Exciting winger prospect Arseny Gritsyuk made his unofficial New Jersey Devils debut against the New York Rangers on Sunday, growing into the game and finishing the day with a goal and an assist.
Gritsyuk, 24, featured on a line consisting of himself, center Cody Glass, and winger Paul Cotter, which was effectively the Devils' top unit in the undermanned 5-3 loss to the Rangers. Gritsyuk assisted a Cotter goal to make the score 4-2 late in the second period, then blasted home a one-timer on the power play with just under two minutes left in the third period.
An uneven game for nearly everyone, to be sure, but Gritsyuk ended up with his first two points as a Devils player, six shots on goal, and 18:28 of ice time, including a whopping 6:07 on the power play, second to only Cotter's 6:31.
With that game now in the books, what did fellow Russian and Devils assistant coach Sergei Brylin think of the youngster's debut?
"There were moments when he looked good, and there are some details where he needs to improve. Overall, he left a good impression. He himself understands that this is the first game of the season, and there is room for improvement. I think he felt the speed and the physicality of the match. I'll say he wasn't shy about it in that regard; he felt quite comfortable with it, just like he did with the speed," Brylin told TASS after the game.
"We had some issues, especially in the first two periods, in the defensive zone. We were paying attention to some of these aspects of the game, and we needed to make some adjustments. We need to be a little quicker in these situations, and then our game will look completely different."
Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe also said after the game that Gritsyuk will get "more reps" in the preseason to work on defensive zone coverages and experience the NHL for what it is in order to learn.
There was plenty to take away from Arseny Gritsyuk's preseason debut
Gritsyuk was caught gliding and puck-watching on the Rangers' first goal, which was scored by Gabe Perreault. With Dennis Cholowski, Glass, and Calen Addison all collapsing the puck carrier, it would appear Gritsyuk was expected to crash the slot to eliminate the pass, even if it seemed like Glass was in a better position to make a play.
"This is the first preseason game, so no one will draw any long-term conclusions from it. Our roster was, to put it mildly, far from optimal," added Brylin. "The most important thing is to see these details, some aspects of the game that we paid attention to during the three days of training that we had. That's the point of training camp and these games, to fix some flaws."
Assuming Gritsyuk is again in the lineup for the Devils' second preseason game, he'll be back in action on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. when the Devils host the New York Islanders, who just lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in a shootout on Sunday night.