Mysteries: Solved | 10 TAKEAWAYS

So, I had to throw on the investigative hat this week and do a little digging into a couple of things that didn’t exactly come with clear answers.

First, there was the whole chain-of-custody situation with Jack Hughes’ Olympic Golden Goal. Then there was that mystery “no goal” from last season... the one by Paul Cotter that would’ve been his first overtime winner… except it got called back. So when he scored this week against the Boston Bruins, that officially went down as his first.

Thing is, he didn’t remember it, and honestly, neither did I. It was Nico Hischier who pointed out that Cotter actually had scored an OT goal before… but it was a play involving Nico that wiped it off the board.

So, I went digging. Found the game, the moment, and the inches that took the goal away.

I get into all of it in this week’s edition of 10 Takeaways, presented by Ticketmaster.

1.

It’s truly been a crazy couple of weeks for Jack Hughes. On Monday night against the Bruins, Jack broke another Devils record, becoming the faster player to 400 points with the franchise, in the fewest number of games. He clocks in, just in time, with 400 points in 414 games played.

He takes down Kirk Muller’s record set in in the early 90s. When Jack was yet to be born.

2.

Loved the reaction from their teammates after Lenni and Grits connected for that baseball-like goal against the L.A. Kings.

We got a lot of ‘Wow’s and ‘Nasty’s… which are quite appropriate.

And then you have Grits’ reaction… just the most Grits reaction you can expect.

‘It’s easy!’

That’s what he told Lenni about the play.

You do you, Grits!

3.

Been a couple of games with baseball-like goals. 

Nico Hischier batted a puck out of the air against the Rangers, and got it by Jonathan Quick. 

Baseball isn't exactly a Swiss pastime, but you'd never know the way he casually knocked the puck out of the air at the perfect height to avoid a high-sticking call.

4. 

The whole thing with Jack Hughes and his comments about the Golden Goal puck being in the Hockey Hall of Fame feels like it got blown way out of proportion, honestly. People kind of latched onto the wrong part of what he was saying. Of course, any player is going to have that immediate reaction about keeping a milestone puck or thinking about where it might end up - that’s just hockey culture, it’s what happens all the time in the NHL. And truthfully, there were a good few days between scoring the goal and being asked about it that actually no one really knew where the puck was. Not Jack, not the equipment managers, no one on the Devils either. It gets swiftly scooped up the minute it's scored. 

With no one knowing who actually 'owned' the puck, and you can't fault anyone for the confusion, it;s a natural instinct to look for a memento from a historic team win.

But what’s also getting lost is that Jack’s a legit hockey connoisseur; he is a hockey buff in the best way, someone who genuinely loves and respects the history of the game. Growing up around Ontario, he understands exactly what the Hall represents and why it matters. 

And beyond that, he genuinely appreciates it, like, the idea that his name and a piece of his career end up alongside some of the greatest players ever, past and present, that’s not something he’s brushing off. If anything, it’s the opposite. It all comes from a place of respect for how special those moments are, even if it didn’t come out perfectly in the moment.

5.

Alright, I did some digging after Paul Cotter reminded me, after Nico Hischier reminded him, that Monday’s OT winner wasn’t the first overtime goal of his career… it was the first one that \counted\.

I had forgotten about this and on Tuesday got a couple more details via Paul about which game he was talking about, because I certainly did not remember. He and Nico seemed to recall it was against Minnesota last season… so into the archives I went, and they’re absolutely correct.. as is Nico that it was his entry into the Ozone that was – quite literally – an inch offside, which negated Cotter’s ensuing goal.

And when I say ‘an inch’ I literally mean it. I dug up the clip, see for yourself! I had completely forgotten.

6.

Another milestone... 500 points for the sixth-round pick, Jesper Bratt. 

I know I've shared this story before, but I will again. It seems appropriate to right now. 

On one of my first days on the job back in 2017, I was set up in the locker room for a Rookie Camp interivew with Tom Fitzgerald, then the assistant General Manager to Ray Shero, now the Devils GM. 

My maybe first or second question to him, ever, was: "Who should fans be looking out for heading into Rookie Camp that they might not know much about or have their eyes immediately on?"

His answer, without skipping a beat, was 'This young kid, Jesper Bratt, coming over from Sweden.'

He told me how the plan, before camp had even started, was likely to send Bratt to Junior hockey (his rights were own by the London Knights), and start to bring him up that way.

Joining that team never happened. He never saw a day of Junior, never saw a day of the American Hockey League. 

I had a look at that Knights roster from 2017: Robert Thomas and Evan Bouchard, as well as Liam Foudy, would have been among his teammates.

Instead, it was Nico Hischier.

And the rest is history.

7.

Since the Olympic Break?

Jack Hughes has a whopping 18 points. Only three players sit ahead of him, and only by one or two points (quick literally). 

The leaders: Nikita Kucherov (20 points), and both Martin Necas and Connor McDavid ahead of him with 19 points each. 

Jack is tied with Nathan MacKinnon with 18 points.

Look at that company. Jack is a superstar. He’s fully healthy and he’s proving it - though he needs not prove it to anyone, really.

8.

Pretty cool to see Bobby Farnham pop up the way he has recently… not every day you see this.

Farnham, it was announced last week, has joined the Carolina Hurricanes' ownership group. It’s one of those stories that makes you do a double-take in a good way… from grinding it out as an energy guy in the league to now being part of the business side at that level.

Since hanging up the skates, Farnham’s carved out a pretty solid path off the ice. He got into the business world, with a degree from Harvard, and working in finance and investment spaces, co-founding a private investment platform. It’s not just a random post-hockey move, and I mean, he’s clearly put in the work to get there.

The beautiful thing about our game is that you always want to stay connected to it, no matter how. There’s something about being in and working in this sport that gets in your bones.

9.

Maybe it’s the long hours you spend together… It’s nearly every single day for more than half the year, morning, noon and late nights. In the arena, on the plane, in the hotel… you’re always together. So, I've been kind of keeping tally...

Something I’ve been doing since the beginning of the season… keeping track of how much time we spend in the air on our road trips. This is literally just the time from the second the plane leaves the ground to the second we land... there's a whole lots more in between. But I was just curious, after nine seasons of doing this.

We’re up to close to 76 hours in the air, with 14 games to go in the season. I keep a running tally on my phone, our longest flight so far has been 5:08. Our shortest? 27:41.

Total number of flights so far? 40.

Stay tuned for the final tally at the end of the year.

10.

Congrats to the U.S. for the clean sweep of Olympic gold. The men’s, women’s, and Paralympic teams all taking top honors in Milano-Cortina is pretty wild. Seriously impressive stuff.

Also really cool to see Jersey guys Jack Wallace and Josh Pauls get it done. For Pauls especially, five Olympic golds is just ridiculous.

And they’re both guys I’ve been lucky enough to cross paths with over the years. Every now and then they’d pop around the Devils locker room, just soaking it all in, being around the game. With Pauls, I actually remember way back when he won one of his earlier medals, we happened to be in St. Louis where I believe he was training, at the same time, and he brought the medal into the room after our morning skate. Guys were passing it around like kids, it was awesome.

Found a throwback pic from that moment buried deep in my phone... had to bring it back.