Odds and Ends | 10 TAKEAWAYS

Eighteen games left in the regular season. Where did the time go?

Every year around this point you pull up the schedule and realize there’s basically just one page left. In the middle of the season it can feel like the grind will never end — game after game, travel, practice, repeat, and then suddenly you’re staring at the teens in regular season games remaining.

It’s kind of wild.

But here we are. 18 to go, and New Jersey is trying to make a push. That’s really all they can do right now, and it’s where the focus is.

And with that, there’s plenty to catch up on. Let’s get into it in this edition of 10 Takeaways, presented by Ticketmaster.

1.

One of the rules for the IIHF at the Olympics was that all players had to wear neck guards as part of their equipment. It’s not all that common in the NHL – though there will be new rules on the horizon, grandfathering it in starting next season – so I was wondering whether some players, who were mandated to wear them at the Games, would continue wearing one in the NHL.

From what I can tell, only one player has elected to make it part of his NHL kit, and that’s Timo Meier. Meier said he just got used to it at the Olympics and decided to keep going with it. 

I saw the logo on the back, and it's made by a Swiss company called Aycane, which specializes in cut-resistant gear and was co-founded by former NHLer Peter Forsberg.

2.

Fitzgerald clearly understands this team still has a pretty steep climb if it’s going to put itself in position to compete for a playoff spot. So when it came to the deadline, the focus wasn’t just about plugging a hole for the next couple of months — it was about finding players who actually fit the timeline of the group already here.

Thinking back to the Trade Deadline, one quote from Tom Fitzgerald stuck with me.

“My focus was on the future of this organization moving forward and trying to add to the current group that a player or two could grow with this group.”

It was a subtle comment, but it said a lot.

The keyword in that quote is “with.” The idea wasn’t just to add someone to the roster, but someone who could grow with the core.

Which is also why he wasn’t about to mortgage assets for a pure rental. If the move didn’t make sense beyond this season, it probably wasn’t going to happen.

3.

Oh, Jack, where to begin? I was sitting alone in the practice rink, waiting for practice to start right after the Gold Medal game, and watching the game on my iPad. I have a tendency to watch championship games through a tiny slit in a blanket because the anxiety kills me, especially in games where I have skin in the game.

So seeing my country go to overtime against the USA, I was in turmoil.

And then Jack scored.

And then, I was conflicted.

He put the dagger in my country’s gold medal bid, but here’s a kid I’ve known since he was 18 and been with throughout his NHL journey, every step of the way, that I couldn’t help but smile. But, it was conflicting!

I was crazy proud of him and it's been incredible to watch the world get to know him. 

He's obviously a transplant here in New Jersey and to see him speak the way he did about what this state and fanbase and team has meant to him, I could, as a transplant myself, relate to that feeling that you get when you're so thoroughly embraced. 

I'm just really happy for Jack and all that's come his way. But I also know Jack well enough to know that the second he returned to the Devils, that was his 100 percent focus. Sure, there were things he had to do otherwise, but when he was in and around the team, he was as dialed in as he's ever been.

4.

Nico Hischier continues to climb up the franchise-record ranks… last Saturday in St. Louis, his empty-net goal was his 20^th of the season, for his 6^th 20-plus goal seasons in his 9 years. That ties him for third in team history with Bobby Holik. The franchise record is set by two greats, Patrik Elias and John MacLean, with 10 seasons each.

5.

If Dawson Mercer makes it to the end of the season without missing a game – and lets be honest, there’s never any indication with Dawson that he will – he’ll be able to take over the franchise Iron Man record, currently held by Travis Zajac. Zajac once played 401 straight games between October 26, 2006 to April 10, 2011, his streak ended by an off-season Achilles injury.

Mercer, remarkably, has not missed a single game since making his NHL debut in 2021. If he plays out the rest of the season, he’ll hit 410 straight games. He needs nine more this season to tie Zajac's franchise record, and I swear I better not have jinxed things here! 

6.

So how did Jack Hughes manage to get from a 5 p.m. ET game in St. Louis to the Saturday Night Live set in time for showtime? It was a three-leg journey: from St. Louis there was a private jet, then a helicopter and then a car.

Someone did ask me if it ended up being pre-tapped because we were in St. Louis that afternoon. All I know is SNL would never do an open as a pretape.

It was all very much a race against the clock!

You can read more about his full adventure, behind-the-scenes here! 

7.

I remember the day Jack Hughes was drafted, seeing the excitement and his swagger.

So, when I was looking back at some of the content we produced around Jack and his arrival, I found this quote he said and all these years later, it’s quite striking, given the circumstances.

He told me:

Check the date on that! 2019! 

Surely seems like he was destined for this moment. Maybe he's prophetic, too. He's told the story a few times that he told brother Quinn, whom he was sharing a room with at the Olympics, that he was dreaming about scoring the OT winner, the night before the Gold Medal game. 

8.

I loved the players’ reactions when I asked about Arseny Gritsyuk dropping the gloves with Eetu Luostarinen and ending up in the box against Florida.

Both Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt immediately said, “We’ll kill that off any day.” And they did. There was just so much certainty in their voices... like, yeah, we’ve got our teammate’s back and we’ll take care of the rest.

Loved that.

I cannot tell you how well liked... nay, loved!... Grits is in that locker room. He's just a breath of fresh air. No matter the day or the circumstance, I get a boisterous "Good morning, Amanda!" every morning I see him. He's just out here loving life.

Also worth noting: it sounds like at least preliminary extension talks have started with Gritsyuk’s camp. He’s due for a new deal at the end of the year.

Tom Fitzgerald called Gritsyuk “a joy to watch.” Hard to argue with that.

9.

Last week I spoke with Brian Pesce, Brett's dad, for a story about Brett playing in the New Jersey system as a kid. We also got to laughing about the new Pesce bobblehead.

Brian hadn’t even seen it yet, but joked that it’s probably perfect because they used to call Brett “Pumpkin Head.” He also kept referring to him as “Bretty,” which was honestly the sweetest thing.

Now, I’m not going to lie… I do (jokingly) worry a little about how Brett will react to being exposed like this.

You can read the whole story here!

10.

Not sure if you saw this, but it was adorable. The Devils Junior Captain of the Game the other night was Colton Greene, son of former captain Andy Greene.

Following in his dad’s footsteps with that ‘C’ on his jersey!