“Remember the feeling right now and work toward turning that ship around again.”
Those were some of the parting words that captain Nico Hischier left the locker room with heading into the off-season. It's what he hopes fuels his team through the summer and into next season as they turn the page on a season that left them on the outside looking in.
The past two days have been a bit of a whirlwind, hearing from each player, general manager Tom Fitzgerald and interim head coach Travis Green. There's a lot to go through and in this week's 10 Takeaways, the final of the 2023-24 Devils season, as we try to unpack the last two days.
1.
It was a very, very long day on Wednesday as players came and went, packing up their gear for the summer, and getting ready to head to their respective off-season homes. And with that comes player exit meeting, where coaches and GM sit down with each individual player to outline expectations, gather thoughts and review, among other things.
While each discussion remains private between GM/Coach and player, there was an overarching theme to some of the discussions that happened behind closed doors. At Tom Fitzgerald's end-of-season press conference, I asked him what some of those themes were and how he approached them with his team:
"It's nice to hear some thoughts, Im very curious on where their mindset was this year, where it’s at now and where it needs to go. I asked a lot of questions, different questions for different people (…) but really, I just wanted to see truly and sincerely how dissapointing this season is for everybody in this organization, starting with me. We don’t want this to happen again. With tha tbeing said, there’s a lot of things that have to happen. We do have a lot of talent on this team, an extraordinary amount of talent. We are a fast team when we think and play quick, but the maturity of this team has to continue to grow and that’s everyone. It’s challenging themselves, it’s taking the next step in leadership, I’m not just talking about the guys who wear letters, but there’s another level that we have to get to and I’m not just talking about on-ice. I’m talking about off-ice, leading the way off the ice. Doing things in the weight room is as important as things you do on the ice, whether it’s D drills, faceoffs, wall play for wingers, it’s all encompasing and we’ve got to get there. We’ve got to value those things to make the next step.”
2.
We heard from Dougie Hamilton for the first time in months on break-up day. It was good to see him in good health, although disappointed that the runway ran out to be able to join his teammates on the ice. Hamilton has been skating for the last little while and had hoped to rejoin the team if the playoffs were still on the horizon. The good news is that Dougie was that close to returning, which means less a summer of continuing to rehab and more a regular summer of getting ready for next season.
Hamilton was limited to just 20 games this year, an eye-opening experience.
“I think very tough, physically, mentally, everything,” Hamilton said of his recovery process. “It’s hard not being out there with the guys, win and lose, and going through it with them. Definitely makes you realize you can’t take things for granted and makes you appreciate stuff, learn from it, and have more of a realization and appreciation of everything that we have. For me, just now trying to get healthy and be the best player I can be come September.”