Hitting Halfway | 10 TAKEAWAYS

The 2023-24 Devils season has hit the halfway point. 41 games in the books, and a whole other half to go. 

It has been an up-and-down adventure of a season so far, with the team managing its way through a string of injuries to very important pieces. That's the way it goes sometimes, so let's hope as we hit the latter half the injury bug will be behind the group. 

A lot, other than injuries has happened too. NHL debuts, outstanding offensive numbers, career highs, and all the likes.

We'll delve into some of those in this week's 10 Takeaways, but we start with a conversation I had today with Simon Nemec, who has a special guest in town tonight.

1.

Only once have Simon Nemec and fellow countryman Juraj Slafkovsky played against each other - and that was in a preseason game when the Devils visited Montreal this year. A preseason game is one thing, but a regular season game is a complete other. 

On Wednesday night, they'll get to experience it, the two Slovak-born boys who made history together going No. 1 and No. 2 in the NHL Draft. 

"For people back home, it will be pretty special," Nemec told me, "I think they're watching most games (at 1 a.m.), either mine or Juraj's games. It's going to be special."

2. 

When the Devils held the Dads and Mentors Trip last month, it was slightly too short notice for Nemec's dad Jan to make it over to North America from Slovakia. Simon had just been called up, not too long before, and so the timing wasn't going to work out. But this week, with games against Montreal, Dallas and Vegas (and a quick one-night trip to Columbus), Jan will get to see his son play in three games. 

"My dad is watching every game," Nemec said, "Sometimes he is rewatching, but usually he stays up. He even stayed up to watch when I played in Utica."

Nemec, you can tell, so very much appreciates the support of his dad, with Simon joking who wakes up at 1 a.m. to watch the AHL, when he could just watch a replay instead. 

I could tell, sitting with him, that this was an emotional moment for him. 

3. 

I was chatting with Nate Bastian last week about a long piece I'm working on for the Stadium Series game and sometimes when you're chatting with Nate, you can get on a long tangent together with all sorts of things coming up. 

This time, Nate took a funny shot at the Hughes brothers. Nate, Luke and Jack are all pre-game soccer players...

"Watching them play soccer, they're terrible. Like there's no chance these guys played soccer. Luke is the worst soccer player I've ever seen, it's not even close! It's so bad!"

All in good fun!

4.

I was happy to see Shane Bowers get his first shot with New Jersey this week. It had been such a grind for him to get back to the NHL. His NHL debut with Colorado was so short-lived, playing just three shifts before he got hurt and that was it. He made that NHL debut with Colorado in Nov. 2022 and he played just 1:46. 

Even though he hasn't played a ton with New Jersey, you always love a feel-good story. I know he was able to have some family join him on our most recent trip to Florida to see him play, which had to be such a special moment for the whole Bowers family. 

5.

The NHL All-Star Game is fast approaching and the Devils will have more than just their All-Star at the game. Director of Player Development, Meghan Duggan - who is a new mom of three! - will serve as the coach of Team Kloss during the PWHL Canadian Tire 3-on-3 Showcase. 

6.

There will be a lot of content coming up in the next few days surrounding Sergei Brylin as his Ring of Honor night approaches. My colleague Sam Kasan has been working on a piece for the past few weeks that I know you're all going to love. 

In the meantime, here's a Q&A with NHL's Mike Morrealle and Sarge worth reading.

7.

Talking to some players about Sarge in the lead-up to his Ring of Honor night, one thing I really get from the players I've spoken with is how much respect they have for him, especially seeing him return to the minors as a coach, after all his success with the franchise and "start over" in a sense. Those types of things do not go unnoticed and is something both Mike McLeod and Bastian mentioned to me when asked about their thoughts on Sarge.

8.

Some half-way numbers:

• Jesper Bratt has 46 points in 41 games
• Luke Hughes is Top 4 in rookie scoring with 23 points
• Eight players have 10 or more goals
• Jack Hughes has 45 points in 32 games (!!!)
• Dawson Mercer still hasn’t missed an NHL game, up to 205 straight
• Two players (J. Hughes and Toffoli) have recorded hat tricks

9.

A couple more half-way numbers:

• Seven players have five or more multi-point games. Jack Hughes leads the team with 12. Luke Hughes is the single defenseman on the list with five.
• Jesper Bratt has 20 power play points at the midway mark of the season. He had a career-high 22 all of last season.
• Since making his NHL debut, Simon Nemec is averaging 20:43 time on ice per game, which ranks third on the club.
• Luke's 11 power play points rank first in the NHL for rookies.

10.

The play of Michael McLeod this season, especially in the face of so many injuries around the team, has been outstanding. He’s taken on a huge role, moved up and down the lineup, taking every important faceoff and getting the job done.

At the halfway mark this season, McLeod leads the NHL in faceoff win percentage at a whopping 65.7 percent efficiency after 41 games.

The next best is Dallas’ Jamie Benn (of players who have taken 300+ faceoffs in 40+ games this season) at 62.9 percent.