Rookie defenseman Seamus Casey was amazing in today’s 3-0 win by the New Jersey Devils over the Utah Hockey Club. It was a great game in general by the Devils, as discussed in this recap.
One of the common issues with a young hockey player, especially in the NHL, is figuring out the game. The pace. The reads. The talent. The role. And more. It can be a struggle for some, especially if they just went into professional hockey for the first time or if they are asked to play absent other options. But the hope is that they will put it all together. Starting with just a game. (Inconsistency is another issue but it implies figuring it out at some point.)
On October 14, 2024, it all seemingly came together for defenseman Seamus Casey. Casey was arguably one of the best players on the ice at The Rock this afternoon. He was essential in the New Jersey Devils defeating the Utah Hockey Club, 3-0. All in his fifth game of his NHL career. Which is also his first time in pro hockey since signing a contract after two seasons with the University of Michigan.
Casey did not score his first or even his second NHL goal ever. He did open the scoring with, what else, a bar-down banger of a top-shelf shot. Early in the second period, just as a 4-on-4 situation ended, Nico Hischier took a hard shot on Karel Vejmelka. Vejmelka kicked out the rebound and it seemed like an easy pathway for a zone exit for Utah’s Logan Cooley. Casey caught up to him, swept the puck away, and managed to get it across to Hischier before reaching the blueline. As Casey recovered, re-entered the zone, and turned forward, he had acres of space down the left side. Hischier fed him, Casey took the puck just inside the slot, and rifled one past Vejmelka. Technically a power play goal as Dougie Hamilton came out of the box, but another brilliant shot from the rookie. Given that the game would be 3-0, that was clearly the game winner. It also started an afternoon of frustration for Utah.
Casey would strike again later. After the Erik Haula line created a chance in close, Stefan Noesen won a puck in the corner away from Matias Maccelli. Casey recovered the puck and went to his left. Liam O’Brien gave chase, Casey stopped, turned, and got a step on him off the turn. All while Noesen headed to the net. He fired a shot from the center point. I thought, live, it got through, but it actually hit off Ian Cole. The puck dropped for Noesen, and he curled the puck around Vejmelka to make it 2-0 for New Jersey. An assist for the rookie.
What really made him stand out to me was not just the points, but his play as a whole. Shortly after Noesen’s goal, the Devils had a rush play up ice by the Hischier line. Tomas Tatar lost the puck and Utah countered. Clayton Keller, one of Utah’s best players and someone who can do a lot of damage with the puck, rushed up. Keep in mind that Utah went into this game with three straight wins and scoring at least five goals in each of those wins. Casey dropped back, directed Simon Nemec to pick up another Utah player, and focused on Keller. He maintained such a good gap that Keller had to stop, survey, and ultimately pass back to a trailing Utah just entering the zone. The delay was more than enough for the Devils to recover. And the result of Keller’s pass really went nowhere. It was the kind of play that does not show up at all on scoresheets or highlight reels but would absolutely be pointed out in a film session.
Further, the defensive effort from Casey and Nemec was more than just that one play I remembered. They were easily better than their first three awful games. The game did not have as much 5-on-5 play as you would expect in most games thanks to Utah. Yet, the on-ice numbers when Casey took a shift today in 5-on-5 were great per Natural Stat Trick. In 11:30 of ice time, the Devils out-attempted Utah 11-7, out-shot them 4-3, out-chanced them 6-1, and out-high danger chanced them 3-0. The Devils owned the match-up when Casey faced off against Kevin Stenlund, O’Brien, and Maccelli. Those three forwards had zero shots on net when Casey was out there and just two shooting attempts. The Devils had three shots, 10 attempts, and the Noesen goal.
Tonight’s (today’s?) attending media named Jake Allen the first star of the game as he made a 20-save shutout for the win. Allen did do well. And with all of the power play time, The Big Deal Jack Hughes was cooking – and served up a PPG to Hischier. The Devils enjoyed great games from Hischier’s line, Curtis Lazar’s line, Johnathan Kovacevic and Jonas Siegenthaler, and the penalty kill units. For me, the best player among them all was the 20-year old rookie defenseman Seamus Casey. He may not do this tomorrow. Or in a few games. But on October 14, 2024, Seamus Casey got it. And it was a major reason why the Devils won decisively today.
The Game Stats: The NHL.com Game Summary / The NHL.com Event Summary / The NHL.com Play by Play Log / The NHL.com Shot Summary / The Natural Stat Trick Game Stats
The Game Highlights: From the Devils’ official website, here is today’s highlight video.
Seriously: Seamus Casey resembled Brian Rafalski with a more lethal shot today. Will this last? Probably not. He is just 20 years old and this is just his fifth game in the NHL. Maintaining this performance would be awesome and very unlikely. For the inevitable “What do you do when Brett Pesce comes back” takes, I have a suggestion. Demote Kurtis MacDermid to have room on the active roster for Pesce instead of demoting Casey straight away. Sheldon Keefe could even dress seven defenseman to allow Pesce to slowly get into the swing of things and still give Casey chances to play. Then decisions can be made on form. The real crunch is going to come when Luke Hughes is ready to return, which is still multiple weeks away.
