Introduction

I remember the day like it was yesterday: I was a senior in high school and a few days before the lockout-shortened 2012-2013 NHL season began I got the notification on my phone that Bryce Salvador was named the next captain in New Jersey Devils’ franchise history. Salvador, at the time, was coming off a strong performance in the 2012 playoffs that lead to the Stanley Cup final. During that run, Salvador also had a great locker room presence according to the team.

Fast forward eight years, and Salvador has retired from the NHL and transitioned to a broadcasting role with MSG Networks for the New Jersey Devils. Instead of guarding the blue-line, you can find him in studio with Erika Wachter. Bryce was nice enough to lend us some time for an interview regarding this crazy new season, and what to expect from a reinvigorated New Jersey Devils team.

Before We Start

We all want to extend a very special thank you to Bryce Salvador. Bryce was incredibly generous with his time, spending his Monday night explaining in-depth every question we asked him.

For timing sake, please note, this interview was done this past Monday night. The Devils had their first two games completed for us to discuss, and were yet to take part in Tuesday night’s game against the New York Rangers. So, this interview did not include any discussions about that game.

What’s Different?

The first, and obvious question is what has changed for Bryce in this crazy season, one unlike we’ve never seen. Of course, there are obvious differences such as no fans. Games are still happening which means MSG is still broadcasting. Bryce explains that the biggest difference is not being in between the benches, where he’s used to watching the action:

“For me, personally, it’s not being between the benches. I think not having access down there has been different, and it’s significant. You don’t have the same energy, the same interactions with the guys and the refs and really being involved in the game per say. It’s the closest I get to be without being in the game.”

Bryce added he does enjoy the opportunity to get a better view of the entire ice from his new broadcasting location. The MSG Networks broadcast team has to be COVID-19 tested before every home game. Away games are broadcast, not at the away arena or even Prudential Center, but instead at the MSG Networks studios in New York. As we saw with Tuesday’s broadcast. Those studios are right across the street from Madison Square Garden. Bryce still has an optimistic outlook on the setup:

“We’ll be very fortunate. We’ll have some crew, I’ll be there with Erika. Cangi and Dano will be in a different room…It’ll be fun. We get to televise games and be a part of it and hockey’s back.”

Why Wasn’t the Power Play Working?

The Devils finally scored a power-play goal during Tuesday’s game. Before that, they hadn’t scored on the man-advantage in the young season. Many Devils fans had high hopes for the power play, especially with NHL Hall of Famer Mark Reechi joining the team as the assistant coach.

When I asked Bryce why the power play wasn’t working, he pointed to two major factors. First, there was the absence of Nico Hischier:

“It really comes down to chemistry. Without Nico in the lineup you have different personnel right away. You really haven’t had enough reps to understand the tendencies of all the guys to get instinctual reads. Yeah, we got Jack Hughes on the half wall but when he makes a certain move is he passing or shooting? And PK if he’s up at the top of being a “one” up there is he reading what Jack’s gonna do?”

Bryce didn’t hold back praise for what Nico Hischier brings to the man-advantage:

“He’s a true dual threat player. What I mean by that is a goalie has to respect his shot but he also knows that he can pass it. So Jesper Bratt can freeze a goalie on the half wall. “

Blame The Lack Of a Preseason?

Then there was the lack of preparation, namely preseason games, in this year’s abbreviated training camps:

“Normally you have four, five, six exhibition games where whatever they might have decided…that’s where you really start to get the chemistry to work out all the kinks going for all your systems, penalty kill as well…when do you don’t have those exhibition games to tweak it you work on it a lot in practice and as personal experience, I killed (penalties), that’s what my job was and in practice and even when we were working on special teams you’re not going 100% you know what their trying to do. It’s very difficult to practice because you know what they’re going to do. You get passive. That’s why you really need those games with true NHL opposition.”

Should PK Subban Shoot More?

PK Subban lead the team in ice time for the first two games of the season. In the first matchup against Boston, Subban had over 30-minutes of ice time. With all that ice time, Subban only had four shots in the season’s first two games. Subban’s best asset is his slap shot, so should he be utilizing it more?

Bryce weighed in on that very question: “I’d like to see him shoot the puck more, but you don’t really know what their rules are and what their triggers are on the power play. It appears to me that they’re using their half walls. When you have Gusev and Hughes on the flanks you’re going to take away PK because he’s the most threat when you’re taking a shot. You don’t want him pinching the puck you want him to give it to Jack on the half wall.”

