Move Out Day 1 | BLOG

With the Devils final game of the 2021-22 season on Friday, the team started their official end of season activities on Sunday, with players and coaches addressing the media one final time.
On Sunday, the Devils will make available the following players: Damon Severson, Andrew Hammond, Jack Hughes, Jon Gillies, Jonas Siegenthaler, Miles Wood, P.K. Subban, Ty Smith, Tomas Tatar, Jonathan Bernier, Mackenzie Blackwood, Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Graves, and Captain Nico Hischier.
Check back throughout the day as player quotes and additional notes will be added below as it happens.

SEVERSON:
On where the season ended for the Devils:
"We definitely fell short, we had high expectations for ourselves and everybody was not quite where we needed to be quite yet. There's steps we took steps in the right direction, you could see some of our players took key steps in the right direction," Severson said in his end of year availability. "It was a tough year, we're not in the playoffs again, but there is pieces in place, that we keep saying that we're going to have to stop saying that pretty much now, the pieces are in place to take that next step and not be going home this time next year."
Severson has an exciting off-season starting with the Men's Worlds Championship where he will represent Team Canada. He leaves for Finland on Saturday and is looking forward to seeing some of his Devils teammates over there. Following Worlds, the defenseman is moving into a new house and getting married at the end of June.

SIEGENTHALER:
On his hand injury:
"I feel good, my hand is getting there. It's not 100% yet, but I think I should be ready for Worlds. That was my goal, and I should be good," Siegenthaler said about playing for Switzerland in the Men's World Championship.
On the team dynamics:
"We're a tight group, it's fun to be around, to be in the locker room, to come to practice every day, to play games together. We have a lot of potential, we're going in the right direction, we just need that last little bit and we just have to find that."
On what he's focusing on this off-season:
"I can always work on my offensive game, that's probably something I'm trying to work on … Just work on the basic stuff, get my shot off my stick quicker, stuff like that. If I'm going to improve that I can take another step."

GRAVES:
On his expectations for the season:
"I definitely came into the year with high hopes for the group, I thought we could push for a playoff spot, and it's disappointing that didn't do that and we weren't relay close to doing that. I think that was my initial thought coming into the year just what I thought with our group and our on paper roster of what we should have accomplished. But things happen with the year, we had a lot of injuries which you have to take into account … as a group we could have accomplished more but there's positives to take away from it."
On playing for a new team:
"You have to find a way to adjust your play to a new group and new systems, but I think I learned a lot, grew as a player, and had a bigger role here than I had previous years so there's a lot of positives to take from the year as well."
Graves will return to Prince Edward Island for the off-season where he plans to see family, get into a routine for training, recover, and spend some time enjoying the summer.
"I like to spend a lot of time at the beach, I play a lot of golf, and I spend a lot of time with family. It's a slow pace of life there, a lot different then Jersey, Jersey's fast. But it'll be nice to get home and unwind."

WOOD:
On shutting down after several games:
"My hip felt fine leading up to those games. I tried to come back as soon as I could. Right at the four and half month mark I was cleared by the doctors. The choice for me to stop playing was because after games my hip just wouldn't heal as fast as I thought."
On being a restricted free-agent this summer and what he can control:
"It's out of my control, the only thing I can control is how my hip is and how I rehab it throughout the summer. I would love to stay here, I really think we have a great core group here. I think we just need a few more guys, a few more veteran players and we're super close. But just right now the only thing I can control is my hip and how that is throughout the summer."
Wood has said it's been very difficult to prepare for games but has a plan in place for the off-season. However, it is difficult to replicate the game like intensity, pace and action in rehabbing and practices. When looking ahead, Wood is optimistic that he will be back to how he was during his strong 2020-21 season when training camp starts this fall.
"I have no doubt. The surgery that I had it usually takes 6-8 months for the hip to fully heal and the doctors so far have no problem in saying that I'll be back to my old ways soon."

HUGHES:
On his injuries this season:
"I feel good, pretty much back to 100%, my body feels good … It's frustrating, I would have liked to play a lot more hockey. Missing 33 games is a huge chunk of the season, a huge goal for me next year is to stay healthy and play most of the games ... I'm kind of working back into things right now. The season's over so I'm going to take a little time here and get healthy."
On the developments he's made on his game:
"An extremely positive year for me. I thought I had a really good season, I think the fans were really excited about my game and where it's at. Personally for me, going into the summer I'm frustrated with the lack of playing time it was, that it was only 49 games, but it's a lot of positives from this year and I can take that into the summer."
On the importance of a good summer:
"It's frustrating we want to be better in the standings, we want to playing important hockey … we've got to have a good summer. Everyone's got to keep getting better. Guys have to step up, have a big summer, get better get stronger. We have to come into next year rejuvenated and excited to go."

BLACKWOOD:
On coming back to play at the end of the season and looking back on the year:
"It was awesome to get back in there … It's been a tough year but now I'm in a good place. I'm feeling really good about my body and progress. I'm really happy with where things are at. I'm really excited to get to turn the page on all of that and start fresh ... This was an experience that I've never had before and I'm not going to lie it was pretty taxing on me mentally and physically. I think moving forward I'm going to have a greater appreciation of my body and health and taking care of myself. Doing the things I need to do to be my best and play the way I'm capable night in and night out. I definitely learned a lot, I think I matured mentally a lot through the hardship of it."
This summer Blackwood plans on training and not spending too much time off. He's looking forward to training well and getting his game ready for the next season. He's very excited to be healthy and in a place to build his strength and condition and not focused on rehabbing.
"As a goaltender I think I have a lot of potential and a lot of stuff I haven't yet accomplished and the best part of my game is yet to come. I feel really confident where my game is heading, where I'm at right now. I've grown a lot over the last two years even though I've struggled. I think that's actually helped me in other areas of my game … once I'm going to be able to train and get my body back to where it was, and with everything I've learned, it's going to be exciting for me. And to put everything I've learned in the last year and a bit forward and with a healthy body and a clean slate and a good mind, I think the future is pretty bright."

