New Year, Next Shift | 10 TAKEAWAYS

The calendar’s flipped, and the Devils are heading into 2026 with some momentum in their back pocket. They ended 2025 on a high note, closing the year with a crucial moment that showed exactly what this group is capable of when it digs in. There’s a ton of hockey still ahead, and if they can ride that energy, the possibilities are wide open.

That moment, more than any stat line or highlight reel, feels like the key to carrying momentum into 2026. There’s still a lot of hockey left to be played (we'll hit just the halfway point of the season on Saturday), and plenty of challenges are waiting. How the Devils build on that spark from Columbus, how they take the lessons and confidence from that finish and turn them into consistency, that could really define the next stretch.

It feels like that burst of three goals in just over two minutes against Columbus could be a real, tangible turning point, but the only ones who truly get to decide that are the players themselves.

Every shift, every play, every game moving forward is another chance to prove it. When a group this talented and determined takes ownership of it, it can be the start of something bigger.

There’s a lot to break down in this week’s 10 Takeaways as we see how this group moves through the first stretch of 2026.

1.

When Jack suffered a finger injury in Chicago in November, uncertainty followed almost immediately.

Jack spoke on Friday about how, up to that point, his game felt like it was in a great place. Then came the abrupt interruption… an injury that wasn’t going to sideline him for just a couple of games, but instead, for weeks.

The Olympics, undoubtedly, as Jack mentioned, popped into his head.

In the middle of all of it was Tom Fitzgerald, whose position placed him at the center of every conversation. As the Devils’ general manager and an assistant GM with Team USA, Fitzgerald had a clear view of the full picture… the injury itself, the timeline, and how Jack was progressing behind the scenes. And having known Jack for years, he also has the pulse on his players’ emotions. That dual role mattered. It gave Fitzgerald the ability to connect dots and provide context in a way few others could, and it likely made a significant difference in how Jack’s situation was understood by the general manager of Team USA, Bill Guerin.

Fitzgerald’s relationship and friendship with both Jack and Guerin allowed him to serve as a steadying presence on both ends. Just as he would have been checking in with Jack, offering reassurance and support while he worked his way back, Fitzgerald was also in a position to give Guerin an honest, informed assessment of where things stood. Having someone he trusts, who knows Jack personally and understands his importance to the Devils, gave Guerin added confidence as decisions were being made.

So once the initial shock of the injury and the prognosis had passed, Guerin reached out to Jack directly, as Jack mentioned on Friday, to reinforce where he stood with Team USA and ease any lingering doubt.

2.

Jesper Bratt’s eyes lit up when I asked him what he thinks it will be like to be a part of the Olympic experience off the ice, in the Olympic village with other Swedish athletes. You can tell, just by talking to these players, how much this experience means to them, to be able to be a part of the athletic world in this way, on the biggest stage and surrounded by other athletes. And most notably, not hockey players, but other athletes, whose lives differ, but intersect with his as people at the top of their athletic professions.

"It's going to be so cool," Bratt said. "I mean, just so cool getting to learn and see how other people's routines look like, see what type of programs they have, their training regimens look like. Just to see it will be fun. Most of the books and stuff that I read are usually biographies of different athletes of other people because I want to learn and see what's common between us, for me. Like, how I grew up as a tennis player, golfer, or basketball player, however it is. So that's going to be cool to see different athletes."

3.

There might not be a guy loving and enjoying life more than Arseny Gritsyuk. First thing on Friday morning, in a loud, boisterous voice and grinning ear-to-ear: “Good morning, Amanda! A very happy New Year!” and throws his hands in the air in celebration, and keeps walking.

I will tell you this about Grits, he really keeps you on your toes!

4.

Jack Hughes is back doing what he does best, even if it comes with a small reminder that the healing process doesn’t always end the moment you return to the ice. Per doctors’ orders, Hughes is still wearing a brace on his hand, a precaution that’s simply part of the recovery timeline. In many cases, and with all different kinds of injuries, you can resume regular activities before they’re fully cleared to ditch any protective gear, and the brace serves as an added layer of support.

It’s also worth noting that this is not the same protection he uses during games, where Hughes wears a thinner, padded glove under his hockey glove for an extra layer of in-game protection. For Hughes, it’s simply part of the routine as things continue to move along, and it didn’t appear to slow him down. His very first shot in his first game back found the back of the net.

5.

When we arrived at the arena for morning skate in Toronto, standing outside the Devils locker room was the friendly face of ‘Pistol’ Pete Flagler, a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs equipment staff, waiting anxiously for his friend Connor Brown.

Flagler and Brown have been friends since high school, worked together with the Toronto Marlies, and again while Brown was with the Maple Leafs.

Flagler, who has Downs Syndrome, was waiting so anxiously and patiently as members of the Devils’ staff went looking for Brown in the locker room. That’s where I got just a couple of minutes to chat with Flagler, who was an absolute joy to chat with. He was so excited to see his friend and just kept listing off all the wonderful things about Brown that he loves so much. The list was long and plentiful, but it started with asking me if I knew how long he and Brown had been friends.

Turns out, the two met in high school, and their life’s journey has kept them together through hockey. Flagler told me there isn’t a time that Connor is in the building that he doesn’t take the time to catch up, and it makes him so happy.

