Feel pretty good about not just myself, but my whole staff, the way we worked together to do that, to get more depth into the organization, as you kind of said.
I do think my job is never done, as I always say, but in particular right now, it's the players' time. I mean, this is now their time to take the ball and run with it, take the puck and skate with it.
And my message to them was that I believe they will. I believe in them. So, that's just really exciting.
Anthony Corona, NJ.com: And for Sheldon, what are your thoughts on now all the new faces you have coming in and all the different options you have with building the lineup, and the kind of where are you at with some of the battles we're going to see for positions here?
Sheldon Keefe: Well, it certainly gives, as you say, lots of options, lots of depth, lots of versatility throughout our lineup, lots of competition. So it's all very healthy, all in the name of making us a deeper hockey team that can sustain our play. And that's something that obviously we've been seeking, and Sunny sought to address in this off-season, and he's clearly done that. So, it's very exciting.
And it's not just bringing in people. These are bona fide NHLers that not only bring great skills, but there's good people with personality that are bringing lots to our group. It's been exciting getting to know the guys up until this point. And Day 1 here today is a bit of a blur, but just to see it on the ice is nice.
And we've toyed around with lots of different combinations, and we'll certainly continue to do that. It's nice to have the options, but yeah, I think the whole group is, I would say, rejuvenated.
James Nichols, New Jersey Hockey Now: Sheldon, just to kind of piggyback off of that, shortened camp, just how different is your process, if at all?
Keefe: Well, I mean, on a day like today as an example, it's not entirely different, except maybe you feel like because of the shorter amount of time, you got to squeeze in a little bit more. Like today as an example, we were just talking about, I felt it was probably one or two drills longer than I'd like to be today.
But you feel like you got to try to put some stuff in and cover it, so we got to maybe talk about how we can manage that just to keep the pace of practice and such high.
But generally speaking, I mean, this portion of camp is the same. Like, it's three days, and then we get right into preseason. It's no different than last year.
How we manage it, though, as each day comes, I think you'll see us get down to the nitty-gritty a little quicker. Keep more NHL players together in groups when we play in the preseason games, that kind of stuff. And then you'll make your decisions a little bit quicker. You're just going to have to. That's the reality of it.
Nichols: In the past couple of years, you've made some changes to your staff, total revamp this summer. Just what was the thought process behind doing that?
Keefe: Well, we just thought that it was a chance to get some fresh perspective in here, some fresh eyes, fresh voices, guys that come in with optimism and are ready to get to work and look ahead.
I think that's just natural as you go through it as a hockey team. And I'm thrilled with the guys that we brought in here. Ted Donato's been great. He has obviously lots of experience as a player in the league. He's been a head coach at Harvard and coached many, many players that are now playing in the NHL, including a son that he has in the NHL.
But lots of personality and going to really help us in that way as well. And AJ McLean is someone that I've worked with for a long time in both the OHL and Sault Ste. Marie, and then with the Toronto Marlies, where we won a Calder Cup together.
And both those guys have been just outstanding to work with here, both in how they've helped me prepare and helped give us some fresh ideas and make some adjustments, but also just the life and energy they bring around the locker room.
And then on the goaltending side, Dan Stewart's been also a good addition, and he's got good experience working at the AHL level, developing goalies that are now playing in the NHL. And just we felt it was time to make some changes there and bring in some fresh voices. And so far, I've really liked how it's come together for us here and excited to play some games.
Nichols: And Sunny, for you, just now that we're here and what you've built is on the ice and moving, just what should the expectation be for this team going into this season? Pretty open Metro sans the Hurricanes who won the Cup. But it feels like there's an opportunity here to be up in the Metropolitan Division.
Mehta: I agree. I agree. I mean, at the risk of sounding however it might come off, my expectation is to win a Cup.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that's what we, you know, that's the mean or the mode expectation for this year or anything like that. But to me, that is the goal. That is my expectation for this organization.
But I do think this team has the ability to sneak up on some people, maybe, with the talent we have, even though it's one of those things where maybe in years past, the Devils were kind of the trendy pick and the trendy preseason pick. That's not so much the case right now, but for good reason, right?
