A little bit of late-night news to get our appetites whetted prior to free agency hitting later this afternoon.
The Devils announced their preseason schedule for 2021-22 yesterday. According to the press release, rookies report to camp on Wednesday, September 15. Veterans will come back to Newark a week later on Wednesday, September 22.
A week after that, New Jersey will play their first preseason game of 2021 at the Washington Capitals. Puck drop for that game is 7 PM ET.
Game two of the preseason will come on Friday, October 1 at home against the Rangers (also a 7 PM start). They will play the next night, Saturday, October 2 at the Islanders (also a 7 PM start – the location is still to be decided, as the Isles will not have opened their new UBS Arena yet).
The next game comes on Monday, October 4 against Washington at Prudential Center (7 PM start).
Wednesday, October 6 will see them travel to Madison Square Garden to take on the Rangers at 7 PM. They will their return home on Thursday, October 7 to take on the Islanders at 7 PM.
And from there, we will begin the regular season on October 12.
Be with us later today as free agency opens for the NHL. As of now, a few outlets (Pierre LeBrun and Elliotte Friedman among others) are reporting on Twitter that the Devils are the frontrunners in the Dougie Hamilton sweepstakes.
Fingers crossed, we will have something big to talk about at 12 PM today.