Allen, Kahkonen Participate in First Practice | NOTEBOOK

Fresh off of being acquired by the Devils at the Trade Deadline, both goaltenders, Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen have arrived in New Jersey and were on the ice at the practice facility today for their first skate with their new team.

Allen, wearing No. 34, and Kahkonen, wearing No. 31, also shared the net with Nico Daws who remains with New Jersey right now. Akira Schmid, who backed up Daws on Saturday, was reassigned to the Utica Comets.

Also on the ice was forward Nolan Foote, who has returned to New Jersey off his conditioning stint with the Comets. 

Missing practice today were Jack Hughes and Timo Meier, both taking the day off from the ice for maintenance days. Interim head coach Travis Green said "it's just that time of year" when it comes to players taking maintenance days and did not forsee any issues with either player's availability for Monday night in New York. 

Check out the notebook for the latest info, updates, interviews, videos and more from the practice session!

Getting Acquainted

It has been a whirlwind few days for both Kahkonen and Allen who were both traded to New Jersey on Friday, ahead of the NHL Trade Deadline. It means a very quick change of scenario, picking up and moving and getting acquainted with your new team and teammates.

For Kahkonen, coming from San Jose, though he didn't have time to have an in-depth conversation about New Jersey, he has spent the past season with former Devils goaltender Mackenzie Blackwood and had some familiarity with the idea of New Jersey.

"I had a really good relationship with him," Kahkonen said, "He was saying that it's a good place, good organization. Good guys in the room. So it was pretty easy to be excited about coming here."

For Allen, his familiarity with people in the organization dates back to his years in St. Louis. He was, as a young goaltender, a tandem partner with Martin Brodeur, after Brodeur left New Jersey to end his career.

"He was very good to me in St. Louis," Allen recalled, "He was one of my idols growing up and fortunate enough to get to be around him in an organization. I was very fortunate. And I'm super excited to be here, part of an organization he's still the face of and try and help this team out."

As well as Brodeur, Allen is familiar with Devils goaltending coach Dave Rogalski, who was a development coach in the St. Louis system while Allen was part of the organization.

"I've met him a few times," Allen said, "He's always been very good to me, very nice to me and we had good interactions. The goalie coach that I had in St. Louis (Dave Alexander) was my goalie coach growing up as a kid, we always had a good connection. So I think when he knew that I got moved here, he told me that me and Rogie would get along well. I'm looking forward to working with him."

Three's Company

The situation Jake Allen found himself in while in Montreal this season was a rather unusual one. The Canadiens have carried a roster with three goaltenders all season long with Allen, Samuel Montembeault and Cayden Primeau. That dramatically changes the pace and flow that goaltenders are more familiar with and was certainly an adjustment.

"It was difficult. It was the situation that we were dealt with," Allen said from his locker stall at Prudential Center, "The other two guys handled it great. It wasn’t easy for them either. It’s not ideal. But that’s what they chose to do. We had to accept the role that we were given."

Now, with his focus fully shifted to New Jersey, he enters a situation where the likely scenario will be Allen and Kahkonen sharing the load most of the way. While Daws, for now, remains with the Devils club, general manager Tom Fitzgerald indicated on Friday, that Daws will likely end up back with the Comets once Allen is able to play and has a few practices under his belt.

"I’m excited that Jersey wants to give me a chance here," Allen added, "I’m looking forward to helping this team down the stretch and continuing into next year as well. It feels like a new challenge for me, a new opportunity. Almost eight years in St. Louis, four years in Montreal and I get a fresh start here with the Devils. I’m excited."

With Intention

Interim head coach Travis Green rarely makes his way to the whiteboard, gathering his team to talk during practice. Each coach does things their way and this appears to be Green's. He explained that he prefers to "pre-board" practice before the team goes on the ice, giving them the first three or four drills in advance, so when practice starts there are no major stoppages and the pace flies.

"Obviously a lot of the drills are a little bit new to them, so if I go to the board right now it’s probably because they haven’t seen the drill yet," Green explained, "So you have to and I didn’t want to give them too much before practice. We pre-boarded the first three or four drills, they’re going to make mistakes though as well, when you’ve got new drills. I’m trying not to throw too much at them all at once as well.”

Green said the intention behind his practice philosophy is to keep the pace of practice up, and "work on conditioning within practice", as they say, you play how you practice.