New Jersey Devils Make History In Big Win Vs. Washington Capitals

The New Jersey Devils are a very good one of the best hockey team this season. It looks like they are going to be a good team for a long time thanks to a young core. There is a lot of work to be done but this sure is exciting.

The players on the team that hail from Switzerland make the team even more exciting! It hasn’t been a historically elite hockey country, but they have been on the rise in recent years. We have seen studs like Roman Josi and Nino Niederreiter come from Switzerland and be great, but the hockey program from that country reached its peak when Nico Hischier became the first-ever Swiss player to be drafted first overall.

Since then, Hischier has been named the captain of the Devils while developing into one of the best two-way centers in the NHL. Outside of Jack Hughes, Hischier is the most important player in the entire organization.

The New Jersey Devils are becoming a great team loaded with Swiss players.

The Devils made a very smart trade to land Jonas Siegenthaler for a third-round pick. This Swiss defenseman has been sensational since coming over from the division rival. Paired with Dougie Hamilton most of the time, he has been as steady as any defensive defenseman in the league.

He isn’t perfect and he provides almost no offense, but he is incredibly sound on almost every shift. The Devils love having him in their top four on defense and hope to have him around for a long time.

Swiss goalie Akira Schmid was one of seven Devils goalies used in 2021-22. It was a disaster to have that many goalies, but the team got through it. However, Schmid is someone that stuck around as a young guy and is proving to be very good. Mackenzie Blackwood had to get hurt for Schmid to get the chance to play as Vitek Vanecek’s backup and now it will be hard to move him out.

Over the last couple of weeks, the Devils traded for Timo Meier of the San Jose Sharks. He is a 26-year-old forward that hails from Switzerland as well. With San Jose, he proved to be one of the best goal-scorers in the league. Now, he brings that talent to New Jersey.

On Thursday against the Washington Capitals, Schmid made his first start since the team activated Meier into the lineup. As a result, the Devils became the first team in NHL history to use four Swiss players in the same game.

The Devils won this game in a shootout by a final score of 3-2. Siegenthaler played a solid defensive game, Hischier had an assist, Schmid made 20 saves on 22 shots, and Meier had the shootout-winning goal. It was an outstanding game for all of them.

This is an organization that has put a lot of faith into a few Swiss players and they are hoping to get the most out of them. Their next game will come on Saturday night when they take on the Montreal Canadiens in Quebec.