Between drills and mini 3-on-3 games, training camp is off to a quick start. This lends well to Devils Head Coach Lindy Ruff's plan for his team to play a fast tempo game with discipline.
"It was high tempo, it was good speed, obviously well organized, he's done a lot of them," said new Devils defenseman Ryan Murray about Group A's first on-ice practice. "Some of the other coaches had drills too. It was kind of a mixed bag of things, but yeah we covered a lot in one day, it was good."
Tweet from @NJDevils: Welcome to Camp Fast and Furious. We don't have time for the normal pleasantries. The season is almost here. It's time to get to work.#NJDevils | @PlymouthRock https://t.co/JR1V6kZ3hk
"It was super up-tempo. Obviously, you want to get right into it after the amount of time we had off. You want to get right back up to what game speed is going to feel like, and I think we did a good job of going out there," said Kyle Palmieri. "[Ruff] made it clear that we want to play a high tempo game and use the assets on our roster and the way our team's built to have success, and that's going to be playing with a lot of pace, and practice is no different from the first whistle all the way to the end."
Getting back to game speed was a prominent focus for Ruff and his coaching staff when they planned this year's training camp.
"We decided that if we could play a few more games at camp, serious games, where we get basically NHL competition-type of play then it would serve our team the best that they get to play against each other," said Ruff on the team's media day Thursday. "So in the first couple of days, incorporate our system and get to a game…we feel that's going to be the best."
