NEW YORK -- Two new eras dawned last week. They were separated by 24 hours, the Hudson River and a palpable amount of enthusiasm.
Aesthetically, the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers were on parallel tracks heading into this season. The longtime rivals were both in rapid rebuilds. They added franchise players in the draft, with American center Jack Hughes taken by the Devils at No. 1 overall and Finnish winger Kaapo Kakko selected second overall by the Rangers. Both added Russian offensive dynamos on the wing, though the Rangers' signing of free-agent star Artemi Panarin was far more significant than the Devils' trading for 27-year-old KHL import Nikita Gusev.