10 Takeaways: A Big 24 Hours

Talk about an eventful week.
Since we last met for 10 Takeaways, there are three more games under the Devils' belt, but more importantly, the franchise had two major milestone moments in the span of 24 hours.
A new captain, and a team icon, all celebrated over the past weekend. It was fitting the two things happened at the same time, with one player helping shape the other and shuttling the franchise into a new era.
Here are 10 Takeaways from the last week.

1. niCo

There was so much anticipation.
The return of Nico Hischier. Waiting for him to recover from his broken fibula and ready for his first game of the season.
And then it arrived and arrived in style. When Nico stepped out onto the ice for warmups for the first time this season, he had a newly stitched "C" on his jersey. Just four years after being drafted first overall, he is the person that will lead this franchise into the future (a role which he was already undertaking without the letter).
Tweet from @NJDevils: From the kid to The Captain. #MadeInJersey | #NJDevils pic.twitter.com/Q37C1oVgZ3

2. An Equally Big Moment

It's the perfect match, but you don't need me to tell you that. I did sit down with General Manager Tom Fitzgerald, not three minutes after telling Nico the news. It was a big moment for both of them. Nico, now the captain, Tom Fitzgerald naming his first captain as a General Manager. I asked Fitzgerald about that moment.
"It was exciting, it was emotional because it's such a big deal to a franchise. Naming that person and putting that letter on their sweater is an incredible, I don't want to say accomplishment, but just a badge of honor. A lot of emotions."

3. 1000

The weekend was definitely busy. A day after Nico's C came Travis Zajac's 1000th NHL game. I feel lucky to have been able to extensively cover these two monumental events in franchise history.
As I was doing some research for my Big Read, I found this great stat. Of players drafted in 2004, the draft where the Devils took Travis 20th overall, he is only the second player to reach 1000 NHL games.
The first? Alex Ovechkin.
That's some fine company to keep.
Tweet from @NJDevils: ~this guy~ is skating in his 1,000th game today. they grow up so fast🥺 pic.twitter.com/f8sO4WQZds

4. A Couple More Stories

One story I tried to fit into the Big Read on Travis but couldn't make fit was still something I knew I could get in here to share. It was too good not to.
When I was talking to Travis' father Tom, he had this story to share when I asked him for some early memories of Travis playing hockey.
"I remember, it was a Sunday afternoon, we went to the outdoor rink. It was just me and him on the rink. And I remember I was the goalie, and he was doing the breakaways. was teaching him saying well, 'either you've got to shoot, or we've got to deke' and we've got to practice that. And the reason I think about it is, I'm thinking now man, I should have done more of that because if shootouts are brutal. I told him that the other day I said, 'You better go with your kid and practice your shootout because that's awful."

5. Father Knows Best

I had to double-check Travis's career numbers to see if his dad was right. He's not all that wrong. Travis has had 29 shootout attempts in his career, and six goals. To be fair to Travis though, four of those six goals were under the pressure of being game-deciding goals.

6. On The Board

There was probably no one more frustrated than Kyle Palmieri dealing with Kyle Palmieri's offensive drought.
But there he went against the Bruins to breakthrough. The game before, on the 16th of February, he had an assist, but two nights later the goals started to come. Two goals against the Bruins, one shorthanded felt like such a relief. After the game, Kyle said something that stuck out. If you really think about it, it's not just the doubt of having not scored since the beginning of the season, but if you want to go back to last season, the last time he had scored a goal was just shy of a year ago, which was a two-goal performance against the Rangers on March 7th, 2020.
"With the pandemic and the long off-season, it's a long time to go between scoring goals," Palmieri said. "I saw the emotion of guys, they were happy for me coming back to the bench. That means a lot."
Tweet from @NJDevils: Don���t worry about what happened after this. Just enjoy the moment.🚨: Palmieri 🍎: Bratt 🍏: Severson pic.twitter.com/9r21AsaYnw

7. Reilly Walsh's Start

Reilly Walsh is having a heck of a start to his professional career. He made the decision last off-season to forgo the rest of his NCAA career and turn pro. Of leaving Harvard, he recently told Mike Ashmore of the Trentonian "I think I made the right decision, one-hundred million percent."
He has three points in five games, which includes two goals. Including this ridiculous end-to-end tally.

8. Not Listed

It sure is nice not to see 'None' listed next to "New Jersey Devils" on the Covid-Protocol list. It took a while, but we're here. And it should be interesting to see how that shapes the lineup going forward. It's the first time this season Lindy Ruff will have at his availability the entire roster that Tom Fitzgerald has been busy building over the last year.

9. Welcome Back!

Really looking forward to having fans back at Prudential Center, which is set to start next month. It will be a limited number of fans, but it will still be great to have some of you back! I've been very fortunate in my position to have been at every game this season, but it's just not the same without our fans.
Tweet from @NJDevils: 🚨 It���s happening! 🚨#NEWS: Following @GovMurphy���s announcement, we are thrilled to be able to welcome fans back to #NJDevils games starting March 1. https://t.co/MHvfZqMhKr

10. The Other Guys

I don't normally chime in with stats about other teams here, but this one was pretty crazy. When Alex Ovechkin scored on Aaron Dell the other night in Washington, Dell became the 145th goaltender that Ovechkin has scored on in his NHL career (712 goals).
Okay, that's good I guess. But then the Capitals PR group released this stat: there have been 6,460 players in NHL history who have scored 145 or fewer goals in their career.