Early Returns | 10 TAKEAWAYS

Six games into the season, and there are already plenty of interesting stories starting to take shape around the Devils.

The early returns are coming in. New faces are making their mark, familiar ones are climbing the franchise record books, and there's plenty to be encouraged about down in Utica. And, as always, there have been a few fun moments behind the scenes that have stuck with me.

With a relatively light opening schedule about to give way to a much busier stretch, there's plenty more to look forward to as this team continues to come together.

But before things really pick up, I've collected a little bit of everything from the first couple of weeks.

Let's get into it.

1.

One of my favorite little developments to watch early this season has been the relationship between Cody Glass and Amadeus Lombardi.

And it's actually something I first noticed back in training camp.

I remember standing outside the locker room, waiting for a media availability, when Glass and Lombardi came off the ice together. As they walked past me, I could hear Glass offering some genuine words of encouragement to the young forward.

He was telling Lombardi that they just needed to keep working together, that the chemistry would come with time and that he would help him along.

What struck me about that moment was just how early it was in camp. There was absolutely no guarantee at that point that Lombardi would even make the Devils roster, let alone find himself playing alongside Glass once the regular season began.

But Glass was already investing in him as a teammate.

It was a small, thoughtful moment, one that probably didn't seem like much to either of them at the time, but it's stuck with me. And now, a few weeks later, it's been pretty neat to see that early encouragement carry over into the regular season.

2.

Jake Allen sits amongst some pretty exclusive company. After making his 500^th start in the NHL last weekend, he became just the 86^th goalie in NHL history to play 500-or-more games. That’s a pretty incredible feat.

Just a little fun fact: Three of those 86 goalies, Allen included, played their 500^th game with New Jersey, with Allen joining Martin Brodeur (obviously) and Jacob Markstrom.

All three also just so happened to win in their 500^th NHL games.

3.

One thing that really stood out to me about Allen reaching that mark was hearing him reflect on a time when he wasn't entirely sure he'd ever get there.

It’s kind of like what Sheldon Keefe said, Allen has been just about every type of goaltender you can imagine, the starter, the backup, the mentor, all the stages of a career and he’s still going.

Allen described being traded away from the Blues as a real heartbreak.

"Getting traded from St. Louis, that was a big heartache for me," Allen said. "It was tough, it stung.”

After spending so much of his career with one organization, he was suddenly headed to Montreal, where Carey Price was already firmly established as the Canadiens' No. 1 goaltender.

Think about that for a moment. You're leaving the only NHL organization you've ever known, and your next stop is a team that already has one of the best goaltenders of his generation, a future Hall of Famer, who wasn't ready to be done just yet.

It's not exactly the most straightforward path to another few hundred NHL appearances.

But Allen kept going. He embraced different roles, continued to adapt and eventually made the decision to join the Devils, where he celebrated his 500th NHL game with a victory over Vancouver.

"There was a point where I didn't know if I was going to hit it," Allen said. "I didn't think that was in reach. I've extended my career a lot longer than I thought. I'm pretty proud of that."

And of his move to the Devils, that's allowed him to extend his career, Allen said: "Coming to (New Jersey) was the best thing I did."

4.

When most people outside the New Jersey market think of Nico Hischier, it's usually his reputation as a responsible, defensive-minded, two-way center that comes to mind.

And they're not wrong.

There's a reason his name is regularly in the Selke Trophy conversation. He's as reliable as they come in his own zone, trusted in just about every situation.

But what people sometimes forget is just how good Hischier is offensively, too.

The guy has 202 NHL goals. And that's not nothing.

With his latest goal Tuesday in Detroit, Hischier moved into a three-way tie for third on the Devils' all-time goals list alongside Travis Zajac and Bobby Holik. One more, and third place is his alone.

He's still got a ways to go to catch John MacLean (347) and Patrik Elias (408), but that's some pretty remarkable company for a player just beginning his 10th NHL season.

And in typical Nico fashion, when asked about reaching 200 goals, he was already looking ahead.

"I still want to get better and I still want to take this team somewhere," he said.

It's something I always tell people who ask me about Hischier. Yes, you want him on the ice when you're protecting a one-goal lead.

But you should want him out there just as much when you're down by one.

He's that good at both ends of the ice.

5.

Jack Hughes was absolutely buzzing against Detroit on Tuesday night. He was all over the ice, creating chances, making plays and making life pretty difficult for the Red Wings.

He finished with a goal and two assists, including the overtime winner, and afterward, Sheldon Keefe had a pretty funny way of describing just how well Hughes was playing.

