10 TAKEAWAYS: Managing the Moments

The Devils 2020-21 regular season is winding down with just nine games left on the schedule. The team just returned home from a road trip with three games against Pittsburgh and one against Philadelphia. It was difficult, no doubt, with just one point (a shootout loss to the Flyers) over the course of the trip.
It was a challenge, it was difficult and it also offered this new young leadership group assembled by the Devils their first major moment of rallying the team. As Miles Wood shared, the leadership group called a team meeting and that's where we start this week's 10 Takeaways.

1. Team Meeting

There is no way to sugarcoat it. It has been a difficult year, particularly results-wise for this team. No one feels this is where the team should be, but here we are. And so, after a very difficult game against the Penguins last Thursday, three of the team leaders called a meeting. Captain Nico Hischier, and alternate captains Miles Wood and Damon Severson gathered their teammates after the first game against the Penguins. And while most of what was said will remain behind closed doors, Wood did offer some insight into what was said and the message the leaders of this room wanted to address.
"We all called the team together. And I was basically saying that these last 10 games are a tryout for each player on this team. You can't take a game for granted, and that's exactly what I said. This is the best league in the world, we're all here to play hockey but at the end of the day, they're trying to find out which players they want to keep here. And I basically said this is it, this is your 10-game tryout. See what you can do in the last 10 games."

2. Holtz Makes North American Debut

Alexander Holtz is officially out of his quarantine period and back on an ice surface. Sporting No. 9 on his Binghamton Devils jersey, Holtz began his North American pro career on a line with Brett Seney and Tyce Thompson. The 19-year-old recorded five shots on goal.

3. Coaches Comments

Of Holtz's debut, although the NHL team was on the road, head coach Lindy Ruff did check in about the top prospects' first game.
"I had a conversation with Tom (Fitzgerald), he watched the game and said he played well. Had some shots in key areas, liked what he was doing on the power play. Basically got a brief description. Really, he was coming out of COVID-protocol and maybe had one or two practices and played a good number of minutes. But the report was good on him."

4. Three in Three

Colton White had a heck of a 72 hours, over the weekend. On Friday, April 23, White was playing with the Devils American Hockey League club in Leigh High Valley. While the AHL does not keep track of ice-time, White is one of the most used defensemen on the Devils roster found mainly on the top pairing. On the 23rd, he was on the top pair with Michael Vukojevic in a game that ended at 9:20 p.m.
By 5 a.m. the next morning, White was in a car on his way to Pittsburgh as an emergency recall to fill in on an undermanned Devils NHL blueline. Arriving just hours before game-time, White jumped into the lineup alongside Matt Tennyson (whom he has played with in Binghamton) for a 12:30 p.m. game against the Penguins.
That game ended at 3:03 p.m.
By 6 p.m. the next day, Sunday, April 25, White was once again playing in a game with the NHL Devils in Philadelphia.
"Any opportunity and a player like that relishes the opportunity to get to play," Ruff said prior to the Philadelphia game. "Whether it's two-in-two, three-in-three, they want an opportunity. I thought he played well in the (Pittssburgh) game, and again three-in-three, there are days where you go back-to-back and practice the next day. It's a tough grind for him, but one that he welcomes."

5. Up North

The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League regular season wrapped up last week and the league is now in the midst of the Quebec league playoffs. There won't be a Memorial Cup this year for the CHL, so this will be as far as the Quebec league players will go this year.
And among those players is Dawson Mercer, the Devils first-round (18th overall) selection in 2020, and he's a player the franchise should be very excited about.
How about this for a playoff goal?

Sneaky and successful.
Mercer finished in the Q's Top 10 in goal scoring with 19 goals in 23 games,
He currently leads his Chicoutimi team with five points in five games in the postseason with three goals and two assists.

6. A Big Step

Two NHL games, two NHL points.
In his first NHL game, Nolan Foote was on the board with his first NHL assist (and point). A game later, from the top of the circle he released the puck on reception.
One of the weirder facts about his goal? It was assisted by two former members of the Kelowna Rockets, the Western Hockey League team that Foote played with for four seasons. Nick Merkley, a member of the Rockets between 2013-2017 had the primary assist, while Damon Severson, a member of the Rockets between 2010-14, had the secondary assist.
Big night for the Rockets.

7. Longest Tenured

Damon Severson is currently the longest-tenured Devil on the team, having joined the club starting in the 2014-15 NHL season.
On April 20 he tied Paul Martin for eighth place on the all-time franchise assist list for a defensemen when he assisted on that Foote goal. It was the 137th of his career. Severson added two more assists this past week, surpassing Martin and taking sole possession of eighth overall.
His next target? Ken Daneyko's 142.

8. Another Target

Severson has already taken aim at Daneyko. His assist against the Flyers over the weekend pushed Dano into eighth overall in franchise defensemen points, while Damon sits alone in seventh with 179.
Next up is Joe Cirella's 190.

9. End-to-End

Did you know that Jack Hughes ranks fourth in the NHL in end-to-end rushes at even strength?
According to Mike Kelly of Sportslogiq, Hughes has 78 so far this season, behind only Connor McDavid (83), Leon Draisaitl (81), and Matt Barzal (80).
Another stat Kelly pointed out? Jack ranks first in the NHL among forwards in takeaways per game with 1.1.

10. Talvitie's First Pro Goal

It may have been Holtz's first pro game in the Devils organization, but the night belonged to Aarne Talvitie. The Penn State alum converted on his lone shot of the game, to pick up his first-career pro goal.