It has been 11 days since my first post, and there have been a ton of story lines out of New Jersey in that span. Fair warning – as a result, this is a longer read today, and I’ll try to keep the posts more frequent and more digestible on a go forward basis. I’ve split this post up by sections in case you’d like to jump around and skip things. But let’s start with a warpspeed rundown…
The Devils came back from a 16-day COVID-induced layoff last week, and orchestrated two very impressive wins immediately. Palmieri started finding the back of the net (as we knew he would). Hughes continued his dominating play. So did Ty Smith. Blackwood got back in net. Vatanen played his first games in his second stint as a Devil. Will Butcher & Connor Carrick saw their first game action of the year. HISCHIER WAS NAMED CAPTAIN. Zajac played his 1000th game, all as a Devil. And then the Devils dropped both of last weekend’s games, along with Tuesday’s rematch versus the Sabres, despite the power play showing signs of life. And then the boys got back the win column last night in OT against the same pesky Sabres.
Let’s start by unpacking.
Weekly Recap
The Devils beat the Sabres 5-3 on Sunday, January 31st. They didn’t play again until Tuesday, February 16th against the Rangers (a 5-2 winning performance). For the 16 day period in between, as many as 19(?) Devils found themselves on the COVID protocol list, and some noteworthy players had legitimate symptoms, including Blackwood, Palmieri, Severson, & Hughes. The team got in one single practice on Monday, the 15th, and one single morning skate before playing the Rangers.
The team effectively restarted their season, albeit with the majority of the roster having just recovered from COVID illness, and the next two game’s opponents having had no layoffs of their own.
Yet with a lineup that did NOT include: Nico Hischier, Travis Zajac, Nikita Gusev, Ryan Murray, Sami Vatanen, and Dmitry Kulikov, the Devils put on a by-all-accounts very impressive performance considering the circumstances, and laid waste their arch nemesis – the New York Rangers.
Two days later, facing the big bad Boston Bruins, the Diablos did it again, albeit with Kulikov and Vatanen reinserted to the back-end.
The boys were fired up. I was fired up. The names on the COVID protocol list continued to dwindle, and the Devils looked like they were ready to roll.
Enter Saturday and the 12:30pm matinee versus the Buffalo Sabres that was.
Per Devils all-access reporter Amanda Stein (who, by the way, is an excellent follow for all things Devils), the Devils entire roster was available to play this past weekend’s games. That included: Zajac, Murray, Gusev, and for the first time in the 2021 season, Nico Hischier.
For those not keeping track, that foursome includes the Devils arguable best all around forward, best all around defenseman, an incumbent veteran and top 9 forward set to play his 1,000th NHL game on Sunday, and another top 6 winger.
As if Travis Zajac’s looming 1,000th game (all for the Devils franchise) wasn’t a big enough storyline, the organizational brass decided they would drop a bomb and name Nico Hischier the youngest active captain in the NHL before his first game played this season.
Despite all the excitement for the club, or maybe because of it, the team came out on their heels Saturday against the Sabres and the too-little too-late third period comeback effort fell short.
Sunday’s game had an inverse sequence. The Devils came out and played two really good periods of hockey, grabbed a 2-0 lead, and then got dominated in the 3rd for the most part.
Tuesday the 23rd versus Buffalo, Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark decided to put on a Vezina-trophy caliber performance to officially place the Devils on a three-game skid.
In a rematch two days later, the Devils thankfully eked out an OT win to avoid a four game losing streak, on the back of a great performance from the new line of Zacha-Hischier-Bratt, and drawing a bit of luck with Ullmark leaving the game after the 1st period after starting the game looking like he was going to have our number again.
There’s your recap, let’s dive into specifics…
Hischier & The Captaincy
Let’s touch on the new captain for a second. The naming of Nico Hischier as team captain, a position that has been void since last season’s trade deadline departure of Andy Greene, was an exciting announcement. To state the obvious, this team is built around two potential franchise cornerstone centers: Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. The franchise will go as those two go in both the present and immediate future (toss Blackwood in that statement as well, though goalies typically don’t wear the ‘C’ for their teams). Based on those facts, it did seem inevitable that one of those two would eventually captain this Devils franchise for the foreseeable future.