During our postgame interview, Keefe joked that Jack was playing so well that even I probably could have scored a goal or picked up a point playing alongside him.

“It was great,” he said of the Gritsyuk, Hughes and Bratt combination. “But the reality is, when Jack plays like that, Amanda, you could play with him, and I think they’d look like that."

Now, I appreciate the vote of confidence, but let's not get carried away.

What made it even better was that after the camera stopped rolling, Keefe looked back at me and said, "I believe in you, Amanda!"

We had a good laugh, and I figured that was the end of it.

But later, as we passed each other on the way to the plane, Keefe picked right back up, asking if I was ready to get fitted for some gear.

So, apparently, my NHL career is still on the table.

All jokes aside, it was a pretty funny way to illustrate just how good Hughes was that night. When Jack's playing like that, he really does make everyone around him better.

But trust me, I’d be a lost cause. Let’s not try that.

6.

With his two assists against Detroit on Tuesday, Hughes recorded his 66th career multi-assist game, passing Scott Niedermayer for sole possession of fourth-most in Devils franchise history.

Kirk Muller is Hughes’ next target, with Muller accruing 72 career multi-assist games for the Devils.

7.

Let's check in on the Utica Comets for a moment, because things are looking pretty good down on the farm.

The Devils' AHL affiliate is off to a perfect 3-0-0 start, with victories over Providence, Rochester and Belleville. And if that doesn't sound particularly remarkable, consider this: Utica didn't win a single game in October in either of the previous two seasons, going a combined 0-12-1.

This is a pretty encouraging change of pace.

The Comets have allowed just four goals through their first three games.

There's been plenty of change in Utica, both on the roster and behind the scenes, with Braden Birch overseeing the AHL club as general manager. And while three games is far too early to draw any sweeping conclusions, the early results are certainly promising.

8.

After playing 33 NHL games last season, Lenni Hämeenaho entered training camp hoping to pick up where he left off. But Sheldon Keefe had made one thing clear during their exit interview at the end of last season: nothing was guaranteed.

"He has got to put in the work and continue to get better," Keefe said during training camp. "If he was going to make any sort of assumption, the one that I told him to make is that we are going to be a better team when he returns than the one that he played 30 games for."

And with the Devils adding considerable forward depth over the summer, that's exactly what happened. The competition got tougher, and Hämeenaho found himself starting the season in Utica.

It hasn’t seemed to phase Lenni, who clearly took Keefe’s message to heart.

He's opened the AHL season with three goals and five points in three games, including a two-goal, three-point performance against Belleville on Sunday. He's also scored on the power play in consecutive games.

And I think that's exactly the kind of response you want to see from a young player who was hoping to start the season in the NHL.

Before camp, Hämeenaho said he knew he'd have to prove himself all over again.

"I need to show again what I'm able to do on the ice," he said. "Play my own game."

Well, so far, he's doing exactly that.

It's only three games, of course, but for Hämeenaho and the Comets, it's hard to ask for a much better start.

9.

Circling back to Takeaway No. 1 and the relationship between Cody Glass and Amadeus Lombardi, it got me thinking about when Lenni Hämeenaho first joined the Devils last season.

Glass did much the same thing with Hämeenaho, taking the young forward under his wing. In fact, the line of Arseny Gritsyuk, Glass and Hämeenaho became one of New Jersey's strongest down the stretch.

And if memory serves me correctly, Glass had a very similar message for Hämeenaho as he's now sharing with Lombardi: let him do the dirty work in the corners, win the puck battles and get them the puck. Then let their offensive skill take over.

I think that says a lot about Glass, not just as a player, but as a teammate. He understands what makes these young, skilled players successful and is willing to take on some of the heavier lifting to help them find their footing at the NHL level.

It's a pretty underrated form of leadership, and one that deserves some recognition.

10.

We're still very much in small-sample-size territory when it comes to the Devils this season.

The schedule has been relatively light to start the year, with plenty of time between games to practice, make adjustments and work through some of the early growing pains.

But that's about to change.

The Devils are about to play eight games in 16 days, including a particularly demanding stretch to close out October with three road games in four nights.

After a relatively light opening schedule, things are about to pick up considerably. And with opponents like the Rangers, Capitals, Avalanche, Stars and Golden Knights on the horizon, there won't be much room to ease into it. And that's when we'll really start to get a better sense of what this Devils team is made of.

And what better way to kick off that next stretch than with a matchup against the New York Rangers?

Not a bad way to hit the ground running.