A Week Like No Other | 10 TAKEAWAYS

Sometimes storylines just write themselves, and for someone with my role, those are always the easier days. But they can also be some of the most exciting and ones where you get to tell heartwarming stories. I was certainly not devoid of them this week and I take you through some of my favorite storylines in this edition of 10 Takeaways, presented by Ticketmaster.

2.

So where does Hughes stack up among Devils All-Stars? He'll be just the fourth Devil in franchise history to be selected to the All-Star game before the age of 21. He joins Kirk Muller, who was twice selected, Scott Gomez and Joe Cirella.

3.

Just when you think maybe you've seen it all, something new comes along. This time it was all around the Emergency Backup Goaltender.
One of the best parts about playing in the division and area the Devils do is that most trips are quick trips, and you're home most nights in your own bed. It's an incredibly underrated part of playing in this area. It also means that for games against the Islanders, we can leave the night before, instead of the afternoon. So, when I arrived at Prudential Center at 7:30 p.m. to grab the team bus there was an unfamiliar face making his way onto the players' bus. I would soon find out it was Kyle Shapiro, who attends several games at Prudential Center as the Emergency Backup Goaltender.
Little did he know, just hours later he'd be signing an Amateur Tryout Contract, to dress as the team's official backup goaltender against the Islanders. What I so loved about this story is the things that went on behind the scenes, how the club - from players, coaches and management - made Shapiro a part of the team in the truest sense of the word. Staff have one bus; players are on another when we travel. Kyle sat on the players' bus, which must have been quite surreal for someone who has grown up a fan of the team. He stayed at the team hotel and was one of the first players downstairs for breakfast in the morning. He sat in on meetings and played every bit a part of being an official team member. It was very cool to see, despite it not being an ideal scenario where your bench is stretched so thin that this is a move that needed to be done, it's turned into a great, heartwarming story.

4.

But when it comes to Shapiro, I think the thing that should truly stick out to everyone is those little details of making an 'outsider', for all intents and purposes, to feel 100 percent a part of the team, no matter how long or little time he would spend with the club. The tiny details of guys going up to introduce themselves on the bus, to P.K. Subban posting on his Instagram (and tagging!)Kyle after his 'NHL debut', all these things matter in a greater scope.
And I think Lindy Ruff said it best. For whatever reason, I hadn't thought of the story in this way, until Lindy made the comment.
"That's really the culture we're trying to create here," Ruff said, "It's a great group, we've got a real good leader. I think that's the message that is being sent is, you helped us out and we're going to take care of you. And I just think that's awesome."
That gesture Lindy was talking about was a team dinner invite from the captain, Nico Hischier to Shapiro to join him and his teammates on Friday night.

5.

For those wondering, as Shapiro did feel slightly torn knowing his New Jersey Titans had a big game that night that he was supposed to coach, he did in fact accept the dinner offer and went to dinner with the group.

6.

Good news! The Titans won and Shapiro got his dinner. So really, everyone was a winner! No harm, no foul.

7.

I went with the notion of 'one coach to another' and asked Lindy Ruff would he miss his team's game for a dinner invite?
At first, with a straight face he said "You know, being a head coach for as many years, I'd be coaching my team. I wouldn't be putting a dinner ahead of hockey."
And then Ruff cracked a smile and continued, "but that's one hell of an opportunity. You'd have to tell me what the restaurant was first!"

8.

I was as disappointed as any when the news came down that NHL players weren't going to the Olympics, but given the circumstances, it's certainly understandable. But at the same time, it's making way for a different crop of talented hockey players to potentially play on the world's biggest stage. And right now there are two Devil prospects in the running with the Russian national team, prospects Shakir Mukhamadullin and Arseny Gritsuk.
On Jan. 10, 2022, Mukhamadullin turned 20 years old and is the second-youngest player on the preliminary roster that is composed of the players set to take part in Russia's Olympic training camp. Only goaltender Yaroslav Askarov is younger, at 19 years old, and also a 2002 birthday.

9.

Gritsyuk doesn't always get the same attention as other Devils prospects, and that certainly can happen when you're a later round pick like the Russian forward was in 2019, selected in the fifth round, 129th overall. He's been having himself quite a first full season playing in the KHL, with Avangard Omsk. He's third in points with 28 in 39 games and his 16 goals are second on the team.

10.

It's a story I bring up often whenever I'm being asked about or interviewing someone about Jesper Bratt. On my first day on the job with the New Jersey Devils back in Sept. 2017, I walked into the Devils locker room for my first-ever sit-down interview for the club. It was with then-assistant general manager Tom Fitzgerald, who at the time was also the general manager of the team's American Hockey League affiliate, the Binghamton Devils. It was Day One of rookie camp. I believe it was one of my last questions too, I asked him what player we should be looking at that perhaps is flying under the radar as a lesser-known name.
Jesper Bratt, Fitzgerald emphatically responded.
A sixth-round draft pick, being a player to keep your eye on. And ever since that first day of rookie camp, his first time playing participating at Devils camp, Bratt just took off. And here we are all these years later with the 23-year-old now leading the team in goals (10), assists (22), and points (32), through 34 games.
And it's that selection, in the sixth round that seems to have fueled Bratt, who was nominated as a "Last Man In"for the All-Star Game. I asked him, what it was like, as a sixth-rounder to be standing here with at the very least his name being recognized as a potential All-Star.
"It was always a goal of mine," Bratt said, "It's always been what I'm working for, I felt like I've been setting up these dreams and goals early was something that I was working on. I know being a sixth-round pick, it was just a motivation for me to work even harder and prove to everyone that I'm better than that. I think that has been a thing that has helped me along through my career, and something I'm going to keep working on too."