HISCHIER:
On this season's results:
"Disappointment is still there for sure. We wanted to play some meaningful games at the end of the year and make this playoff but unfortunately in reality we did not achieve our goal but it's frustrating for me and our team. But still have to try to remember some positive things out of this season."
On the upcoming summer:
"Big summer coming up for us. Probably going to have some new faces maybe, just everybody individually needs to go home, be a little pissed off, work out … gotta be a self starter this summer to make sure to do everything possible to be ready for next year … (I will) just go home, work on the stuff they tell me to work on, get myself as ready as possible for next year. (I will not) lose trust in this team, not lose trust in this organization. That's the last thing I will do."
On how he's growing as a Captain:
"I've obviously tried to be the same guy as always but as being captain there's some stuff you have to do … I'm getting more comfortable and just trying to lead my way, how I am. Definitely say yes to that."

SUBBAN:
On entering the summer as a UFA
"It's the first time in my career (as a UFA), definitely mixed emotions, it's exciting. Probably the biggest eye opener is that eight years has flown by already. Obviously it's something I knew was coming going into this year so we'll see what happens. Should be a fun summer."
On playing in Jersey:
"I think at this stage in my career for sure, I'm used to feeling like the young guy in the room, or one of the younger guys and it just feels like in a snap of a finger I'm one of the eldest guys, if not the oldest guy on the team. But it's been exciting. I was telling Lindy (Ruff) this is the most fun that I've had in a long time, playing with these guys, with this team. It's different when you're in that situation and you come to the rink and feed off these guys energy, but you also realize that there's more purpose to everything that you do. Guys follow you, they watch everything you do … that's been a lot of fun for me for sure. It's a different level of happiness when you see guys grow and develop and you're a part of that and that's definitely been fun."
On if he would come back if there was an offer:
"My teammates haven't been shy on letting me know they would love for me to be here. I love being here. It's been great. Obviously at this stage in my career I want to be a part of a competitive culture, and I think that's what we're building here. That's always definitely something I'm going to look at … It makes it difficult knowing you may not be here and that's a hard thing to think about when you have such great teammates and guys you've grown with. Love these guys, love playing here, love being a part of this organization and if it continues I would be just as happy."

BERNIER:
On this season:
"It's not the way I wanted to come in. I wanted to be apart of the solution, and this team and unfortunately I had to go to surgery, and try to fix my hip. It was hard to watch and not be able to be there with the guys and I've never missed a full season pretty much and it's been a hard year."
On the injury:
"It happened probably over time but I really got hurt quite a bit in preseason against New York and then I did an injection to try to help it and after a couple weeks it went back to where it was. The pain wasn't sustainable to play at a high level so we made a group decision to make a surgery."
"I've been working since the day I left the hospital. It's slow but I think we're making progress every day every week. I'm very hopeful to be ready for training camp … I started last week just to skate around no equipment, starting to build the strength in the hip. I think I'm a little behind schedule but it's been improving … I'm very confident I'll be ready for training camp.

HAMILTON:
On his first year with the Devils:
"It's always hard right now to talk about stuff when you haven't digested it all. There's so many really positive things I've loved this year. Obviously we need to get better as a team. I want to play better and help the team and all that stuff, but just talking about New Jersey, and the city, the team, the staff, everyone around the rink, it's been great so I'm happy with all that."
On returning from his jaw injury:
"I don't know if I ever felt the same as the start of the season. I can't really pinpoint what exactly it was with my jaw, being out, different things, some injuries after, coming back, stuff like that. I just never felt like the start so it's hard. There's no real time to figure it out, so just trying to do your best and keep going. But I didn't feel the same after coming back for sure."
"I got a plan together now to fix everything, some stuff that was bothering me, figure it all out and I'll be ready for next season for sure."
On what the Devils need to improve:
"Coming from a winning team, we really need to create a better culture, a winning culture. There's a lot of things that go into that but to try to get to that, it becomes a standard in the room, and around the organization, everything. I think we need to try to get to that as quickly as we can. I think there's some steps we took this year but I definitely think there's more we need to take to get to that point."

TATAR:
On his first season with the Devils
"I was very pleasantly surprised with how the organization works, and everyone was friendly. There were a lot of positives for sure. As for results, I think the right word would be disappointing. We all want to be better, we will be better. I'm actually kind of upset that the season is over and the new one won't start right away because I think we're all hungry and willing to be better. I think it's going to be tough to be that long without hockey, that period of summer, but I'm sure everyone will be working hard to be better."
"I'm very excited. I think the overall goal for us I think we want to be in the hunt … I think everyone individually will have to do the work to get us there."
On what it takes to adapt to a new team:
"Coming into a new team, there's a lot of new stuff waiting for you. It could be a system, we were playing a different system here so it takes awhile to get used to it. people don't realize you don't have that much time. Coming in, the camp starts right away, you didn't really play with the teammates, some you're playing with the first time."
On going to Worlds
"You want to finish strong, I always have a great relationship with the national team. I wish we would still be playing there … with us being out there's still some hockey left in me, I have the energy, my body feels great."

SMITH:
On his season:
"Obviously it's tough. Everybody wants the year to go perfect. When it doesn't, it's frustrating. Things will only help me as a player, help me grown. I think I've learned a lot about my game over the season."
On playing with his instincts :
"Over the last quarter or half of the season I started to get (my instincts) back. It's something to build off. I need to reset and improve on my game."