it gave me a chance to look at the area teams. Of the four in the vicinity (Philly was on the list since we were in central Jersey at the time), only the Devils fit my tastes. I loved that Devils fans held the Rangers in the same vein that Red Sox fans (like me) had for the Yankees. Any team that could hate NY that much warmed my heart, and the fact that NJ was by leaps and bounds more successful just made it even better. Moving to Jersey City and hearing that the Devils would be in Newark soon was another sign this was meant to be.