Jack Hughes in the Shoot Out?

Remember how I said we did this interview on Monday? That’s important, because if we held this after Jack Hughes two-goal and three-point night against the Rangers, I might not have asked this question. Hughes kind of answered this question for me.

But back on Monday night, I was still a little confused why Lindy Ruff chose Jack Hughes as his second shooter in the shoot-out loss against the Boston Bruins. Hughes was known more as a passer and playmaker instead of a shooter. Even more confusing, Hughes was put in instead of a more likely candidate such as Nikita Gusev.

The choice might have been a surprise to me, but it was not a surprise to Bryce:

“No not at all because I think he’s had a lot of success scoring scores and on the shootout, so by no means was I surprised to see him there. The reason I see him more of a passer instead of a shooter is that he’s the driver. He has the puck. He had the most exits out of the defensive zone of all players, he has the puck entering the offensive zone. He’s the guy moving the puck.”

Bryce went on to give Hughes props for stepping in the place of the injured Nico Hischier:

“He’s assuming the responsibility with Hischier out of the lineup.”

On the Devil’s Goaltending:

Just a few hours before I got to talk to Bryce, the news broke that the Devils claimed Aaron Dell off waivers. After the less than spectacular timing of Corey Crawford’s retirement, New Jersey needed a true and solid back-up. Bryce was not only optimistic about Dell, but the affect that his presence will have on the team:

“You know what you’re getting with Dell. That helps out with a lot of guys in the locker room because you think okay we got a guy here whose played a lot of games as a number two, he’s been in the league.”

The Devil’s undisputed number one is still Mackenzie Blackwood. Mackenzie Blackwood is the main, if not only reason, the Devils earned points in every one of their first three games. Blackwood is still only in his second full season. Will the Devils lacking in the backup department, what would Mackenzie Blackwood’s workload look like, especially in the season’s first month?

“There’s nine games and I can see him playing seven games, except the back-to-back against Buffalo. As long as we’re not going into shootouts and overtime every single game I can see them riding him pretty strong in January.”

Lindy Ruff’s System and What it Needs to be Successful:

If you don’t follow Bryce Salvador on Twitter, give him a follow.

Throughout his training camp, Salvador used the social media network to post in-depth explanations and graphs detailing head coach Lindy Ruff’s new system. Ruff’s new system is built around gaining and maintain puck possession while utilizing a four-man attack. One of the main goals of the new system? Get the Devils out of their defensive zone as quickly as possible:

“Let’s take a look at why the Devils changed their current system and why they felt the need. Everyone knows they’re just spending too much time in the defensive zone, guys are just chasing the opposition of the team from one corner to another corner. Because there was one ‘D’ and generally a centerman trying to aim the play and the other defenseman was standing in front of the net.”

Bryce continued: “But this year you bring in Kulikov, you bring in Murray, you bring in bigger veteran defenseman that can end plays. They can go in, and they can take the body, and they can dislodge big forwards from the puck. Now what ends up happening is, if you have P.K. go into the corner first, you have Murray all ready with the mindset that he is allowed to go and they’re going to try to smother the first two forwards. They’re really going to try to pin them. They don’t want them gaining behind the net. They don’t want cycles happening.”

Pinching The Puck:

Part of Ruff’s system includes using two players to pinch the puck up against the boards in the corners to prevent any play from forming. Don’t just stop the play, but gain possession of the puck and skate out of the zone. Bryce explained this on Twitter, as well as explaining it in a little more detail to me:

“If you see two ‘D’ go into the corner, the strong-side winger is now coming down the wall, even below the hash marks so you can put pressure. Now, the third guy is the strong-side wing at times, and the weak-side winger is the one protecting the net, and the center is around the face-off dot — the soft area — in the open ice where he pouncing on loose pucks.”

Even before his impressive performance against the Rangers, Bryce saw how the new system was benefitting Jack Hughes:

“Part of the reason Jack is leading forwards in offensive zone transitions and defensive zone exits is because he’s not in the corner anymore trying to hold guys down. He’s in the ‘soft area’ as they call it, trying to get the pass and he’s skating it out now.”

Forwards Having Defensive Responsibilities:

This goes hand in hand with forwards having more defensive responsibility in Ruff’s new system:

“Your really having the wingers needing to understand the center’s position, the most dangerous ice at that particular moment, the most dangerous player at that particular moment. There’s a lot more onus and responsibility out on the forwards. Everyone has to be mentally engaged. There’s no coming back into the zone and turning your brain off for a split those seconds. Those wingers are thinking ‘I have legitimate responsibilities.’

