Miles Wood Bets On Himself | THREE THINGS

From the moment training camp opened on New Year's Eve 2020, Miles Wood placed a target on his back. It was a target of accountability, where he was laying out his own personal plan for the season, clearly defining where he thought he needed to be in his sixth NHL season.
Wood from Day 1 wanted to be an impact player to a greater degree both on and off the ice for the only NHL team he's ever known. Putting a target on your own back can be a risk, especially in this day and age when it's easy to replay those words and videos over and over again.
But for Wood, he certainly backed everything up with his play and his leadership this season.
We explore Miles Wood's 2020-21 NHL season in this week's Three Things.

1. Money Where His Mouth Is

It was one of the first questions Wood answered on Dec. 31, at Media Day, the start of the new 2020-21 season after a remarkably long off-season filled with uncertainty.
What are the expectations you have of yourself going into this year with a new coach and a new system?
The answer was honest and frank. But could backfire if he wasn't able to live up to his words. The hardest thing about betting on yourself, the way Wood did, was to actually back it up, especially as you live under the microscope as any professional athlete does. There are ways to go back, listen to word for word to what you said, so here is what Wood said:

"I'm super excited for it. Personally, I think I'm going to put more pressure on myself, on and off the ice this year to make a greater impact on the team. It's crazy to think, but I've been here for five years now and time flies. I think this year it's time to grow up and not be the young kid in the room and I'm certainly looking forward to that challenge."

In multiple ways, Wood put his money where his mouth was. It was a year of immense growth for the 25-year-old, who even at his younger age was one of the veterans on this team. He finished the year with 17 goals in 55 games, that's two off of his career-best 19 that he had in 2017-18, in 21 more games. His 17 goals tied him for the team lead with Pavel Zacha. He finished in the Top-5 in New Jersey scoring (25 points) and was tied for second in power-play goals (3).
Wood gave credit to these moments of success to some of the changes he decided to make in the last offseason, working with a new skills coach which brought with it a new group of fellow NHL players he had the opportunity to train with in Massachusetts. Those names include Philadelphia's Kevin Hayes, Toronto's Jimmy Vesey, and Ottawa's Colin White.

"It was the first time in my career that I had that atmosphere in the offseason," he said of the change. "And I feel like it certainly prepared me for this season."

2. Letter or No Letter, It Didn't Matter

On-ice steps are important no doubt, but in a locker room that is the youngest in the league, being 25 years old and having five years of NHL experience already under your belt carries a lot of weight. That's because a new generation of leaders are beginning to emerge from the group currently assembled by general manager Tom Fitzgerald.
"I think I'm the third oldest forward on the team at 25, which is unheard of," said Wood this past season. "I just felt like I don't have an 'A' or a 'C' on my shoulder, but that doesn't stop me from speaking out when I have to."
That was prior to Jan. 31.
Because on the 31st, less than a month into the NHL regular season, there was an 'A' pressed onto the front of Wood's jersey. It would make many appearances the rest of the season, especially after the departure of Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac at the trade deadline.
Miles had emerged
as one of the leaders
and was being rewarded with outward acknowledgment for all to see.

"I feel like this is the largest step that I've taken in my career so far, not only as a hockey player but also as a person in the room," Wood acknowledged in March.

3. Surprise, Surprise

When Lindy Ruff joined the Devils last summer as the team's head coach, he had plenty to learn about his new group of players. He knew most of the players from afar, as an assistant coach with the New York Rangers before joining New Jersey, and his ample years of service in the NHL, but getting to learn who his players were, inside and out, was something that would take time together.
As Ruff began to get to know Miles Wood, he became more and more impressed.
"Probably the guy that has surprised everybody the most would be Wood," Ruff said. "He's not the youngest, but he's definitely not old. Wood has been able to produce, score a lot of goals and be a guy that we've been counting on sometimes with his energy, sometimes as a guy that shuts down the other teams' top line."
That is no knock on Wood. To be a "surprise," in fact it represents exactly what Wood expected of himself, to take a significant jump in his career, to be a difference-maker, to back up his own words.

"In my eyes, he's probably the guy that surprised me the most and where he's got his game," Ruff said.