A long break from games has been much needed for the New Jersey Devils. Here we are on November 20, and already 21 games, more than a quarter of the way through the season. Games have been coming at the group fast and furious from Day 1 and a shortened training camp. These last few days have been an opportunity for everyone to catch their breath a little bit and take stock of how far they’ve come as a group and how much more there is to go.

This new crop of players, along with Sheldon Keefe, hit the ground running in Prague and have steadily raised their bar of expectation for each step they take as a group. At 12-7-2 the Devils are sitting in a good spot early in the season but have plenty more work to do.

“We’re in a pretty good place,” Keefe said on Wednesday.

And with being in a good place, expectations will always continue to rise and this club looks poised to tackle that task head-on by using every moment available.

Keefe spoke at length this week about the first 21 games of the season and the level of growth he’s seen from his team, which is where we start in this edition of 10 Takeaways, presented by Ticketmaster.

1.

General manager Tom Fitzgerald recently appeared on the NHL Wrap Around podcast and spoke about the hiring of Sheldon Keefe briefly and how he felt that some people may have thought he was a little too patient in making his move to hire a coach. But he stood his ground and waited.

And there was Sheldon Keefe.

Keefe has been a perfect fit for the Devils. He commands a great deal of respect and, in return, gives it right back to his players.

Every moment of preparation for each practice, each game, and each moment together as a team has been met with intention. His communication is top-notch too; that’s something that I’ve heard from players. That he leaves very little if any, room for doubt of what is expected each and every day. It’s all a part of the building process.

You saw so much of that come together in South Florida against the Panthers. An impressive two-game stretch where the Devils took on the defending Stanley Cup champions.

“Everything we’ve done as a group, everything we’ve talked about is to prepare us to play against teams like this,” Keefe said to his players in the locker room prior to the first game. “To play the best teams, we want to be competing against these kind of teams. You’re ready for it, so stand your ground. Be on your toes.”

The result was a spectacular win (followed up by another one) and while that sets a new competitive bar for the group, Keefe also makes sure his team understands where they still are and need to go as a group and never get too far ahead of themselves.

“We’re in South Florida, we’re playing against the Stanely Cup champs… Florida, they’re playing against a team that didn’t make the playoffs last year,” he said. “So, there’s two different elements at play there. We’re on high alert, and they have our attention; maybe we caught them a little bit by surprise. We’ve got a ways to go in terms of earning that level of respect from opponents, but certainly, those types of games can give you a step towards that and shows what we’re capable of. But again, we’re not close to where we need to be when we talk about something that is sustainable and consistent.”

On that same podcast, Fitzgerald pretty much summed up his feelings about having Keefe at the helm of his club:

“Thank god he took that invitation.”

No kidding.

2.

Speaking of which, at Wednesday’s practice session, it took about 10 minutes before Keefe stopped his team, raised his voice, and grabbed his team’s full attention. The practice wasn’t up to his standards and one thing to know about Keefe is once a standard is set, it must be continually met. There is no other option.

After not liking what he saw early in the practice, he stopped, talked and then they carried on.

“I thought it got better after our discussion. (The effort) wasn’t where it needed to be before that,” he said. “You can put a finger on a number of things, whether it’s the time off, you kind of lose your edge a little bit when that’s the case, but also just having practice. Yesterday and today, those were our third and fourth practices of the month, in some sense, I think maybe we’d forgotten what we had established in terms of the level of competitiveness and the pace required in our practices that we can bring into our games. I felt they needed a reminder, so I gave it and it got a lot better after that.”

3.

Twenty games (plus one) into the season is a good place to stop and take account of what level of growth we’ve seen so far.

Keefe shared that this week, he and his staff spent some time with their players to break down the first and last ten game segments of this season and where he believes they are in their growth. So far, so good. But there’s still plenty of work to be done.

Here’s how Keefe sees it:

“We are far better in almost every facet of the game in the last ten than we were in the first ten,” he said. “That’s what I like to see; we’re making progress. We want to continue to get better and certainly, the last ten games are reflective of being an elite team. But it’s an 82-game schedule, first of all, so we want to be able to build on that and have it be sustainable so that each segment that’s kind of what it looks like and have something we can build off and take off from there, seek to earn ourselves a spot in the playoffs and then take on that beast.”

4.

So what were those facets of the game that have steadily improved from the beginning of the season to now?

Keefe explains:

“I thought we broke the puck out a lot better, a lot quicker out of our zone,” he said. “I thought certainly in the last five games of that segment, and definitely in Florida, elements of our offensive zone play were improving and we’re spending more time down there. In turn, less time in our own zone with that O-zone time and breaking out more efficiently and quicker. That would be it, and then obviously, special teams and goaltending have been terrific. All those things combined have got us in a really good place as a team, but as I said, certainly not content with that and there is another level that we have to get to if we want to compete consistently with the league’s best.”

5.

Part of taking those steps as a team is about grasping and embracing the identity that is beginning to take shape. And it will take time to fully reveal itself, but right now we are seeing how the identity is becoming multi-faceted. They’re not just a beat-you-one-way kind of team anymore, they’ve taken shape into something more complete.

