A Salute for Sarge, A Hello for Nico | 10 TAKEAWAYS

It has been a couple of days of real feel-good moments. Nico Hischier returning to practice with his teammates, Sergei Brylin being named to the Devils Ring of Honor, there is a lot to celebrate from the last few days and that's exactly what we're going to do here in this week's 10 Takeaways presented by Ticketmaster!

1.

I know how happy his teammates were, how happy the fans were, how happy everyone was to see Nico Hischier on the ice on Monday. But I’m fairly confident in saying that I don’t think there was anyone happier than Nico himself.

I will always caution that getting back on the ice with teammates is just a step and there really is no telling how soon or long it will be before he sees game action, but sitting there watching Nico skate around, the smile on his face, the stick taps from his teammates, you can only imagine what type of a boost that was for everyone.

Even just having him come out, at this point, whether he plays soon or not, that’s an emotional boost for everyone.

“It’s awesome, Nico is obviously such a big part of the team, the organization,” good friend Jesper Bratt shared. “As a friend, for me too. Obviously seeing him out there, practicing with us, and being around us is awesome and brings a smile to your face.”

2.

There is so much that is lost without Nico, on the ice and off of it. Yes, he has been around his teammates, but it’s a much more distant capacity when you’re not part of the everyday flow of practice and a game routine. When you're recovering from an injury, you're often in before everyone, and wrapping up when the rest of the team is just getting started. It cannot be easy on anyone. Nico just has this presence about him. You just know when he is around that he is this team's leader.

And missing him, when he's not in the lineup, is a very real thing, as Nathan Bastian explained.

"On the ice, in all situations, when you’re talking about leaning on a guy, whether it’s the start of the game, whether it’s 5-on-4, whether it’s the power play, whether it’s 3-on-3 overtime, that’s a guy look down the bench and when he’s not there, it makes it a lot harder on us. So, not to put too much pressure on him coming back but we can’t stress enough how excited we are."

4.

I think Martin Brodeur said it best... “After ‘Sarge,’ there is no clearcut next guy."

What Brodeur is talking about is the Devils Ring of Honor. It was announced today that Sergei Brylin will have his name put in the Ring of Honor on Jan. 20, a night to recognize his incredible career with the franchise. He is one of only five players to win all three Stanley Cups and really is, right now \the \clearcut one who is deserving of such an honor.

I loved the way the team decided to break the news to him, in the midst of a meeting and show clips of his playing days. The real irony there was that those clips from all those years ago are still relevant today, effective ways to score goals, and useful reminders of how to be successful. "He went to the net," joked Lindy Ruff.

Being able to provide that moment to Brylin was not lost on the Devils head coach, whom I had the opportunity to catch up with just before the news broke. What stuck out most to Ruff, when he reviewed the video the team released was the look on his player's faces.

"You’re looking at a guy who is a three-time Stanley Cup winner, one of the true Jersey legends," he said, "The thing I liked the most when I watched the video again was everybody, the look on everybody’s face, the look of, here’s a guy that scored goals a lot of different ways. Ways we’ve talked about scoring goals, was able to find a way with a team to the number of Cups he did and I think the players truly appreciated what they saw.

5.

I loved the look on all the player's faces in the video when they realized what was happening. It was pure joy and it truly speaks to how important and valued Sarge is in the Devils locker room.

One of those players, whose smile stretched from ear to ear was captain Nico Hischier, who had this to share with me upon hearing the news.

"It’s such an incredible honor for him- all that he’s done for the team and us as players. It was fun getting to see his highlights and how important he was to those championship teams. We are so happy for him."

6.

One thing I noticed when talking to Jesper Bratt about Sarge, and in any subsequent time throughout the day he was asked about Sarge... he would always point to the three Stanley Cups that he won with the Devils but would never stop at just mentioning that.

It always concluded with "... and let's get some more together."

7.

I also wanted to make sure to check in with a couple of people who have known Sarge longer than the current team has. So I went right to two notable players in their own rights. I caught up with both Andy Greene and Byrce Salvador whose careers briefly overlapped with Brylin's.

Bryce Salvador:

First off, I think it's just a testament to him. I think everybody in the organization that's or even just associated with this team like from a fans perspective have been saying like, why isn't his name up there? And I think at no fan would say his jersey shouldn't be retired. But Sergei is not a guy that would ever ask for anything, he's just so appreciative to be around the Devils. He's one of the humblest guys that I've come across that’s accomplished so much for this organization. It's just awesome, it’s well deserved. And, you know, I was always even saying like, why isn't he up here part of the coaching staff for so many years? And this is a guy that went down to the minors, didn't matter where the team was playing, just put his time in didn't assume that he should be given anything without working for it. to then you hear everybody, all the players, they just talk about him just, he brings so much credibility and everything that he says and they have so much respect for him. He just tells it how it is, black or white. And so I've enjoyed my all my conversations with him and so it's just awesome to hear that.

Andy Greene

I mean just his work ethic, right? He was a Swiss army knife. He did everything for our teams and, I wouldn’t say under the radar but you always really appreciated him for the player he was. It was just his work ethic. You can see it even now, behind the scenes when he's coaching. He just lives and breathes hockey and the guys here are very lucky to have him, as that bridge from the Stanley Cup years, that’s where they’re trying to get to now.

8.

One of the things about Sergei Brylin, which both Salvador and Greene brought up is how low-key, under the radar he has always been about himself. He never asked for any spotlight to be on him and went about his business, in a very successful, low-key way.

That's why I loved so much watching his reaction to the announcement when it was revealed to him in the Devils theatre room. I wouldn't have expected anything different from his reaction, of "I didn't expect this. Thank you." but you could really see the genuine look of happiness on his face at the same time.

So I had to ask both Greene and Salvador how they think he'll do on Jan. 20, when the spotlight will most literally be on Sarge.

"You know, he's probably going to talk the whole organization out of doing that for him, like that's the last thing that he would want," Salvador laughed, "It just is. So maybe we'll see a side of him, some emotion out of him that I don't think anybody knows it’s there. It will be great for his family to be there and just long overdue."

Greene then chimed in:

"I can see him saying thank you and then waves his hand and walking away."

Of course, these comments are all in good jest, knowing Brylin the way they do.

9.

When we were talking about being teammates with Brylin and the type of intensity he put into everything he does, Greene shared a great story about how seriously Sarge takes every moment of his hockey.

"We were at the old Coliseum, and during warmups, Sarge would do these link sprints from blueline to red line, a half-moon type of movement. And one time, he goes out there and blows an edge and he was gone. Like he was at the top of the circles (on the other end of the ice). This was 2007, he literally blew an edge, and he’s working so hard, he literally went fully through the Islanders warmups.

10.

While we're talking about a few blasts from the past... there was another one last Saturday night.

It’s been several years now since we’ve seen a Zajac and a Greene on Prudential Center ice on the same night… well all that changed on Saturday when Travis’ son Zenon was the Devils Junior Captain of the game, skating around with NJ on the ice before the start of the game.

And a little less obvious was the Greene connection… the former Devils captain was at Prudential Center the same night, with his two boys, Colton and Maddox, to take part in the Mites-on-Ice game.

The Devils roots run deep through those two families!