Olympic Hockey and The New Jersey Devils

Overtime Heroics Editorial

641 days ago

With the Winter Olympics being held in Beijing, China the NHLPA and NHL have agreed to have NHL players back to playing in the Olympics in 2022. This is a major win for not only both the players association, and the NHL front office, and teams will theoretically benefit from the deal. It is gonna be huge for the sport of ice hockey to grow especially in one of the largest populated countries in the world. The New Jersey Devils themselves are very familiar with China after hosting a few Lunar New Year home games the past few seasons. So this connection of the Devils and the probability of allowing some of their players to participate will help grow the fan base.

Olympic Hockey

2022 Olympic Hockey and the New Jersey Devils

Future New Jersey Devils center, Jack Hughes has himself a 4 goal game against Slovakia.

These kinds of friendly rivalries could help benefit the people in China who are watching some very exciting hockey that gets them becoming long-time Devils fans. Yes, the Devils may be a medium-sized market but there’s a good size of fans across North America, and Europe. However, growing the skate-hold in China just by one percent of its population would make the fan base a big market of new fans.

If the Devils end up in a contention spot for the wild card or a regular playoff spot, more new fans could be drawn to the team and hopefully fall in love with the product of what General Manager, Tom Fitzgerald has been building since his time as interim GM. This kind of potential success during the era of Turner Sports, and ESPN (Disney) deals will only help the Devils gain even more exposure to more people and marketing the brand positively.

Conclusion

Whether the Devils have a few players or a bunch is not important. In the Olympics just having a few stand out in front of a global audience in China and others watching is very important. Regardless of the countries logo, the player(s) that wear it will be very critical that the work ethic of play is a product of the New Jersey Devils. What former 1980 USA coach Herb Brooks was quoted “When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates, and the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back. Get that through your head!"

Whether the Devils have a few players or a bunch in the Olympics just having a few stand out in front of a global audience in China and others watching is very important. Regardless of the countries" logo, the player(s) that wear it will be very critical that the work ethic of play is a product of the New Jersey Devils. What former 1980 USA coach Herb Brooks was quoted “When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates, and the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back. Get that through your head!"

This kind of mindset will be exactly the determination not only going into the Olympics but out of the Olympics looking to add the Devils that pendulum movement forward a playoff berth. Determination, grit, and the hunger for the Devils roster players coming off an Olympic run will be a big thing going forward because some of the players will have pre-playoff mindsets getting them to push forward and fight their way in for a playoff spot.

The Winter Olympics in 2022 will only teach this young and maturing Devils roster how to gain the respect back after several seasons since the Devils last made the playoffs in the 2017-2018 campaign. There will be a lot of leadership, and chemistry created theoretically with all the lessons going into the remainder of the 2021-2022 season.

main image credit

Embed from Getty Images