Smith Returns to Practice | NOTEBOOK

The Devils are practicing Friday afternoon before flying to Carolina for a showdown with the Hurricanes. 

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

Practice Details

Devils defenseman Brendan Smith returned to practice for the first time since suffering a sprained knee at Boston on Jan. 15. Forward Jesper Bratt was given a maintenance day.

Smith will not play Saturday night in Carolina. 

"It was his first practice day. He got through it good," head coach Lindy Ruff said. "We're day-to-day with him now."

The Devils used the following workflow at practice with Willman subbing in for Bratt. 

Palat – Hischier – Willman
Meier – Haula – Mercer
Toffoli – Hughes – Holtz
Lazar – Nosek – Bastian

Bahl – Nemec
Hatakka – Miller
Hughes – Marino
Smith – DeSimone

Ch-ch-ch-changes

The Devils know the importance of defense, particularly at this juncture of the season.

“The reality of the league and the way it is, coming down the stretch you’re going to have to find a way to play better defense,” Bastian said. “It could be desperation, blocking shots, it could be so many different things. It’s just keeping the puck out of your net.”

Those execution elements will be important to improving on the defensive side of the puck. But the team also made some structural changes to its systematic approach.

“Behind the scenes we’ve made a major overhaul of our system work,” Lazar said. “Different reads, different responsibilities. A couple more handoffs. Owning your ice in your areas. More responsibility for the centerman moving all over the ice. Everyone is used to it. They’ve played it before in the past. We’re learning as we go.”

The team made the changes ahead of the All-Star break. And the club has been competitive in every game since those changes have been installed.

“We’ve made some adjustments these last three or four games,” Ruff said. “I think we’ve seen some good results.”

The players are still learning and so some growing pains are to be expected. Unfortunately, they’ll have to be quick learners as just a little over two months remains in the season.

“It’s still a work in progress. We’re doing a pretty good job of learning on the fly,” Lazar said. “Mistakes are going to happen. … Everyone has got to do their job. If a breakdown does happen, we have to know how to react and bail out a teammate once in a while.”

We're Talking About ... Mettings? 

The Devils held a 30-minute practice on Friday. With a packed game schedule and the need to give players time for recovery, practices are becoming more and more rare across the league, especially at this juncture of the season.

That means the bulk of the teaching has transitioned from on the ice to in the video meeting room. And that’s where a lot of emphasis has been lately for New Jersey.

“All structure,” forward Nate Bastian said. “It’s stuff as a group we have to go over and address.”

And those meetings aren’t just a one-way street. It isn’t the coaches preaching to the players or calling out players for mistakes in video clips. Instead, it’s a productive two-way conversation between the coaches and players.

“It’s the message as a whole, teaching stuff,” forward Curtis Lazar said. “There is that back-and-forth communication. We have questions and the floor is ours. We pipe up. We give our two cents. Working with the coaching staff on that has been awesome.”

Prior to playing Colorado, the Devils held a full team meeting where players spoke up. But on Friday the coaches split up the forwards and defensemen to allow some of the younger players to freely speak their mind.

“Lot of great conversation between players and coaches. Looking at situations,” Ruff said. “I think an atmosphere where a young defenseman feels a little bit better about adding what they saw and what they’re reacting to inside the game.”

And, as noted, video meetings have almost supplanted practices as how teams learn around the league.

“Practice time is a dime a dozen now a days. Even when we go out there, it’s to get the legs moving,” Lazar said. “(Meetings are) how you’re going to learn.”

He Said It: 

Bastian: "We don’t get a ton of practice time anymore. And even when we do get to practice, it’s not that long. It takes a whole group to get everything we can out of a good, hard 30 minutes."