I mean, the Carolina Hurricanes have earned their reputation. The Florida Panthers have earned their reputation. I expect us to try to compete with those teams, and I believe we will.
Keith Kavanaugh, Devil's Edge and PuckPedia: For Sunny, I want to talk about Luke Evangelista. Just in general, why you decided that that was a player that you really wanted to acquire, but then the extension you gave him, you beat the September 15th deadline. You didn't go max eight-year term on that, but you did get a lot of signing bonus in there that wasn't going to be allowed moving forward. Just want to talk through the player, why you acquired him in that contract.
And then for Sheldon, it looks like you started him today with Timo and Nico. Just want to talk through why you think Luke could be a fit on a line with that duo.
Mehta: So, I mean, going back to the first question, in terms of the goal for me is to constantly be in search of talent, constantly be in search of players, right? Like, I'm trying to find players. That's my job. Trying to find players anywhere and everywhere using every mechanism available to us, whether that's scouting, data, looking through different leagues, different places.
So, that's kind of one start of it, which is even though maybe prior to this, Luke Evangelista wasn't a household name in New Jersey or whatever, you can see from a lot of the stuff that we did, it's not just about the big splashy headline names.
We find players that we believe in. I think Billy Z and our crew in Florida did a good job of doing that in Florida in terms of just finding players. And you can see when we like a player, we're not afraid to be aggressive and to believe in that player, whether it's a (Amadeus) Lombardi or a (Declan) Chisholm, or making an offer sheet for Barrett Hayton.
Luke for sure has been one of those players for me and for us. I'm sure Nashville will tell you that I was probably as annoying as George Costanza for the last four or five months, 'By Mennen' or whatever.
So, I was just thrilled that we were able to get him. And then, yeah, the extension was important.
As you've seen top down to some extent, having guys on good contracts is important. It's a salary cap league. I've said it a million times. It's something I think about all the time. We think about it as an organization. It's a philosophy. It's not enough anymore to just have good players. You have to have good players on good contracts.
And I thought it was a win-win for both sides, right? Because of being able to get it in under the wire there, we were able to do some things structure-wise that made it attractive for Luke. And also for Luke, it's a commitment for him and saying, and he hasn't been here that long yet, right? A couple weeks. And so for him to make that commitment, he already felt comfortable, felt good around the guys, so really excited about that.
Keefe: I think I had part of that question as well. Yeah, in terms of where we putting them there with Nico and Timo.
First, I think his skill set matches really well with those guys. Those are two heavier guys that can go to the net, can finish, and can score. And Evangelista can make a lot of plays. He likes to hang onto the puck and sees the ice well. He's got great poise, great ability to make a play. So, we like that match-up.
Obviously, Mercer spent a lot of time there. We know what that looks like. We don't know what Evangelista looks like there, so we want to give that an opportunity.
And I would say very similar with Mantha being with Jack and Bratter. New guy coming in, give him a chance. Skill set and the size, all that seems to work well in terms of how we project it, but we'll see what it looks like on the ice.
But really, with any of your new guys coming in like that, that have the talent to match, you want to put them in a position to succeed and see what can grow from there, and maybe something else can grow for us.
You know, we've got Gritsyuk and Mercer starting here together with Rodrigues and see what that looks like. So, that's part of what camp is for in preseason, and because it's a shortened preseason, you probably get into early part of the regular season before you really kind of know what you've got there.
But the talent fits, and that's why we're starting that way.
Steve Whyno, Associated Press: Sunny, you made goalie changes, obviously, this off-season, trading Jacob Markstrom, bringing in David Rittich. I'm wondering, what do you make of that position in general, and how comfortable are you at the goaltending position? And for Sheldon, how do you sort of envision using those guys? I guess Jake Allen is number one.
Mehta: So, on the first part, yeah, that was an important trade for us, the Markstrom trade. But as I said in the past, it wasn't for any reason of like, "Oh my gosh, we have to trade Markstrom," or, "We need to trade Markstrom."
I think there was an alternate universe in which we very realistically would have and could have started the season with Markstrom on the team. I have no doubt he'll be successful in Florida. He'll bounce back, all of that.
