Hischier anticipates challenge in 2023-24: 'Teams are going to be ready for us'

Nico Hischier is well aware that more eyes will be on his New Jersey Devils in 2023-24 after they broke through in a big way last season.

"Teams are going to be ready for us," the captain said in a recent interview with NHL.com's Amanda Stein. "It will be a challenge for sure, but a challenge we take with open arms."

New Jersey was one of the league's best storylines in 2022-23, emerging as a threat in the Eastern Conference after finishing the season just one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division. The Devils' 52 wins and 112 points on the season established new highs in franchise history, and they snapped a four-season playoff drought in the process.

Hischier is coming off a career year after posting 31 goals and 80 points while appearing in all but one contest. The 24-year-old also improved his two-way game and was voted a finalist for the Selke Trophy for the first time in his NHL tenure.

Despite their success, Hischier knows the previous campaign is firmly behind the Devils.

"The season we had last year doesn't change anything this year," he said. "It's a new season coming up. (We have to) look at the now and not what happened. ... It gives us confidence as a group we took the steps we wanted to take.

"But we definitely understand that expectations are going to be higher. But that's what we want if we want to end up on the top."

Thanks to the work put in by general manager Tom Fitzgerald this summer, New Jersey doesn't look like it'll take a step back in 2023-24.

In addition to extensions for Timo Meier and Jesper Bratt, one of Fitzgerald's biggest offseason moves was bringing in Tyler Toffoli, a seven-time 20-goal-scorer who led the Calgary Flames with 73 points in 82 games last season.

Those actions haven't gone unappreciated by Hischier, who said the Devils "trust in Fitzy."

"You can see the team grow. Management did a great job again with bringing guys into our team," he said. "I think on paper we (look) really (good), but at the end of the day, we've got to go out there and do it."

The Devils' high-flying 2022-23 campaign ended on a sour note after the Hurricanes eliminated them in the second round of the playoffs.

"That taste, it ends, and you want to start again, get to this point again and do better, take another step," Hischier said.

The puck drops on the Devils' 2023-24 season on Oct. 12 against the Detroit Red Wings.