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New Jersey Devils Exit Interviews: What We Learned

We've taken a few weeks to let the season settle and decipher what we learned from New Jersey Devils exit interviews.

By Dan Rice |
Toronto Maple Leafs v New Jersey Devils
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Sorry for the delay on this one folks as I’ve been dealing with some life stuff that takes precedence. The New Jersey Devils players, interim Head Coach, and General Manager held their final interviews with the local media a few days after the final game of a disappointing regular season.

By this point, you may have heard or read all of the quotes from the two days of 25+ interviews, and I’m sure my fellow colleagues have also detailed all that was said. But here are a few things that caught my eye (and ears) over the several hours that we hung out in the Devils’ locker room as a slow stream of players came in, one by one.

1. Timo Meier is a Badass

Pretty self-explanatory, but here’s why. Meier revealed that he played with an oblique injury and not one, but TWO sprained MCL. And when he mentioned it, he also threw in the “nothing too crazy” statement immediately afterward. Sorta explains why no. 28 had a slow start to his first full season in New Jersey. No doubt he probably tried to play through all of those injuries and that affected his play. 

But those are also injuries that won’t necessarily heal until his body has some rest. So the fact that he finished the season strong - 13 goals in March now looks even more impressive. Which is extrapolated even more when we also hear that he was dealing with a shoulder injury, that he didn’t mention that day, and recently had elective surgery to repair it. Every hockey player plays through injuries. We all know that it is part of their DNA. But Meier was on some next-level stuff this season playing through those ailments. 

It was impressive to me that he led the team in goals this season, more so now that we know all of this. Equally impressive to me, with a few more days to think about this, was that he easily could have sat out, shut things down to get right, and come back next season, especially after just signing a long-term extension in the summer. All told he only missed 13 games. Next season should be a big one for Meier, provided he stays healthy.

2. Youth Gone Wild

The silver lining in all of this miserable season that Devils fans had to endure is that their young talent (which is almost half the team) just got another year of NHL experience under their belts. Most notably, their two future pillars on the blue line - Luke Hughes (82 games) and Simon Nemec (60 games) played in basically every situation imaginable and will be better for it next season and beyond. They played more minutes than they probably should have because of all of the injuries that Dougie Hamilton, John Marino, and Jonas Siegenthaler battled through. Both Nemec and Hughes seemed eager to reset and start a new season while also acknowledging the leaps and bounds they took this season.

Up front, Alex Holtz played a full 82 games for the first time in his career, and like mentioned above - he will be better for it in the future; he’s still only 22 years old and has room to grow even more. Holtz knows what he must do to prepare his body and game for a full NHL season. Also, Dawson Mercer played another 82 games to extend his three-year consecutive games streak to 246 straight games. Although Mercer’s point production dropped from 56 to 33 (after 42 points in his rookie campaign), he was a luxury for whoever was coaching the team with his versatility and ability to play anywhere in the lineup. Like Holtz, Mercer is only 22 and still a few years away from his prime.

3. Jesper Bratt was not happy

Following his seventh full season with the Devils, Jesper Bratt is coming off of a career-best in points (83 in 82 games) and assists (56). But over those seven seasons, he has appeared in only 13 playoff games, with 12 of them coming last spring. When he came out to talk with us, there was a serious tone to his words and demeanor. He’s tired of the excuses (we’re a young team, a young core, untimely injuries, etc.) and heading back to Sweden before May 1.

He didn’t care to talk about his magnificent season where he was New Jersey’s most consistent player night in and night out, or that he played in all 82 games for the second season in a row. Maybe earlier in his career no. 63 was just happy to be in the NHL, with the Devils; but now he wants more. He wants to win and the time for talk is over. 

After the season finale and again at his exit interview with the media, Bratt mentioned that he thought the team needed to play more maturely. Whether it’s practice habits, not giving up the first goal in 2/3 of their games, or not playing safe enough at the end of games to get to overtime - the Devils had enough talent this season to make the playoffs, and they didn’t. That is the first time this team could say that in his career, not making the Stanley Cup playoffs was a bit of a shock. Over Bratt’s first five seasons, they didn’t deserve or have a good enough team to make it to the second season, and only did it once because Taylor Hall played possessed enough to win MVP and drag the Devs to the playoffs.

Honestly, I liked seeing/hearing that side of Bratt. It shows that he cares and cares enough to the point where it bothers him. Others showed that emotion too - Erik Haula, Nico Hischier, and Hamilton come to mind - but coming from Bratt, that felt like someone stepping into a leadership role and someone who can and will hold his peers accountable going forward.

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