THREE THINGS: Butcher Looking Forward

It was a different type of year for New Jersey Devils defenseman Will Butcher in 2019-20, his offensive numbers were not where he'd likely want to see them, and he spent more time than he ever had on the injured list. An injury in late February ended Butcher's season, but he was targeted to be ready for a September training camp. A few extra months, with the next NHL season set to start in November, is sure to be a bonus, to get that extra time to recover.

As Butcher gets ready for his fourth NHL season, we look back at his past year in Three Things presented by Wawa.

Musky Bill

One notable pastime for several members of the team seems to be fishing. On occasion, walking around the locker room, you'll hear some of the players talk about their fishing expeditions. Butcher is certainly one to chime in. Earlier this year, we also found out his nickname, at least according to Mackenzie Blackwood.

Musky Bill, he calls him.

"The other day I saw a hat in his stall. It said Musky Bill's Guide Services or something like that. And I was like, dude, that's a sweet hat, I want to get one of those. And I said, 'Where did you get it?'
"He goes, Oh, it's mine. My brother made it for me, because he calls himself Musky Bill (to his brother). So, I thought it was hilarious. I still want the hat, by the way," Blackwood added.

"But, yeah, apparently back home in Wisconsin, he catches a lot of muskies in the summertime."

Tough Luck

It was a rarity in Will Butcher's career, until the 2019-20 NHL season. It seemed as though Butcher was bit by the injury bug, missing 13 games for New Jersey in his third NHL season. Butcher played just 56 of the Devils' 69 games this year and had his season officially end on March 5th after undergoing surgery for ruptured right thumb ligaments. The most recent injury occurred early in a February 18th game against the St. Louis Blues. His estimated recovery time was 3-4 months, which would have made him ready to start the 2020-21 season had it begun on time.

Earlier in the year, Butcher missed two games between October 19th and 25th with an undisclosed injury sustained from blocking a shot, and again missed a game on December 29th against Ottawa.

In his two prior seasons, Butcher had missed just five games.

Community Outreach: Olaf and Friends

Just prior to the sudden end of the 2019-20 NHL season, Butcher and his wife Tayler launched their passion project called Olaf and Friends. Olaf is Will and Tayler's Samoyed one-year-old dog, who joined their family last summer. Together, they launched a curated clothing collection for both dogs and their owners with proceeds benefiting local animal shelters in the New Jersey area. Each month's profits go to a designated animal shelter.

The design for the clothing features all the animals of the current and former New Jersey Devils, including Reggie Severson, Morko Vatanen and Pavel Zacha's two cats.

In recent weeks, as the world has been dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, Olaf and Friends provided healthcare workers with at John Hopkins Hospital with facemasks.

Visit

https://olafandfriends.com/

to learn more!

And One More Thing...

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