For Utah, Frustration was the Word: The first period of this game was fairly inconsequential. Shots were 6-5 and both teams did not have much of a chance to score. Dougie Hamilton had an awesome look down the middle but Juuso Valimaki got a touch on his stick blade to help send the shot go wide. There were some tempers flaring up and it turned out to be one of the major reasons of Utah’s undoing this afternoon. Near the end of the first period, Dougie Hamilton took down Logan Cooley. He received two for roughing after the large scrum that ensued. But Mikhail Sergachev tripped up Nico Hischier soon after, thereby killing Utah’s late power play. The resulting 4-on-4 ended with Hischier setting up Casey. Casey scored just after Hamilton left the box.
The discipline continued to get worse for Utah. Shortly after that goal, Ian Cole was caught high-sticking Hischier. While the Devils’ power play did not convert, the primary power play unit would generate more zone time. As the second period wore on, Utah just struggled to get much of anything on Jake Allen. Even a power play from Tatar holding Sergachev yielded nothing but just good plays from the Devils’ penalty kill. Highlighted by Nathan Bastian just straight up taking a puck away and rushing it up ice for a chip shot. Every shift would see Utah just not struggle to put plays together. When it did the shot was blocked, or the pass was off the mark or, in one case, a stick blew up. Even if the Devils committed a defensive zone turnover, Utah failed to take advantage. The issues continued with a too many men on the ice call and a late roughing call on Lawson Crouse – ending one of the few times Utah had possession in New Jersey’s end of the rink. A total penalty out of frustration from Utah going from 16 goals in three games to not even getting 15 shots in two periods on Jake Allen. Even if the Devils’ power play did not convert, their main unit was still forcing them to play a minute plus in their own end. More than enough to cool down a hot Utah squad.
Utah eventually paid the price for these calls. A Hischier shot created a rebound down the middle that caused the Devils to crash the net. The puck went past the mass of players but Juuso Valimaki hooked Tatar in the face. This time, the power play converted. The Big Deal found Nico Hischier in the middle for a one-timer. The goal all but ended the game at that point.
And just to put a finer point on it, Utah pulled Vejmelka with over 4 minutes left. True to how irritating the day was for them, they went offside 20 seconds with the extra skater. They did get to 20 shots on net – and then they had to stop because Josh Doan hooked Kovacevic behind the net. It was One of Those Days for Utah, all told, Utah took seven penalties and handed 11:21 of power play ice time to the Devils. And it definitely did not help that the Devils took four calls lasting 6:20 and allowed just two shots on net.
Power Play Notes: New Jersey’s power play was definitely better than Utah’s today. For all of the lamenting of The Big Deal having the puck and so much of the power play rotating around and why do they just not shoot it, the Devils put 16 shots on net across their seven power plays. While Casey’s was an overrun, 15 shots over six standard power plays is still really good. Especially without giving up big shorthanded breakaways or rush plays to Utah. Yes, there were moments where the passing was not quite there. Yes, I wish there was some more selfishness at times. And the primary power play seemed to benefit with Stefan Noesen out there as a net front presence in place of Timo Meier. But today’s power play performance was world’s better than the truly awful and costly ones we have seen in past seasons. If only because everyone kept moving. There were no players locked into spaces that made it easier for opposing penalty kills.
One of the challenges the Devils overcame today was Utah’s collapsing defense. The first period saw just five shots get to Vejmelka because the Devils seemed content to try to fire through the bodies and/or into traffic. Vejmelka is a talented goaltender and I can understand wanting to make it uncomfortable for him. The problem is that it is a double-edged sword. The goalie may not see the shot but the shot may not even get to the goalie at all due to the same traffic. But all of those power plays really opened up the offense. In 5-on-5, the Devils took 36 attempts and 15 of them got on net with 16 of those attempts getting blocked. The man advantages combined for 24 attempts and 16 shots. Another reason why I think they had a better day than it may have felt at times.
The Penalty Kill Remains Awesome: Conversely, Utah’s power play combined for five shooting attempts, two shots, and and big fat nothing. Brenden Dillon, Kovacevic, Siegenthaler, Nemec, Jesper Bratt, Haula, Dawson Mercer, Hischier, Lazar, Bastian, and Noesen all did very well. Yes, Keefe used that many penalty killers as all of them played at least one minute of shorthanded ice time.
Did Any Devil Do Poorly?: Haula could have been better in my view. But this feels like nitpicking in a game where even Bastian, Palat, and Lazar were handling business well. A lot of Devils had good to great games today. Even Allen mentioned after the game that it was an easy 20-save performance.
Thank You for Rolling Lines: While special teams meant a lot of ice time for the Devils’ top players, I did notice Keefe rolling all of his lines in the third period. Which is a good thing. The Devils play a fresh Carolina tomorrow. There was no need to shorten the bench with the lead. It helped that the fourth line had a good game in the run of play along with Casey-Nemec being legitimately good today.
One Last Thing: The crowd was surprisingly large to me. The game is listed as a sell out in the Game and Event Summaries. Perhaps sold out but The Rock was mostly filled. Loads of families with kids. I know I complained about the Devils having a 1 PM game on Columbus Day, but clearly I was wrong. The People Who Matter showed up in droves for this one. It made for a great atmosphere. Which elevated the goals by the Devils, the plays made, and Allen’s shutout victory.
Your Take: The Devils won decisively in cooling off a hot Utah team. You know what I thought of the game, especially who I thought was the best today (Casey). Now I want to know what you think. Who stood out for you? What did the Devils do well? What could they have done better? What did you make of Utah’s performance? Will the Devils have enough left for Carolina tomorrow? Please leave your answers and other thoughts about the win in the comments.
Thanks to Ian for the game preview today. Thanks to everyone who commented in the Gamethread and/or followed along with @AAtJerseyBlog on X. Thank you for reading.