Nico’s Stellar Season Leads NJ Devils’ Strong Start

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00:00They were the top conversation they being the New Jersey Devils during the

00:06offseason because they were the offseason winners. You brought in

00:09contributors right away that have made an impact but we got to talk about your

00:12captain. So let's get to it. Nico Heuser's performance and leadership this season.

00:1667 points in 71 games was last year and he had to play a lot more defense. Four

00:21game winning goals, clutches possible but his shot attempts in there on and

00:25therefore his numbers just speak for itself. What have you seen out of Nico

00:28so far this season? You know it's really funny because early in the year during

00:32training camp I asked head coach Sheldon Keith if there was anything that really

00:36jumped out at him in those initial conversations with Nico that made him

00:39say this is why this kid is the captain of this team and he talked about poise

00:43and confidence but he also said there was an accountability and that Nico

00:47wasn't happy with his season last year and he took it personal to how the team

00:51performed and you just see that Nico has been shot out of a cannon to start this

00:54season in addition to his offense which is extremely impressive when you think

00:58about how Keith said at one point he would have to kind of forgo offense to

01:03focus on his defensive responsibilities he's also taken 300 324 face-offs he's

01:09177 which lead the league he's making the hits to you know make the plays and

01:14he's just doing everything that you really need out of the captain to start

01:17this season. Absolutely probably one of the best two-way players in the league

01:20right now in a strong center at that. Now we talked about them winning the

01:24offseason with some of these new additions but two of those new additions

01:27being Stephan Nason as well as Paul Cotter when it comes to Paul Cotter

01:31though he's been one of my favorites he went from a fourth line guy to a

01:33potential second and third line guy with the Devils also leading in hits with 35

01:38but most importantly second with goals with six goals what have you seen out of

01:41the new guys so far? Paul Cotter is everything this team was looking for and I know that the trade was

01:46you know criticized at the time but he has come in and I recently spoke to him

01:51and he basically said that he talks about the term being too good to be

01:55ignored and that's kind of helped him climb the ladder which he's done his

01:58entire career in addition to the physical play he just seems to make the

02:02players around him better and with the loss of Curtis Lazar who's gonna be out

02:06indefinitely after undergoing a knee procedure Cotter just became that much

02:10more important to this team. Absolutely and speaking of importance you can't win

02:14without good goal-tenning and Mark Strum's coming in five wins and nine

02:17starts 903 save percentage good man rage saves and also really good at

02:21tracking the puck through the middle what is he meant to this team already so

02:24far? He's meant everything because I think for so long fans have seen so many

02:29struggles in the crease and I said this from the beginning the Devils don't need

02:33an outstanding goaltender they need a goaltender that's above average and

02:37that's what Jacob Mark Strum has been producing and he's been doing so well

02:41and maybe he's not getting the love that he needs like he deserves right now but

02:45fans are gonna see quickly that he is very much deserving of all the praise

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