I am a Nico fan. I think he plays the game the right way, he seems to be an exemplary, well-liked, and top-notch guy off the ice. He’s humble, responsible, works his bag off, is universally respected by coaches and teammates, and he’s got a calm and collected demeanor. Plus he’s got the contract. As far as I’m concerned, you probably can’t go wrong handing him the C.
Having said that, I didn’t feel like the Devils were under any pressure to name a captain. The team had the luxury of kicking their feet back and watching Hughes & Hischier continue to develop, both on and off the ice, and then take their pick if it became evident that one should wear the letter. For my money, Hughes looks like he’ll develop into the more dynamic player. Hischier, as some have speculated, could develop into a Selke, Sean Couturier two-way type player. Consider that – would Flyers fans prefer to see Couts with the C on his chest instead of Giroux? Being a Philadelphia resident, I’d bet that. Or maybe (fingers crossed!) this becomes a Gabriel Landeskog-Nathan MacKinnon pairing, where the tier 1 elite player (in this case Hughes), is the A and not the C. Shoutout Matthews in Toronto as well – best player on his team, wears an A. Flip side of that argument would be a situation like LA a few years back. Dustin Brown was the C for those championships, but the brass made it clear they wanted their perennial all-star center Anze Kopitar to supplant him as captain. They made the change, Brown stayed in LA, and nothing catastrophic occurred. The Kings have sucked for other reasons, not because of that.
My takeaway: the Devils felt they had their guy. I see very little downside. Go Hisch.
Travis Zajac
What a weekend it was for TZ19. Travis played his 1,000 game in the NHL on Sunday the 21st against Washington. All of them have been as a Devil. What can you say about this guy? He is and has been the consummate professional hockey player for the Devils organization since being drafted in the first round of 2004. For the kids out there who don’t remember, TZ was the top-line center for this club for many seasons after first breaking into the league in 2006-2007. He had a handful of 20-goal, 60+ point seasons, and a lot of ice time centering whoever the Devil’s top two wingers were at any given time over the last 15 years.
As he’s gotten older, and other players have passed him on the depth chart, you haven’t heard one peep out of him. He’s never once been disgruntled. He’s a team-first, veteran leader on this club. And despite the offensive numbers declining from his younger seasons, Zajac has consistently been dynamite in the faceoff circle, maintained elite defensive prowess, often playing against the other team’s top lines on a nightly basis, and capable of contributing on both special teams units. He has transitioned his game to stay relevant, nimble, and be an impact guy. Shit, remember when he pumped Radko Gudas back in 2018? That was awesome.
He loves the club and his teammates, evidenced by how he addressed the trade rumors swirling around the veteran last season:
“I know the situation, I know where we’re at,” Zajac said. “But right now I want to be part of it and be here to help guys. I want to help lead the way on and off the ice. I think that’s where my head is at right now.”
It can’t hurt Hischier and Hughes having someone like that around.
Cheers to you TZ – on behalf of all Devils fans, thanks for being the ultimate Devil.
Observations
Alright, let’s jump into the on-ice stuff from the past week. Let’s talk about the defensemen quickly.
I mentioned above that Will Butcher and Connor Carrick saw their first game action of the 2021 season. Carrick has been a 6/7 defenseman for the last few years of his career. Butcher, however, has been a guy who has played on the powerplay and within the top 4 at times throughout the last couple of seasons for the Devils. He’s young(ish), and is only a few seasons removed from a 44-point rookie campaign.
Both players have been victims of a re-tooled and sneaky deep Devils blue line. The arrival of Ryan Murray and Dmitry Kulikov in the offseason added two veteran, more than capable left-handed defensemen, which immediately added competition to Butcher’s spot on the depth chart. And of course, Ty Smith arrived in a real big way, also on the left side of the blue line.
Then the Devils added Sami Vatanen right before the season started, who has played on both the left and right hand side.
And now all of the sudden the Devils have a blue-line glut. Carrick and Tennyson make up the bottom of the pack. But above them you have 7 defensemen (when healthy) every night that are all arguably NHL regulars: Murray, Subban, Severson, Smith, Vatanen, Kulikov, and Butcher.
As of this writing, Dmitry Kulikov is having his worst game of the season against the Buffalo Sabres (2/25). But he has not been bad. In fact, from the eye-test, he’s got some snarl to his game, plays physical, and has been mobile enough moving the puck. He’s got a +5 rating, which is good for 3rd on the team behind Andreas Johnsson and Ty Smith. I’ve liked his game thus far, more than most of the writers who covered the signing and projected him to be nothing more than a depth guy on the Devils back end.
