Devils’ Dillon Talks About ‘Pissed Off’ Mindset That Could Help Team Find Consistency – Hockey Writers – New Jersey Devils

Historically, many teams that fail to reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs have been rumored to be experiencing locker room chemistry issues. That clearly wasn’t the case with the 2025-26 New Jersey Devils.

Almost all the time, his teammates were laughing, smiling and keeping the vibes light. “We’re a tight team here and we’re having a lot of fun together every day,” forward Connor Brown said earlier in the season.

“It’s everything,” said head coach Sheldon Keefe. “You know…the reality is during the NHL season, you spend more time together than your families do. So you have to hope the guys enjoy their time together and can get along. That’s a big part of it…So, we’re lucky. We have a lot of personality, good character, good leadership, [it’s a] a very welcoming group.”

It should go without saying that being a cohesive team is an important part of most successful teams. But can there ever be a point where accountability gets in the way of preserving team camaraderie, thereby harming the team?

In exit interviews, Hockey Writers asked defenseman Brenden Dillon about his opinion on whether the Devils were able to find that balance successfully. He gave an amazing insight:

“That’s a great balance that has to be there, whether it’s guys challenging each other, transitioning in transition, or season to season. It’s healthy to have that. The best teams I’ve been on, I always go back to my days in San Jose, because that was the biggest playoff success I had. We probably had four or five, six Hall of Famers on those teams. Those guys will be challenging each other some games, some will be challenging each other. conversations and it wasn’t like the boys were starting to feel better about it and better themselves. it started happening slowly. Frustration, obviously, with the way the season played out, will also pass, and that shows the feelings that you want to win, that you compete, and I don’t think you should stop that. It’s not like practice, we fight and guys break each other’s heads, but that’s how you get better throughout the season: pushing each other and competing. Winning a drill or scoring a goal on defense, that makes me angry. And you know, shutting down abusive boys is supposed to upset them. And I think that’s kind of the next level for us to get that consistency going. Every day of practice, he realizes that it’s another day of practice in the NHL. This is a great opportunity for improvement. It’s an honor to be in the NHL…And you know, it’s hard in this league to win. So any chance you can get 1% better, whether that’s done or with your teammates or talking about it, or using video…I think those are all things that will make the New Jersey Devils better, hopefully sooner rather than later.

– Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon

It’s certainly not self-explanatory never it’s happening – as Dillon put it, it’s “starting to happen”, but there’s clearly more competitive gear still to be desired.

That doesn’t mean the group shouldn’t enjoy playing cards or cracking jokes when the time is right. But sometimes, increasing the intensity – whether verbally or during practice – can help bring out the competitive edge in the most important moments.

Based on the opinion of the mass media after the Olympics, Jack Hughes began to take charge of that. Although captain Nico Hischier tends to lead by example rather than talk, Jack adds that tone can connect well. No player other than Connor McDavid has more points after the Olympics, which means Jack can always back up his words with his performance.

Brown, Jack’s teammate in the home leg of the season, added a positive review: “[Jack’s] I have been a leader since he came back,” he said, “You know, I saw a lot of confidence in him after the Olympics. I’m sure he’s surrounded by a lot of great players [there]you know, Stanley Cup champions and stuff. I know he was staying with his brother Quinn and staying with the Tkachuks. Matthew [Tkachuk]He’s got a really good track record as of late and he’s learning from guys like that. One thing about Jack is that he’s a really smart guy, so he’s a quick learner. We talked about the growth that needs to happen…That’s the biggest area of ​​growth that I think happened this year for Jack.”

At the end of the day, nothing will make a difference More the Devils are improving the depth of their roster, something new general manager Sunny Mehta plans to do: “It’s my job to make sure this roster has the right amount of talent to be a competitive team,” he said during his press conference.

But still, many different factors help to put together a championship team. Although it can’t be quantified, the right balance between relationship and accountability can be the difference in going the distance one day.