Marking Milestones | 10 TAKEAWAYS

The New Jersey Devils will be well represented at the upcoming 4 Nations tournament, held in both Montreal and Boston between Feb. 12 and 20. Jesper Bratt and Jacob Markstrom (Sweden), Erik Haula (Finland), and Jack Hughes (USA) will all be on their ice for the respective nations, while two more people will be there, off the ice, representing New Jersey as well. Tom Fitzgerald is an assistant general manager of the U.S. squad, while Chris 'Frosty' Scoppetto, the Devils head equipment manager, will serve on the U.S. equipment staff.

It's an exciting time with the return of some best-on-best hockey and with Devils representation, it will be even more exciting to be around.

The chirping, of course, is well underway - at least for a day.

“That’s all I got on him,” Haula laughed in regard to saying he'll take a couple of shots at Bratt. “I have to keep my feet moving and try to keep up with him. I probably have more to worry about than he does.”

“I guess I’ll do it my way, maybe I’ll try to dangle him,” Bratt chimed in about retaliation. “We’ll get some good battles out there. It’ll be exciting.”

Hughes and Markstrom refused to share what the book is on A) stopping a Jack shot and B) how to beat Markstrom.

That's because, until they reach that Feb. 12 date, the focus is solely on the New Jersey Devils and neither Hughes nor Markstrom wanted to reveal any secrets for their NHL competition coming up.

And the Devils have plenty of it, starting with Friday night against the Seattle Kraken when two players will hit milestones: Jesper Bratt will play his 500th NHL game and Dougie Hamilton will play his 800th.

1.

It has been such a pleasure over the years watching Jesper Bratt flourish into the star he has become. My first year with the club coincided with his and Nico Hischier's first year, so I really do have the privilege of saying I've watched it all happen right in front of me. I had the chance to catch up with Jesper on Tuesday about the upcoming milestone, one for which he is very proud.

But I think what really makes him proud is seeing what the team has grown into from Game 1 to Game 500. It's just he and Nico that remain from Game 1 and their shared experience through it all can only be fully understood by one another.

Here's what Bratt told me about his friend Nico:

“For me, having Nico here and been through this together, we’ve been through everything together," he said. "From ups and downs, it’s really special to me to have him, and just knowing that we’ve both been a part of this journey for so long… now turning this around into a successful team that plays good hockey… it’s a lot of fun and I know that, and he thinks the same way, that our best years are ahead of us."

2.

Don’t look now, but the captain’s offensive output this season has him climbing up the franchise leaderboard at a furious pace.

Coupled with his hat trick last week and his goals against Detroit and Washington, he now sits tied for 12th in the franchise's all-time goals scored list with Randy McKay with 151. It won’t be long before he works his way into the Top 10. Just one more goal will tie him for 11th with Brian Gionta; two more, and he’s in the Top 10, tied with Wilf Paiement (KCS, CLR). The cream of the crop is a while off; that mark is held by Patrik Elias with 408 goals.

3.

One man’s gain is another man’s loss… although it won’t stay that way!

On Saturday night against the Capitals, Brett Pesce had originally reached the 200-point mark of his career, credited with two assists against Washington. But upon further review, as the game wound down and the NHL reviewed the stats, away went Pesce’s first assist on Nico Hischier’s opening goal.

But added, instead, was an assist to Timo Meier… and there it was, his 400th career point.

4.

In early November, when we arrived in Vancouver, Dougie Hamilton went out for a casual walk, stretching his legs after a lengthy flight across the continent. With his 6-foot-6 frame, it's not easy for Dougie to hide in plain sight, especially in Canada, even if he's walking by you at a fast pace.

That's exactly what happened when musician Kevin Castro bumped into Hamilton by the water in Vancouver. Check out the hilarious interaction in Castro's Instagram story, as he's attempting to find contestants with an electric piano.

The interaction happens 40 seconds into the video. It's classic Dougie, too!

"That guy looks like Dougie Hamilton........"

5.

There are still some residual Hockey Mom stories I’ve got in my back pocket. They were quite the chatty bunch! Paul Cotter’s mom in particular, was an absolute gem.

Lisa shared this story about the early beginnings of Paul playing hockey that I got a kick out of. It goes to show that the journey to the NHL is a full family-learning experience.

“When he first started, I didn’t know you had to sharpen skates. He was playing on butter knives for like the first, I don’t even know. I’m like, ‘Gosh, he really stinks out there,’ and then someone told me, ‘Mrs. Cotter, you need to sharpen those skates.’ I was clueless about the whole thing!”

6.

Nathan Légaré had quite an impactful NHL debut. He was noticeable in all the right ways when the Devils and Rangers met at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.

Légaré, 23, made his way on Sunday to New Jersey but still wasn't certain that he'd be making his NHL debut the next night in New York. It's the story you often hear from call-ups; slightly unsure if they'll play or not, they make their way to the rink in the morning and turn the corner into the locker room to see the lineup posted on the board.

“I was waiting to see if I was in the lineup,” Légaré explained. “(I got) the news, I texted them, and they’re on their way … (My dad) was working and he told his boss that he might skip the day today so it was pretty funny.”

Luckily for Légaré, being from Québec, his family was able to hop in their car on Friday morning and make their way down to New York and Madison Square Garden to see their son, brother and friend make his NHL debut. A big moment for the whole family.

Félicitations, as they say in French!

7.

Luke Hughes' 100th NHL game came against the St. Louis Blues last week.

Luke finally got summoned to the center of the stretching circle on Thursday, a day after his 100th game, to lead the team post-practice stretch. There wasn't the proper practice or pre-game skate for him to get his center circle in prior to the game, so the guys made sure to acknowledge it afterward!

Légaré got his turn on Tuesday after practice; he centered the circle and received ample stick taps.

8.

The below video was the most fun I've had putting together a Devils Now this season. The pre-game soccer match is as feisty as it comes for this team. It's a loud and boisterous affair. And much like the 4 Nations banter, the pre-game soccer creates a whole new level of chirping of its own.

This time, it was Paul Cotter who took the hits. Check out the video for the full scoop on the pre-game routine.

(Not included in the video, Tatar surmises that perhaps Erik Haula is one of the players who thinks he's better at two-touch than he actually is. I can attest that the battles between those two get incredibly loud, so there just might be some underlying gamesmanship going on with Tatar's comments!)

9.

Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin has a nemesis... and his name is Jack Hughes.

Sure, the Devils play against him a lot, but that doesn't make Hughes' stats against Shesterkin any less impressive. Hughes tops the list of players league-wide to score against Shesterkin. He's scored nine against Shesterkin to top the league.

10.

And well... he almost had his tenth! If only Jack weren't trying to embarrass him... I'm kidding!

There was no way Jack was trying to embarrass Shesterkin in any way on his breakaway, as was suggested by MSG's Steve Valiquette, who called it "Instagram hockey." I'd be shocked if that even had time to enter his head in that moment where he's flying up the ice with the puck. What Jack was trying to do was his job - score goals. And because he's incredibly gifted, he can score goals in the Forsberg-esque way. He didn't this time, no. But with his skill and talent, he very well could have.

When goalies make flashy glove saves and they do a windmill-esque motion above their heads, is that trying to embarrass the shooter? No way, it's just a goaltender making an awesome save.

Jack Hughes tried a great move, but it didn't work this one time, so be it.

Next time, it might, and even then, all that's on these guys' minds is scoring those goals to earn the two points.

They care about winning, and you've got to score goals - no matter which way you do - to accomplish that.

And credit to the Devils' social media team for having some fun with the situation.