High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The Colorado Rockies were an American professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) that played in Denver, Colorado, from 1976 to 1982. They were a relocation of the Kansas City Scouts, a 1974 expansion team. The franchise moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey, in 1982 and was renamed the New Jersey Devils. The NHL would not return to Denver until 1995, when the Quebec Nordiques moved to become the Colorado Avalanche.