Did Anything Happen? | 10 TAKEAWAYS

Has anything happened in the last week? 

Not sure there's much to talk about, other than, oh you know, acquiring a premier goaltender. 

Ho-hum. Nothing to see here! 

I kid. 

Let's dig in in this weeks edition of 10 Takeaways!

1.

It was a 197-day layoff from game play for Devils goalie Connor Hellebuyck. He hadn’t played since April 13, and the Devils landed him four days before the Dallas game. 

Hellebuyck said time and again he was ready to play from the moment he was traded (and I'm pretty sure he'd have played that game against the Kings 15hours after being traded to the Devils, if they had let him). 

If there was any worry about what he would look like after 193 days away from NHL game action, he put it to rest in Dallas.

He got just one practice with his new teammates, and you wouldn’t have known it. The Devils beat the league’s stingiest team 5-1 and snapped a five-game Dallas win streak. Sheldon Keefe said afterward you could see why Hellebuyck had been pushing to play, because he looked physically ready.

That tracks with the work he’d been putting in.

It was about as good as you can hope for from a debut.

2.

Hellebuyck's mask is expected to arrive around the time the Devils return from their road trip out West. 

It's a bit of a rush job, obviously, but that doesn't mean it won't have at least one characteristic that's been on every single goalie mask Hellebuyck has had: an ode to fishing, 

The Devils goaltending duo are more than a goaltending duo. Both are equally obsessed with fishing. 

In fact, Hellebuyck shared that when the news finally came out that he was being traded to New Jersey, one ofthe first texts from one of his friends was a Top 10 fishing locations near New Jersey.

Right now, the decal on Hellebuyck's mask is stickered on. Nothing was painted quite that fast!

2.

MSG's Rachel Herzog had a fun question for Hellebuyck, that led to an even funnier interaction between Hellebuyck and Devils radio voice Matt Loughlin. Rachel asked Connor what his prefered nickname was, having heard both 'Helle' and 'Bucky' as options. 

Turns out, 'Bucky' is only a nickname reserved for a few, and started during his junior hockey days. Hellebuyck says you really have to enter his personal circle to qualify for a 'Bucky' reference, and isn't quite sure how the name made its way from junior to the NHL.

But the best part of the whole interaction happened after the media scrum ended and Matt Loughlin swoops in to ask Connor to do a couple of radio reads that you hear during the broadcast. Matt made a joke, saying he's not sure he can quite call him Bucky just yet, to which the quick witted Hellebuyck said (and I'm paraphrasing) "It's Mr. Hellebuyck!".

Everyone got a good laugh out of that one.

It'll take time, apparently, to crack even the 'Helle' circle!

4. 

Sometimes you just have to chalk a loss up to it simply not being your night. And that’s a lot easier to do when you’ve built the kind of confidence the Devils have.

The game against the Avalanche was tied after two periods before Colorado scored four times in the third. Allen stopped 39 shots and faced 44.

The confidence, though, is palpable, too. Even after the 5-2 loss, Jake Allen talked about the different energy around this group. When you walk into that room, even when you’re not part of the team, you can feel it.

And perhaps its new for this group, in some ways. 

"It's all a mindset," said Jake Allen after the loss in Colorado. "There's an energy in our room right now that, to be honest, I probably haven't seen since I've been here with the Devils, and I think the boys can feel it."

There are no hanging heads. It’s more of a “We’re moving on, and we’re confident in moving on the right way” feeling.

Something just feels different, I can tell you that, from my experience being around this team for nine full seasons, now in my 10th.

5. 

It may have flown under the radar, but I loved this quote from Sheldon Keefe, who was talking about how the players have come together as a group and are driving the team message.

So why, in his third season, does he feel that’s happened this year?

He didn’t hold back.

“I think it’s a combination of things, a combination of the guys who have been here that are fed up with inconsistency and poor results. And then you couple that with the guys that we’ve brought in that I think have great leadership, great voices, great perspective. I think just the overall energy of the group has been very good.”

The “guys who have been here” weren’t specifically named, but it’s not hard to guess.

It also made me think of something Nico Hischier told me before the season about himself and Jesper Bratt:

“Our mindset is we’re getting this right. We’ve been here for so long already. We have good years, we have bad years, and we both see the potential here.”

6.

I loved the one-word answer Hellebuyck gave when asked what he was thinking as the lights went down in Dallas and the anthem began.

He was finally where he had been working to be. 

Back on NHL ice. 

His thought? 

“Finally.”

7. 

I think it’s also important to acknowledge that while there’s real excitement and a boost in adding Connor Hellebuyck, his arrival builds on what was already in place before he landed in New Jersey.

Keefe made the same point, that the team’s improved play started before the trade. The numbers back it up. Through the first eight games, the Devils allowed 27 goals. Over the last five, it’s 11, and that includes a tough night in Colorado where a difficult back-to-back finally caught up to them. 

Throw the talents of Hellebuyck in the mix, and things get very, very interesting going forward.

8.

How did Hellebuyck hear about the trade? Well, he was actually on the ice when someone for the arena in Michigan came rushing over with a phone. Decked out in his full goalie gear, he took a phone call from his agent, who had called the arena to get a hold of Hellebuyck, who obviously wasnt answering his own phone. 

The Athletic's Peter Baugh has a great rundown of how all those hours, leading up to his debut in Dallas, unfolded.

9. 

Some have asked what song was playing in the Devils locker room when Sheldon Keefe said "that was an unbelievable selection" after their win against the L.A. Kings. 

The song was Mr. Jones by the Counting Crows. 

Now, just to be clear, I can't quite figure out if its become their win song, because I've heard a few different songs so far. 

I'll be keeping my ear to the wall to see if I can figure out exactly what it is, or if they have an official one.

10.

Nov. 2. The reveal.