After being sent down to the Devils’ AHL affiliate a mere month into the current NHL season, suffering from a concussion shortly thereafter (while playing for Albany), and the most recent loss of his front tooth, you would think Jacob Josefson’s confidence would be non-existent. However, since being recalled by the Devils on April 5, he’s made it apparent that his confidence is just fine.
“I think it [confidence] has been going up, I’ve been playing in a couple games now and I feel pretty good,” Josefson said after the Devils’ final morning skate for the year on Thursday.
Devils head coach Peter DeBoer agreed and said, “He struggled early in the season with his confidence…he looks like a different player right now and we’re only one or two games into him coming back in here.
“I don’t have a reason why he lost it. A year ago, I thought when he played, he played with some confidence and a little bit of swagger for a young guy. That kind of disappeared this year for some reason, but he seems to have recovered it.”
Despite a series of unfortunate events, the 22-year-old forward was able to rack up 25 points (10 goals, 15 assists) in 38 AHL games before returning to the Devils. Since then, he’s earned ice time in four games, scoring his first NHL goal of the season on April 23 against the Montreal Canadiens at the Prudential Center.
“The first one [goal] of the season is always nice to have … better late than never,” Josefson said.
As one of the youngest players on the Devils’ current roster, respect is offered, but ice time must be earned. When asked if his confidence has any correlation to the amount of ice time he’s received (50:09) since returning to the team, Josefson said, “The ice time you get depends on the way you play.
“The coaches are really fair with that. If you play good, you get some ice time.”
Although he spent most of his season with Albany, Josefson seemed just as upset as his teammates to be eliminated from the playoff race on April 21st with a 4-1 loss to the Rangers. With two regular season games remaining, Thursday at home against the Penguins and Saturday on the road against the Rangers, Josefson, like his teammates, has no choice but to try and finish the season on a good note by giving his all out on the ice.
“You want to finish and play every game the best you can, and obviously getting a couple of wins here in the end makes me feel better going into summer training,” Josefson said.
