Depth of confrontation
With the Devils signing center Luke Glendening, it has a trickle-down effect in the faceoff circle, especially for the captain.
Last year, Nico Hischier took on most of the team's confrontation tasks, especially key defensive areas and PK draws. But having a player like Glendening — a right-handed shooter with a career 57 percent shooting percentage — gives the Devils another option.
Not only will this make the team's usage more diverse and distributed, but it will alleviate some of the need for Hischier.
“Hopefully we'll get newer versions of Nico more consistently,” Keefe said. “He doesn’t have to take as much contact, especially when he’s tired.
“We want to put Glendinning in that role really well because we think he can do the job, but we want Nico’s impact to be reciprocated.”
Schishchier appreciates that help and the team's ability to move the center to the right or left faceoff spot.
“When you have lefties and righties at certain spots of scrimmage, you have an advantage,” Hiskill said. “You can change the direction of things and that helps the whole team and it helps me.”