Reminiscing About Haula's First Year with the Devils | FEATURE

It feels like years since we've last seen the New Jersey Devils on the ice, but in fact, it has been 75 days since the Devils were eliminated from the Second Round of the 2023 playoffs. Plenty has happened during the summer months with the additions of Tyler Toffoli, Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt's extensions, but there really isn't anything like experiencing a regular season.

So, the good news is, we are closer to the beginning of the 2023-24 NHL season than we are to the Devils' last game of the 2023 playoffs. That means soon we will have all kinds of storylines to explore, stats to discover and new players to meet come September when training camp officially opens with veterans reporting on Sept. 20.

Until then, it never hurts to look back.

For Erik Haula, he expressed profusely his desire to stay in New Jersey after his first season with the Devils and he got his wish with a new contract. In the next few years we'll get to know Haula better, but in the meantime, let's reminisce about Haula's last year and what he found in New Jersey and subsequently what New Jersey found in him.

The Bullet Points:

Stability

It has been a while since Haula had signed a contract that would keep him with a single team for more than two years and with being a common trade piece, Haula has played with five teams the past four seasons

After expressing his desire to remain with New Jersey at the end of last season, Haula got his wish and perhaps more.

For the first time since 2017, Haula signed a contract longer than two years. He inked a three-year deal to remain a Devil and help guide this team going forward.

"It was a huge deal to have security," he continued, "We bounced around quite a bit, just to have that ability to look into housing and get my family all set up, we're really excited with how it all ended up."

A priority for Haula was finding a perfect mix of a place where he could settle down with his young family and also compete to win.

He's found that spot in New Jersey.

At Face(Off) Value

Haula was a man on fire this season when it came to taking faceoffs. He was second on the team with his 54.21 faceoff percentage win rate, behind only Michael McLeod (60.64). Overall, Haula took 1057 faceoffs over the course of the regular season, which set a career-high and his 573 wins was his largest win total yet.

There's also the non-numerical impact of Haula's ability to handle the draw at the dot. He was able to take the majority of the draws when he was on a line with Jack Hughes, freeing Hughes of the responsibility and giving the line the best possible chance at immediate possession.

You Don't Know Jack, Now You Do, But There's More...

One of Haula's first texts after signing his deal was to teammate and linemate Jack Hughes.

When Haula first arrived in New Jersey he didn't know much about Jack Hughes, who would swiftly become one of his most frequent linemates. It didn't take long for the 32-year-old to discover why exactly the Devils selected Hughes 1st overall in 2019.

Haula had a front-row seat to the explosive season by Hughes.

"Wow, what a performance he had all last year," Haula recently told Jessi Pierce of NHL.com. "And he didn't slow down in the playoffs. It was really fun to play with him, and I look forward to building that relationship more and have success together in New Jersey."

"I don't think we've seen the best of him yet," he added.

Remember This?

Here's a Haula highlight to get you pumped for next season!

A shorthanded, backhand, top-corner goal in Seattle.