“He’s always, always there for me. Always.”

Flagler, in the span of 15 minutes of chatting, took me through their entire friendship together and recapped Connor's entire hockey journey leading up to joining the Devils this offseason.

You can tell that Pistol is very proud of his friend Connor.

I didn't end up seeing the two of them meet, because Pete was abruptly called into action...My favorite moment was when we got a little too deep into conversation outside the Devils locker room, keeping him away from his job and all of a sudden we heard a loud shout of “Pistol!” from down the hallway, his ears perked up, he looked behind him and immediately sprung into action, waving goodbye and he ran down the hallway to help with the Maple Leafs sticks.

If you want to know a little more about Brown and Flagler’s friendship, you can check out a feature story that was done while Brown was with the Oilers for Sportsnet Canada:

6.

New Jersey will send eight players to the Olympics. Only two teams, the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning, will send more, both rosters equipped with nine Olympians.

The Devils, Colorado Avalanche and Minnesota Wild have all had eight of their players named to Olympic rosters.

Every NHL team has at least one player on their roster going to the Games, with the Chicago Blackhawks and New York Islanders at the other end of the spectrum, with just one player each headed to Milan Cortina.

7.

It’s clear the 4 Nations Face-Off lit something big in these athletes. Just to get a small sample size of what a return to the Olympics could feel like, you bet that was on their minds last February. In fact, Bratt also shared that the feeling they were feeling in the midst of the 4 Nations tournament was only just the beginning, knowing the Olympics were on the horizon a year later. They talked about it together.

"That set the bar for how special it is when you play for your country,” Bratt said. “Especially when you play best-on-best tournament. We all didn’t really know how big it was going to be and then 4 Nations just kind of blew up and became this awesome thing. Already then, the group together that we had after the game versus the US, we all sat back at the hotel until two or three in the morning and just talking about how it’s going to be at the Olympics. We created a really special bond there as a group."

Being back at the Olympics means so much to these players.

8.

Love that Luke Hughes did some eavesdropping while gliding around on the ice, waiting for the faceoff to start the Devils' first power play in Columbus. And love it even more that he's willing to share that he did.

Luke set up the Devils opening goal against Columbus, Luke's shot redirected into the net by Nico Hischier in the slot. And it was no accident, least of all for Hughes, who had the insider knowledge to work with. He told me, after the game, that he heard the Blue Jackets players talk about how they were going to focus on his older brother Jack and how they were going to defend his talents on the power play.

Well, guess what happens when you focus too much on the older brother? The little one will always, and I say this from experience as a younger sibling myself, take the opportunity to shine. And that's exactly what Luke did. He knew exactly what the Blue Jackets were going to do and worked around that.

“I saw them talking before the draw that they were going to go to Jack,” Luke said with boisterous hand motions, mimicking where each player was set to go. “They kind of flanked out to both guys, and I just saw 2-on-1 in front of the net and just tried to get the puck there, and, obviously, I don’t think anyone saw anything, and it just went in.”

9.

It was a tale of two post-games. In Toronto, the disappointment from Nico Hischier was unmistakable... the kind that lingers and says everything without needing many words. Then, almost exactly 24 hours later, that mood flipped entirely. Hischier stood full of pride in what the group he leads had just pushed through.

And to be fair, it looked bleak. There’s no getting around that. After a second period that Jake Allen called “completely unacceptable,” the Devils found themselves down 2-0 to Columbus and searching for answers. Instead, they found their extra gear. Three goals in less than three minutes, all within the opening five minutes of the third period, turned the game on its head and gave New Jersey exactly what it needed to knock off the Blue Jackets and snap a four-game skid.

In that moment, it felt big. Maybe the biggest moment of the Devils’ season to this point. What comes next will start to reveal itself Saturday against the Utah Mammoth, but standing there afterward, it was hard not to feel like this could be a turning point, or at the very least, a reminder of what this group is capable of when it decides it’s had enough.

10.

I jumped on the USA Hockey press conference after the Olympic team was announced on Friday morning and both General Manager Bill Guerin and USA head coach Mike Sullivan were asked about Jack Hughes and where he ultimately lines up, at center or wing, still seems very much in flux. The sense was that flexibility would be key, and knowing Jack, it won’t matter much where his name is written in the lineup. He’ll play whatever is asked, wherever he’s asked, and likely be all the more dangerous because of it.

Here's Sullivan's response when asked about how they might look to use Jack:

"Those are conversations that we're having as we speak. What I will tell you is that nothing is etched in stone and we will try to make the best decisions that we can, as far as putting players and the team in a position to be successful with respect to defense pairings and the forward line combinations. And Jack is a part of that. Obviously, Jack is a unique player with his ability to drive offense. One of the things we liked about the way we constructed our lines at the 4 Nations was the size we had down the middle, we thought was the size of the group.

But having said that, we have had conversations around using Jack in the middle at this Olympic experience. And we'll continue to have those conversations leading up to the first game and we'll make decisions as we go. We know that's an option."One of the things that I really liked about the way the team's constructed is we've got a lot of guys that can play both the center and the wing position, so there's versatility there in a lot of ways, but we're well aware of Jack's ability to play center and in the strengths that he brings to that position."