Devils Practice During 4-Day Break | NOTEBOOK

The Devils are practicing Wednesday afternoon during a four-day break between games.

Stay tuned to the notebook for the latest info, updates, interviews, videos and more from the practice session!

Practice Info

Defensemen Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce are the only expected players abesent from practice for New Jersey. With their heavy workload of late, the team is just giving them some extra rest.

"Just maintenance," head coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Using the schedule to give them a little more time here. Obviously, big minute guys for us. So, just giving them a little extra."

Defenseman Dougie Hamilton and forward Cody Glass each skated after practice as part of their injury rehab progress. Glass is on the precipice of rejoining the team for practice and could even return to the lineup Saturday when the Devils host the New York Rangers.

“We’ll see how today goes. (Glass is) a possibility for our next practice and a possibility for our next game,” Keefe said. “We’ll just have to see. He hasn’t skated with us. He’s been progressing quite well.

“We’re going to make a decision for him for this weekend. If it’s not this weekend I don’t think it’ll be too far beyond that.”

Rare Break

The Devils find themselves in a rare schedule quirk with a four-day break between games. Although, the break was much deserved considering the team had just played 16 games in 31 days during the month of March, including nine of those games on the road.

“It’s nice. We just played 16 games in 31 days in March. There’s a lot of hockey there,” Keefe said. “Whenever you’re playing that much hockey you’re not going to practice much. We had four practices in the month of March. With that some things definitely slip. You get a chance to tighten them up in practice. We think we can benefit from that. We think we can benefit from the rest.”

Despite the lack of rest and lack of practice, playing on such a consistent basis does have some positives. And a break can hurt those.

“The challenge is you get out of game mode (with the break),” Keefe said. “When you play 16 games in 31 days, that’s a heavy workload, that’s a playoff workload, if not even harder because of no breaks whatsoever, you do get into a rhythm and conditioned to play in that. That’s what we’ll try to combat and try to pull out of practice what we can do stay game ready.”

Sprong Developing

Devils forward Daniel Sprong has played in six games with New Jersey since being acquired at the NHL’s trade deadline. Though he has yet to record a point, he does have a plus-2 in those games and has played a part in contributing to team offense.

On a Paul Cotter goal, Sprong would have been the third assist as it was his pass through the neutral zone that created the play. On a Nico Hischier goal, Sprong set a “pick” that allowed Hischier to find space and score. Though he didn’t record a point on any of those plays, he is having an impact.

“He hasn’t been able to score just yet. That’s there for him,” Keefe said. “He really has the ability. We’ve seen it in the league before. It’s very evident when watching practice that he can bring a different element to us there. I’ve liked his game.”

Sprong has the natural talent to score. However, his biggest deficit is in the defensive side of the game and it’s something he’s worked on a lot.

“I like that he’s done a good job defensively. That’s a big part for him,” Keefe said. “You can tell he’s really attentive in that area and trying to be really solid in that area defensively. But I also need him to make plays and hang onto the puck and give us a little more of an offensive element lower in our lineup.

“Overall, I’ve been happy with what he’s brought. I will continue to encourage him to continue to hold onto those pucks and generate shots and see if we can start to get some to fall for him.”

Tech Officiating

Against the Minnesota Wild on Monday night, blueliner Brett Pesce thought he scored a fluke goal when the puck hit Wild goalie Filip Gustavsson and rolled down his back. Though Gustavsson backed into his goal, it wasn’t 100-percent clear if the puck had fully crossed the line.

Other sports like tennis and soccer have used advanced technology to take the guess work out of officiating. And even the NFL is adopting technology to determine first downs starting this season.

So, should hockey look into technology to determine if plays like that are actually goals?

“I’m not smart enough to have an answer for that,” Keefe smiled. “I would like to think. I watch those other sports. You can see how advanced it is, the technology, whether tennis and soccer standout to me as the two biggest ones. I’m not smart enough nor am I involved enough to know what’s happening in that regard.

“Chips in the puck, tracking players very well now, we’re getting comfortable with that. You’d have to think it’s on the horizon. There’s a lot going on around that net. It’s hard to make it out at different times.”

Casey Recalled

The Devils announced in the morning that defenseman Seamus Casey has been recalled from Utica of the American Hockey League.

More details here.

He Said It:

Casey on joining the Devils at a crucial time of year: "This time of year, you see teams tighten up. Hockey becomes a lot more intense. Things go to another level. As far as experience goes, it's extremely valuable for me and it's a lot of fun."

Go Behind the Scenes

The Devils gave fans a glimpse into some of the powerful women working in the organization with a look at their day-to-day lives while working for the team.

Check out more here.