“Speed, hard to play against, and structured, that’s what we’re trying to go for,” Dillon identified. “Had to find different ways to win during this 21-game stretch. We’ve played the skilled teams, we’ve played the big, physical, heavy teams. We’ve needed our special teams to help us through certain nights, different lines contributing. We’re trying to be a full team and I think we’ve shown spurts of that. It’s only a quarter of the way through the year but something to build on for sure.”

“I think we’ve become a team that knows what’s required in terms of the competitiveness and the defensive structure,” Keefe explained. “The foundation that gives you a chance to win each night. We’ve embraced that and with that confidence we’re starting to see our pace offensively start to come together. The group believes in each other and we’re seeing lots of positive things here in the last 10 game segment. It was a real strong one for us and lots to build on there.”

6.

Tom Fitzgerald knows what it’s like to wear the captain’s C on his jersey. He was the first captain in Nashville Predators franchise history, something he wore with a great deal of pride.

That’s why when he named Nico Hischier captain on February 21, 2021, he knew that there would be growing pains, he went through them himself. But he also knew what type of person is required to handle the C.

It’s a development process. And as Fitzgerald has seen Nico evolve, it’s all been about finding his own stride and not carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.

“(Nico) has really come on strong and understands who he is as a leader.”

Fitzgerald spoke about it on the NHL Wrap Around podcast:

“When I named him captain I knew there were going to be some growing pains with that, with the letter. Wearing a letter myself, there’s a lot of ups and downs. There’s a lot of over-thinking things versus being natural in understanding the role and being an extension to the coaching staff. Some lead by example, some lead by being vocal and Nico has really grown into it. The respect that he has from his teammates is incredibly high.”

“I look at Jack the way he looks at Nico; he looks at him like a big brother that he just idolizes. That’s something special that we have going on. We’re very lucky to have those two in our organization leading us up front, especially through the middle of the ice.”

Lucky indeed.

7.

At practice on Wednesday, during the stretch circle, the team tried to get Brett Pesce in the middle. Erik Haula was the most vocal, trying to get Brett to make his way to the middle of the circle, to no avail.

On certain occasions, if something important in a player’s life is happening or, like Pesce, facing his former team for the first time, they’ll lead the stretch.

But Pesce wouldn’t budge. He’s a Devil through and through, trying not to think about it.

His comment about playing Carolina and some of his good friends on Thursday?

“We need a win. I can talk to them after.”

8.

Brenden Dillon is waiting to feel the effects. The effects of playing on the East coast instead of the West Coast, where he spent most of his career.

When players make the switch from the Western to the Eastern Conference, one of the things you tend to hear right off the bat is the intrigue about how the travel is much different than in the West. The cities are less spread apart, the flights are often shorter, and you tend to spend many more nights in your own bed than you would if you’re playing for a Western team.

Dillon said in jest on Tuesday that he’s still waiting to experience this great Eastern Conference phenomenon – 21 games into the season.

Starting the season in Prague and then the relentless schedule since then has meant that feeling the benefits of playing in the East have had to wait.

“I look forward to it,” Dillon said from his locker room stall.

That will come, he was assured. Now, with four days between games, the schedule will begin to even out a little bit more and everyone has been able to take a bit of a breath.

(Dillon did play in Washington, but that was during the Covid season, so really, travel was completely different for everyone).

8.

It’s good to see Nolan Foote back on the ice. It has been a really hard last year for the forward who was kept out all last season with an ailing back. Now, healthy again, he feels he’s found his stride again.

And no pun intended, particularly his skating stride.

Foote recognizes that his skating has been one of the biggest weaknesses of his professional career, so far. And when you’re trying to make a team like New Jersey, where not only do they thrive on their speed but have some of the best skaters in the league, it is going to be hard to make your impression if your skating isn’t where it needed to be.

So Foote spent this summer working especially with skating coaches to go along with his regular off-season training to focus on his foot speed and bring his skating up to a level he now believes puts him in a much better position to earn a spot.

“I feel ready,” he said.

9.

Jesper Bratt is among the Top 5 wingers in the NHL.

For left wings in particular, Bratt is tied for third, with his 24 points, with Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor and New York’s Artemi Panarin.

Among all wingers, both left and right, Bratt and his 24 points drop down by just one, sitting tied for fourth in the NHL among wingers.

He’s our little sixth-round gem!

Wild to think that he is also approaching his 500th NHL game. He’s currently sitting at 492.

10.

Only a few days left to get involved! If you can, please help support the Devils’ Movember campaign here!

So, who out of the three Devils officially part of the campaign has the best mustache to date?

“I cheated a little bit with mine,” Dillon laughed. “I started mine, I think, in early October to try to make sure I was able to keep up with everybody. But I’ll vote for myself.”

“I would say Dillon,” Hischier said until he was informed that Dillon began to grow his earlier than most.

“That’s a disqualification,” he laughed.