If you insert Butcher to that top six, are we all of the sudden that much better? A bit more offensive and mobile? Yes. A little softer? Probably. To Butcher’s credit – he made the most of the three games he got in. A goal, three points and a +3 rating is about as good as you could have asked for in a small sample size.
I saw another article this week exclaiming (!) that Butcher must immediately replace Kulikov in the lineup. The writer’s argument was that Butcher provides more offensive punch, which the team could use (fair point), and that Severson, Vatanen, Murray, and Subban are capable of eating penalty kill minutes, making Kulikov expendable.
Let me just play the other side of that last point. Those four defensemen: Severson, Vatanen, Murray, Subban, can and likely will play top-4 minutes on many nights in a ridiculously condensed schedule the rest of the way (the Devils play 4 games per week essentially every week the rest of the season, never with more than 1 day in between). Penalty killing can be taxing. Do we really need to overextend those guys if Kulikov provides exemplary PK prowess? I’m good with giving him those minutes.
But I get the argument, and I think Will Butcher can provide plenty for the club. Just playing Devil’s advocate (lol).
Maybe tonight Kulikov played himself out of the lineup for a game or two and Butcher gets another go. Time will tell how the top six shakes itself out for the rest of the season, but it’s good to see 7 competent NHL defensemen competing for lineup decisions on a nightly basis. Chalk it up as a good problem that the Devils have not had in years.
Lines, Combos, & Player Notes
It’s funny how the seemingly obvious doesn’t always work out that way. I mentioned in my “founding principles” how outcomes are nuanced. Well, the Devils put that theory on display in their first “return-from-COVID” week.
As mentioned above, the Devils claimed victories versus the Rangers and Bruins last week, without Hischier, Zajac, Gusev, Murray, and a few other mainstay notable players. Man, imagine this team with everyone available! Fart noise. We got everybody back and lost three straight, and struggled to find offense.
Do I expect this team to be worse with all of their best players in the lineup? Of course not, as evidenced by last night’s victory.
So what do we think about the Devil’s lineup now that we’re seeing a healthy roster?
Well, the 11-86-63 line was really damn good before the rest of the team got healthy. Ruff, however, split up the trio. The last few games have featured the top six forwards shake out as follows:
11-86-21
37-13-63
You’ll notice there is a similar glut to that of our defensemen, though the odd man out is not a healthy scratch. Nikita Gusev has been outside the top-six, and it’s hard to make an argument that that shouldn’t be the case. He scored a couple of garbage time goals in the last two losses, but he really has not looked like the dynamic player that we saw through the last 2/3s of last year’s season.
On the flip side, Pavel Zacha has looked like a world-beater through the recent stretch. He’s got an 8-game point streak, and now leads the team in points with 12, and is second with 5 goals. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop as we have seen too often with the former 2015 #6 overall pick, but I am cautiously optimistic that he can continue playing what has been by far the best hockey of his NHL career.
I really did like the Hughes line with Johnsson and Bratt on the flanks, but if Palmieri can continue creating changes, that line has a ton of potential.
The second/1b line of Zach-Hischier-Bratt has taken a little bit to get going, but Thursday’s game against Buffalo was an excellent sign.
I have been happy to see Lindy Ruff stay patient with the combos. He has done some minor tweaking and in-game changes, but he’s been fairly consistent and patient in allowing the lines to find chemistry.
With regard to the “4th” line of Wood-Mcleod-Bastian, what else can you say? They are now the longest-tenured line in terms of games played together, and they have provided nothing short of electricity every night. They hit, they score goals, they’re a pain in the ass, what’s not to love? Mcleod dropping the gloves and more than hanging in there against the specimen that is Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers was awesome.
I’m excited for what’s to come with a healthy lineup. I think this team has potential to play the pain-in-the-ass role and hang around the playoff bubble for the remainder of the season.
Conclusion
As I mentioned, this week’s post is a lonnnnnng one. More frequency and much shorter going forward.
Leave me some comments and criticisms below. Leave your thoughts. What do you think about Hischier as captain? What did I miss? What about Zajac playing 1,000 games?
Cheers.
Word Of The Devil 