Bryce continued: “Goals get scored because of the breakdowns. It’s because of that split-second where you think where do I need to be. It’s that split-second that makes a difference. It’s why that pass gets by you or why that guy gets a stick on you is because you hesitated instead of instinctually reacting. That’s why you hear Coach Ruff saying, ‘I don’t want my players thinking, I want my players playing. I want my players reacting.'”

The Second Period

For some reason, the second period of hockey games doesn’t get the respect it deserves. The game’s middle frame is usually the one where fans are more likely to head to the concession stands to grab food or a beer. Then again, that might have something to do with the whole beer sales stopping after the second intermission. But, that’s a different argument for a different time.

The more we discussed Ruff’s new system, the more we talked about how important it is to get out of the defensive zone quickly. That’s something that Bryce knows all too well after a career as a stay-at-home defenseman.

Bryce went on to explain the difficulties of executing a line change when you are pressured in our own defensive zone. Surprisingly, that has an interesting correlation to game action during the second period:

“For me, at the Rock, in the second period, I’m the left ‘D,’ I always played left, so I had a long change. If I got stuck out there for a 1:00 or 1:10 shift because we couldn’t get out of our zone, it might take me four shifts just to recover…That’s why the second period generally has the most goals scored. Because it is that with the kind of change we’re defending the side where the other team’s bench is. So, if you can get a team hemmed in, it’s very easy for you to change your players, so it’s a compound effect. So, you might be able to change all your forwards without really relieving any pressure. That’s how you can get trapped in your own zone in the second period. Because of where the benches are placed. “

Oh Captain, My Captain:

Did you like that Robin Williams reference there? If you didn’t, go watch “Dead Poet’s Society.” Well, watch it when the Devils have an off day.

One of Bryce Salvador’s lasting legacy is the fact he served as the team’s captain. With the team currently captain-less, the subject of who should be the next captain came up. Before we discussed potential candidate, I wanted to ask the captain, turned broadcaster, what wearing that “C” mean’t to him:

“It was an extreme honor. It was really a humbling moment for me personally, and it’s just a sense of accomplishment. It’s not something I never thought of happening to me, but it’s something you always dream about. Every kid dreams of becoming a captain of an NHL team and it was surreal for the longest time. Especially, in this organization, especially with the former captains and it’s just something I’ll cherish my whole life. It’s something I use as examples for younger kids to impress upon them that you don’t always have to be known as that goal-scorer. There are instances, like myself, where given the right situation, and the right time in your career, and your body of work you can be viewed as a leader. “

It a story that Bryce loves to tell young kids when given the chance. There’s a clip on Facebook of a retired Bryce signing autographs for a line of excited school children. That, I explained to him, is what comes to mind whenever I think of Bryce Salvador:

“When you talk to kids you can tell them: ‘Hey you can make it, you can become a leader.’ So, it’s nice to be able to point back to it.”

Who Should Have It Next?

As for who the next captain should be, the prospects for the next captains are impressive. Bryce explains that Nico Hischier is an almost obvious choice, but he gets a lot of question on if Jack Hughes will follow in his footsteps:

“I run into people all the time that are like “Jack Jack Jack!” And I’m like, look, he just came off a season, on his standards, that wasn’t very good. That’s really in my opinion, his first adversity and then you’re just going to throw the captaincy on him when he doesn’t even know how this seasons going to go?”

Even if Nico or Jack are good choices, Bryce explains that Kyle Palmieri might be the better choice. That of course is if Palmieri re-signs.

There has been a trend in the NHL over the past decade or so of naming your new, generational talent as captain as quickly as you can. We saw this with Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins, Gabriel Landeskog with the Colorado Avalanche, and Connor McDavid with the Edmonton Oilers.

Bryce’s message; when it comes to naming the franchise’s new captain, there’s no need to rush:

“You have to be really careful not to react too emotionally, real quick. Yes, everyone wants a captain. Everyone would love it to be Hischier or Hughes, to get these kids going. But, I think there’s more damage that could be done than good.”

What’s Next For Bryce And The MSG Broadcast Team?

Catch all the Devils games this season on MSG Networks. Tonight’s game against the New York Islanders will air on MSG+2 at 7:00 PM ET.