DJ Pauly C, Ready to Entertain | 10 TAKEAWAYS

You're really setting the personal bar for yourself when you know you're a team on the rise, with much expectation, and you swoop into Florida and decisively take down the reigning Cup champs, the Panthers.

That was an excellent game on Tuesday night and one you hope will become a springboard for the next stretch of the season.

“We took a step here today; that’s the standard," head coach Sheldon Keefe said, addressing his team post-game. "That’s what it takes. That's how you compete with the best teams. Any dip below that, and you make it real hard on yourself."

As the Devils journey through the season and put together performances like the one they had in Florida, each next-best performance becomes the new standard. The bar will continually rise as the season progresses and as the team continues to set new standards for themselves.

We're in for a heck of 63 remaining games if that bar keeps being pushed higher.

1.

As we have passed Nov. 11, Memorial Day in the United States and Remembrance Day in Canada, I wanted to point out a nice touch by the Devils' staff.

Of course, we have our Military Appreciation Night, but there was also a subtle but important nod to our neighbors of the North in Canada throughout the stretch of early November.

In Canada, the symbol for Remembrance Day is the poppy flower. You’ll see them on most people’s lapels from the start of November until (at least) Nov. 11. The Devils were in Canada at the start of November. On the three-game Western trip, all the coaches and staff who worked on the bench, from equipment managers to medical staff, wore poppies.

And when the team returned to New Jersey, they kept wearing them; they wore them against Montreal and again against San Jose.

I thought it was a very nice touch.

2.

I saw our friend Curtis Lazar the other day in one of the elevators at Prudential Center… well, at first, I didn’t see him until I heard someone say to the elevator attendant, “Excuse me, please don’t let her on the elevator!” (or something to that effect; I can’t remember the exact words!).

Lo and behold, I turn around, and there’s Lazar in an elevator full of people chirping at me.

I had to look at the attendant and tell him it was just a joke…. I think?!

Good to know Curtis hasn’t lost his sarcastic touch!

3.

We’ve known all along about the elite level of talent Jack Hughes has. It’s why he was picked first overall in 2019.

But what we are seeing this year under Sheldon Keefe is a completely new version of elite-level talent because it has been coupled with a defensive responsibility that Hughes hasn’t always been a part of.

Jack is being used to protect a lead at the end of games, on the ice defending a 6-on-5 with the goalie pulled and getting reps on the penalty kill.

He’s basically doing it all – and excelling.

He’s already surpassed, in 19 games, the number of penalty kill minutes he had all of last season. He played 4:04 on the penalty kill in 82 games during the 2023-24 season, whereas he's already up to 4:12. His game, in other words, is growing and becoming well-rounded and with a new dynamic level.

“What he has shown me is not only can he do it, but he’s elite at it,” Sheldon Keefe said late last week. “Winning puck battles, his timing, his ability to get under his stick and surprise people. It’s a combination of his skill and his intelligence being met with his work ethic and competitiveness. When you have that, it’s a very dangerous combination and I’ve seen that in some of the elite players that I’ve coached when they combine all that it’s really difficult for the opposition and it gives them the puck more.”

4.

One of the first things Paul Cotter told me about his game when I met him during training camp for the first time was that, basically, "I'll be what they want me to be."

"What do they want me to do?" he asked rhetorically.

Cotter is a copybook example of what Sheldon Keefe has instilled in this team from Day 1.

Buy in.

"At the end of the day, we’re all here to serve the team," Keefe said. "We all elected to be part of the ultimate team sport, and everybody has a job to do, and the game calls for different things at different times."

Wherever Cotter has been asked to play, whatever role he's slotting into, he's embraced it with that buy-in attitude and excelled. He leads the team in hits (52) and is tied for third in goals scored (7). All seven of his goals have been scored at even strength, leading the club.

Paul has this ability to, well, do what they want him to do.

That includes, apparently, providing ample entertainment!

5.

Maybe we have Cotter's younger sister, Mileena, to thank for honing his offensive and competitive skills.

She recently shared this story with the NHLPA about growing up in a household with older brothers, Paul and Jack. As most youngest siblings know, if you're heading down in the basement to play mini-sticks, as the youngest, you're being thrust into the goalie gear and in the net.