For us, it was just, for me knowing what Evan brings, and Boqy too, down in Florida, it was just one of those things where it felt like a really good opportunity to bring in some players and some leadership, kind of like what Sheldon was saying earlier, a new voice, a different perspective. That was a big part of it.
And for me, I'm very comfortable with our goaltending. I think, as I've said before, Daws has been a big prospect in this organization, and in some ways there, I was talking about this with him actually just two days ago, there's nothing more frustrating when you have prospects who develop and then they don't have a path in front of them.
And he's got a path in front of him right now. And as I've told him, it's going to be up to him to decide what to do with that opportunity, but the opportunity is there.
Mike Morreale, NHL.com: Sunny, just to start, we learned earlier that Kovacevic had a minor procedure on his right knee. Do you have a timeline on when he might return?
Mehta: Well, so I don't know if you guys (know), he actually skated with the third group today.
Morreale: You think he'll be able to go regular season, start a regular season?
Mehta: Honestly, you know as much as me in terms of, I think it's pretty much day by day. Yeah, he had a minor procedure in the off-season, and he just wasn't feeling good enough to go in with the first or second group, as I understand it. But he's skating. We're optimistic. We'll take it day by day. We'll see.
Morreale: And Sheldon, just to follow up on the goaltender question, just wanted to get your thoughts on that, and having Jake (Allen) there as like a mentor almost to Nico, thinking that Nico will be the 1B here, or number two goalie. What does that mean for a player like Daws to have Jake Allen there for him?
Keefe: Well, Jake's a tremendous leader and a tremendous teammate. There's no question about that. And this is, while it's a different type of situation for Nico Daws, it's not necessarily unique for us. I mean, I've coached this team when those were our two goaltenders, and Nico Daws played some really good goal for us in my time here.
But certainly, Jake's, he's a great teammate. He's going to do a lot to help him prepare while also making sure that he's taking care of his own business to make sure he's prepared when he's in the net.
So, yeah, it's a great opportunity for Daws, a great opportunity for both guys. Both guys are competitive and want to play, and I think if today was any indication, I thought Daws was the best practice I've seen him have in my time here. That shows me this is a determined guy that's focused and ready to take his opportunity here.
Amanda Stein, NewJerseyDevils.com: Just wondering, I'll start with you, Sheldon. Yesterday you make the announcement to your team that Jesper is going to be an A, and I can see sort of the smile from you. Just what have you learned about him and why this is something that you guys decided together was the right choice for this group, other than the obvious?
Keefe: Well, you just said the word obvious. I think it is somewhat obvious if you're around the team and you're around Bratter. You look at, first, the tenure. He's been through a lot here.
So there's the tenure here, that's part of it. But the other piece of it is just how he conducts himself, how he prepares himself off the ice to be able to perform on the ice. Obviously, his ability on the ice to impact the game and impact our team.
But I think it's also reflective of where we want to go as a team. We think Bratter can help us get there, and he can take a step, and take a step in his leadership, take a step in the ownership of the situation and working together with not just Jack and Nico as our captain group, but our leadership group.
And we have a lot of leaders here, especially after the moves that Sunny's made here, bringing in even more veteran leadership. There's great support there to help all three of our captains.
But with Bratter specifically, I think just identifying him as that A and giving him that responsibility, I think just empowers him to take that step we believe he's ready for.
Stein: And then, Sunny, for you, what are you most curious to learn or discover about this team over the coming weeks, maybe the next few weeks?
Mehta: Well, I mean, two weeks is a small sample size. So that's what, if I answer your question honestly, I don't know how much strong opinions are going to change in two weeks. That's the way I try to approach things, which is it's a marathon, not a sprint.
But I am excited to see this group on the ice. I'm excited to get the season started. I'm just excited to see this group play games because honestly, my job is fun.
Like, it's really fun to spend this off-season tweaking these different things and trying to build, put these pieces together and build this chemistry and thinking how, kind of seeing how these pieces fit and how it'll work. And it's really exciting to taste the food after you've spent some time cooking, you know?
