Back from the West | NOTEBOOK

The Devils practiced Monday afternoon at the RWJBarnabas Health Hockey House inside the Prudential Center. On Tuesday, the club will host the Edmonton Oilers at 7:30 p.m. ET. 

Stay tuned to the notebook for the latest info, updates, interviews, videos and more from the practice session!

Practice Info

The Devils are back on the ice. Forward Evan Rodrigues is the only player absent from the skate. Forward Anthony Mantha, who left the game early in Vegas, is joining the group. 

"He's sick," head coach Sheldon Keefe said of Rodrigues. "Obviously, we got something running through the team here a little bit. We get some guys that were battling throughout the trip. They're a little bit better. Some of the guys, a little bit worse. But, yeah, it's just that time of year, so we'll manage it best as possible. We don't know his status for tomorrow."

There are some tweaks to the power-play units. Forwards Connor Brown and Luke Evangelista are flipping.

The Devils used the following workflow...

Power Hour

The Devils have won five of their last six games and are hitting on many elements of their game. One area that still needs improved upon however, is special teams.

The Devils power play has clicked at 16.7 percent, ranking 24^th in the NHL, while the PK is 25^th with a 70-percent success rate.

To help with the power play, the team made some changes to the units. Luke Evangelista and Connor Brown flipped units with Brown jumping to PP1. Amanda Stein had the units below:

PP1: Luke Hughes, Jack Hughes, Hischier, Bratt and Brown

PP2: Hamilton, Meier, Gritsyuk, Evangelista and Mantha

Despite not generating enough goals, the previous top unit was creating a number of chances. In fact, in chances generated they ranked third in the NHL. But the only thing that matters are the man-advantage goals, and thus the switch.

“That group has created a lot,” Keefe said. “We've looked at it. I think that group as a unit is sitting third overall in the league in terms of generating scoring opportunities, but haven't put it in the net. So we're just going to change that mix a little bit.”

“I think that when you look at the scoring chances created, and all that stuff, I think that we've been doing a good job,” Bratt said. “I think that we have created some good high-danger chances. Pucks haven’t really gone in, and I think that shake some small things up can sometimes make that work.”

Brown has spent some time on the power play last season, so there will be some familiarity on the unit when the puck hits the ice.

“First of all, he brings familiarity,” Keefe said of Brown. “That group had a lot of success, and we liked it a lot at the end of the season last season.”

“Brownie's just a familiar guy that we've been with before. We know exactly what he's going to bring to our lineup,” Bratt said. “He has a lot of knowledge, played with some really good players on the power play before too, and I think last year he just helped guys like me, Nico, and Jack, and Luke too, just kind of evolve our game a little bit in the power play and give us a little bit of input to what he has learned over the years and stuff like that. It could work for us, and I think that last year we really took a big stride there, and I think that that's kind of what we're looking for now. Just try to get more into some familiarity and some patches that we were onto last year that can help us get over that hump.”

One major factor that Brown can add to the power play is his hockey IQ.

“What you're referring to with what he brings is all just because of his mind, his brain, in all facets of the game,” Keefe said. “So that's part of it. There's also a leadership component to it. Brownie brings people together, he gets them organized, gets them on the same page, and I think that's a big piece as well. I know, like I said, that group, once we put him there last year, it had success and things kind of fell into place.

“So you're just going to kind of give that a look before we do anything too dramatic with it and different changes. So we'll just kind of see how it goes today.”

Bratt noted that Brown helped teach the unit things last season.

“A lot of rotations, a lot of views from what happens after shots and rebounds,” Bratt explained. “Just an eager to win the puck back and stay in zone. Like small things like that. I don't have to go in too much detail to everything, but just for him playing with guys like McDavid and Draisaitl for a couple years and seeing them, what they do on the power play, I think that there's always things to learn. And I think that for him to bring knowledge from players like that and other players, what he has seen over the years, and especially for him being on the PK all the time, he knows what's hard. He knows what's not the easiest to play against, and I think that that's where he's just kind of trying to learn. He's been a good leader for us that way.”

Workhorse

The Devils have a dynamic tandem in net with goalies Connor Hellebuyck and Jake Allen. But Hellebuyck has a history of being a workhorse in goal. The lowest number of games played in a season after his rookie year is 56. Hellebuyck has topped 60 games in six seasons. Since his second year in the league in 2016-17, he has appeared in 56, 67, 63, 58, 45 (COVID shortened), 66, 64, 60, 63, 57.

So, he’s a man that likes to and thrives when playing a lot. However, Allen also wants to play a lot for the Devils. So a balance will need to be found on the workload from between the pipes.

“The only thing I'd say is (Hellebuyck’s) a high-volume starter, and he acknowledges that,” Keefe said. “It's kind of why we approached it the way that we did through conversation with him as we went onto the road. We had talked about slow playing it and building him up sort of one game at a time, and he's communicated that doesn't make a whole lot of sense to him because he has been skating a lot and practicing a lot, albeit not in a team setting, but we just don't have a lot of team practices, so that's not really reality. But even playing one game a week and kind of building it up doesn't help him in terms of getting the rhythm that he wants to be in and he's used to being in and that he's excelled in. So that's been a priority.”

Hellebuyck arrived in New Jersey last Saturday and joined the team when it left on Monday for a road trip. He made his team debut on Tuesday in Dallas, had off on Wednesday and Thursday and played again on Friday in Las Vegas.

“That's why we spaced it out last week the way that we did,” Keefe said. “Gave him the first game of the road trip, which allowed an extra day of rest in between before we played Vegas, and opened up the possibility if he got through the first one okay to get a second one in, which is the way it works out. So that's a sign of the volume that he wants with his rhythm. So we'll keep that in mind.”

Another dynamic at play is that Hellebuyck is 33 years old and in his 12^th season in the NHL. He may even benefit from a lesser load in the regular season to remain fresh for the playoffs. And that also allows Allen to play and stay sharp. A win-win scenario.

“At the same time, we're conscious of the fact that he's getting older and reaching a different phase of his career,” Keefe said, “and also we've got a really capable and good backup goaltender in Jake, and (Hellebuyck has) missed training camp, and he's missed preseason, and he's missed early part of the regular season. So, before we roll him out too many in a row, we'll remain mindful of that.

“But in terms of his overall percentage of games, probably not going to be a lot different in the end than what it's been in the past.”

He Said It

Evangelista on belief in the team: “I think that confidence in the group and that word you said, belief. There's belief, growing belief in here. We talked about the trend of the team and it's not only the product on the ice that's kind of trending. I just feel like in the locker room, the tightness of the group, you're really starting to feel that, and I think that the product is being shown on the ice. So, there's more to it than just what's going on on the ice. There's a lot of different elements, and I feel like we're starting to click real well in the locker room as well, which is kind of translating into our game. So, no, I feel like we're in a great spot and we're still building.”