“It could be a bit of a love-hate relationship during those times. Paul would tell me, ‘If you can block five of my shots, then you can go upstairs.’ So, I’m down there, working so hard to get those five saves, and when I would save the last one, he would say, ‘No… that last one doesn’t count.’”

6.

On the radio broadcast with Matt and Chico, after delivering the assist of the season, Jesper Bratt joked that he wasn’t sure that his coaches would like him to make those attempts every time he’s out there, but he’s glad it worked this one time.

An assist, on his backhand, saucered through the air, in a perfect b-line through defenders, diagonally through the ice, right on to Jack Hughes' stick.

That takes a moment for everything to align perfectly, and that's exactly what it did.

I hope that highlight, which you know will be shown for a while, will put Jesper in the greater consciousness of hockey fans. We’re so lucky here in New Jersey to watch him every night, but I also think he doesn't get his due around the league as much as he should.

He is such a gifted, hard-working player.

7.

That goal for Jack was his 300th career point in the NHL, in his 325th NHL game. Both he and his older brother Quinn have attained teh 300-point mark, all before playing their 350th game.

Younger brother Jack hit it six games before Quinn, who reached the milestone in his 331st NHL game.

They also became just the sixth set of NHL brothers to reach 300 points in 350 games or fewer.

8.

The goaltending duo of Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen have really set a foundation for the team this year.

For Allen, who arrived late last season in a trade with Montreal, he has come in this year and been exactly what the team has needed. His last two games, in particular, are quite impressive. It's exactly what you hope for from your goaltending tandem. In his previous two games (at EDM, vs. SJS), he has faced 58 shots.

The only “goal” to get by him?

That would be the bounce off of Timo Meier’s stick against San Jose, the dreaded ‘own-goal,’ a really unfortunate bounce.

And that’s what you need, that solid 1-2 tandem. That’s partially how you improve from a 19-game start of 9-9-1 last season to 11-6-2 this year.

Go down his stat line, and he’s been superb and everything you want and need out of your No. 2. The only caveat is the Tampa Bay Lightning game, where, while Allen has the eight goals against on his stat line, was arguably the poorest all-around performance of the season.

Take out the Tampa game, and Allen has given up just six goals in five games, including two shutouts. In the game where he gave up four (vs. NYI), the Devils earned a single point, and the game went to overtime.

Those incremental changes from one season to the next make all the difference at the end of an 82-game season.

9.

When the calendar switched over to November, like clockwork Nico Hischier, Brenden Dillon and Timo Meier emerged from the locker room with mustaches on their faces. It's all part of their efforts and participation in the Devils' Movember campaign.

This is your chance to say you're officially teammates with the three Devils players (sorry, the actual NHL roster is already full!) and also be eligible to win a couple of prizes, including a Meet and Greet with captain Nico Hischier.

Here's the details:

1. Donate at least $10 to the New Jersey Devils team page to be eligible

2. The top individual fundraiser on the New Jersey Devils NETWORK, will receive two (2) tickets to a Devils home game in December and a post-game meet & greet with Nico Hischier.

3. The second place fundraiser will receive a personalized autographed game-used Hischier stick. The third place fundraiser will receive a Hischier autographed puck and photo.

10.

It might be time for me to consider sitting down with the team and giving them some handwriting lessons.

Actually, they're not that bad. I just thought of it when I saw the NHLPA post Nico Hischier's Q&A this week, which is a handwritten questionnaire.

It also made me curious what other Devils have written for the PA, so I went through a couple of of them to see what we're dealing with in the handwriting department of the New Jersey Devils.

I'll say this to start, at least everyone's handwriting is legible. That's a major plus. We do, however, have an issue with starting sentences with capital letters, but now I'm just being picky!

I grabbed a couple of samples and thought I'd provide some fun notes, starting with Nico:

I spent some time thinking about this one, because I can't fault someone for not having the same handwriting I do, and there's nothing actually wrong with his handwriting. Please close the 'o' in Nico!

Paul, you've impressed me with your handwriting abilities!

Also, 10/10 for keeping your sentences pretty straight with no lined paper. Even I struggle with that.

To begin with, it looks like he had a bit of a faulty pen. That seems unfair.

I'm also intrigued that he writes the letter 'a' with the arc on the top, in a serif font. You don't see that too often handwritten. Impressive.

We've got four types of 'y''s here, Jack!