Nico Daws played his first NHL game in over 18 months and looked great as he helped the Devils maintain pace in the Eastern Conference playoff race.
The Devils are still sitting outside of the playoff picture but they are right behind the two wild card teams, and still more than capable of climbing into a top three spot in the Metropolitan Division. In order to do that, the Devils need to beat bad teams and that’s exactly what happened tonight. The Devils laid 6-2 beat down on Ottawa and Nico Daws looked as good as either Schmid or Vanecek have all year.
Daws wasn’t exactly under siege all night, only making 25 saves, but the Senators were able to create quite a few quality chances. Almost every time, Daws stood tall and turned the Senators away. Both of the Devils other goalies, Schmid and Vanecek, have struggled mightily this season as neither one has a save percentage above 89% or a GAA below three. This mediocrity in net means that Nico Daws now has a real chance to take over as the starting goalie. Daws showed some promise in the 25 games he played as a rookie in 2021-2022 but he just wasn’t NHL ready yet. Now that Daws has a little more experience, maybe he’s ready to step up to the NHL level. We will probably get a good look a him in these next few weeks as the front office has to make decisions on what to do to improve this team at the trade deadline.
Dawson Mercer now has six points in his last four games played. Having Mercer heat up is huge for this team that needs depth scoring. Mercer is solid in the defensive zone so having him re-discover the scoring touch he showed last season makes the Devils a much deeper and much more fearsome opponent for Eastern Conference foes to contend with. As helpful as depth scoring from guys like Mercer is, the Devils have a very dangerous top six as well…
The Hughes brothers and Jesper Bratt are all really good at hockey. Feels like typing the grass is green and the sky is blue but it really is impossible to say enough about how incredible these guys, specifically Jack and Bratt. Bratt had four points tonight while Jack and Luke each had three points. Bratt and Jack are now both above 40 points on the season and continue to prove that their 8 year contracts were absolute steals.
In the very second that I am typing this, the Devils occupy the second wild card spot in the East and sit just two points out of third in the Metro. This Devils season is far from over. I recognize that there are some real flaws in the defensive zone play and huge question marks between the pipes. However, despite that, this team is good enough to make the playoffs, is very much in contention to make the playoffs, and they should make the playoffs. There is still a lot of hockey left to play though and simply making the playoffs is not the goal anymore. Tom Fitzgerald needs to take a hard look at this franchise and do everything he can to build a cup contender in the garden state. He has young stars in their prime and needs to capitalize on it.
The Morning Skate 