Devils Kick Off Training Camp | NOTEBOOK

The Devils kicked off training camp on Thursday with three on-ice sessions. For the full list of invited players,
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Following each on-ice session players will be available to the media. In addition, Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald and head coach Lindy Ruff will speak following all practices. Below is full coverage of the day including all media availabilities with players, coaches, and management.

GROUP A

Group A was the first on the ice at 9 a.m. ET with veterans like Jack Hughes, Mackenzie Blackwood, Tomas Tatar, Jonas Siegenthaler, and Ondrej Palat in attendance. Several Devils prospects including Aarne Talvitie, Alexander Holtz, Garrett Van Wyhe, Riley Walsh, and Nikita Okhotiuk also were in Group A.
Today was also the first time in a long time that Dougie Hamilton was skating with his teammates without a face shield from his injury last January, returning to a regular helmet to kick off camp.

Palat Gifts Mercer for 18

Ondrej Palat is the Devils new No. 18, swapping with Dawson Mercer who is now wearing No. 91. It was a gesture that the newcomer appreciated and shared that on Wednesday he gifted Mercer with a new watch.

Mix and Matching

It's always important to be cautious when reading into lineups, especially during the first day of training camp. Things change quickly, especially as the numbers start to wind down over the next couple of weeks. That being said there were some intriguing lines set up on the first day of camp. In Group A, Jack Hughes was centered by Palat and Alexander Holtz, while Group B

In Their Own Words

Palat Camp Raw
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Hughes Camp Raw
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Blackwood Camp Raw
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Hamilton Camp Raw
Ondrej Palat, Jack Hughes, Mackenzie Blackwood and Dougie Hamilton all talked to media following the first on-ice session. Here's some takeaways:
Hughes on His Expectations for this season:
"We just want to be competitive, and take it one game at a time, and one month at a time and reevaluate after the month and stay in the mix. We want to be in the race all year, if we're in the mix we'll let our game take care of ourselves but we just have to focus on the month of hockey."

Palat on joining New Jersey:
"Big change after all those years, but I'm excited to be here and everything has been awesome here. Today we had a great hard practice, we learned a little bit about our system which was good. But great first practice."

Blackwood on how he's feeling:
"Last year I got in a couple games at the end to gage how I was feeling, where I was on my recovery process, just going into the summer to know where I stood. This summer was good for me, good for my ankle, I have no pain anymore, feeling good again so I'm able to do everything on the ice that I need to do. I'm feeling refreshed, excited, and I'm ready to put the work in and try to have a great year."

Hamilton on the impact his injury had last season:
"I went through all of that and there's a few things I could probably think of or make excuses or what not but I didn't feel the same as I felt at the start of the year with (the injury). For me it was just working as hard as I could all summer to feel better, get healthier, and play like I did at the start of the season and I think I can do that."

GROUP B

The second group to hit the ice had some very familiar names. Captain Nico Hischier was joined by Jesper Bratt, Yegor Sharangovich, Ryan Graves, and Damon Severson, while the goalies for Group B were Vitek Vanecek and Akira Schmid.

In Their Own Words

Hischier Camp Raw
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Bratt Camp Raw
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Severson Camp Raw
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McLeod Camp Raw
Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, Damon Severson, and Michael McLeod will talk to media following Group B's practice.
Hischier on Growing as a Captain:
"Wanted to improve myself by leading the team a little bit. I've been, soon to be two years already as Captain, but there's lots to learn. The older guys coming in, they have experience, they've helped me out, they already have now. I met them two weeks ago and they've already gave me some good tips so I'm still learning but that's definitely stuff I want to improve as well."

Bratt on How the Team Feels Different This Year:
"I felt right away from the first skate that we've had just a week ago when we were skating with the guys without coaches. I think right away then we could tell the mentality, and the players and leadership is different this year. The younger age guys are one year more experienced. We're gettin gin a lot of pieces that won a lot of Cups and played a lot of years and that makes a difference in the room to have those voices. I think our younger guys are more ready to step up. I think obviously from the past year we're sick and tired of the losing. And we know that the guys that were brought in can't make a difference and we want to be part of the difference."

Severson on his goals for the season:
"The way that we're so deep on defense and we have some really good forwards who have taken that next step and are looking to take that next step again this year. Goals I've set, you look at your overall game, your defense, and then kind of pick every part of your game. There's a lot of things that I'm naturally gifted at that I want to continue to get better at. And then there's things that you still have to work on … but it's very evident everyone wants to do well for themselves this year."

McLeod on the off-season additions:
"We've had a young group here for a while. It's nice having some older guys here to hopefully lead the way for us."

GROUP C

Group C wrapped up the on-ice sessions Thursday early afternoon.

In Their Own Words

Smith Camp Raw
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Mercer Camp Raw
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Marino Camp Raw
Smith on on how close the Devils are to competing:
"Confidence in sports is maybe the greatest thing ever. You have to build it. It starts today. I'm giving all the cliche answers but I've seen it. I feel like I can speak for. That's why I'm so excited."

Mercer on his new No. 91:
"I've always been a low number (guy). I wore 19 in junior so I figured I would flip that around. I've never had a high number so hopefully it goes good."

Marino on being a young 'veteran':
"It's a 180 from Pittsburgh being the youngest guy to now middle of the pack. They're all pretty close here. They're all pretty young. It's going to be excited to be a part of that."

FITZGERALD AND RUFF FOLLOWING PRACTICE

Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald and Head Coach Lindy Ruff addressed the media following all on-ice sessions Thursday. The pair discussed the new coaches, depth in the player pool, how they will work towards getting down to the final roster and more.