NEWARK http://www.redwingsshoponline.com/authentic-mike-green-jersey , N.J. (AP) For the first time since spending $340 million to buy the New Jersey Devils in the summer of 2013, Josh Harris and David Blitzer are getting a chance to see the team play some meaningful games in the final months of the NHL season.Following Saturday’s 2-1 comeback win over the New York Islanders, the Devils hold a five-point lead over Columbus in the race for the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, and a seven-point edge over the Islanders for the second wild-card spot with 20 games left in the regular season.While it is still too early to start celebrating, the Devils’ five-year playoff drought might be ending.”Yeah, I hope we’re going to the playoffs and long run, we’ve said consistently that we want to be an elite Stanley Cup contender year in, year out and there are no shortcuts to that,” Harris said Saturday night in a rare interview after taking part in the ceremony to retire the No. 26 jersey of Patrik Elias, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.What makes this turnaround remarkable is that the Devils had their worst season in three decades in 2016-17, finishing last in the conference with 70 points.Their win over the Islanders on Saturday night gave them 72 points this season.”We have always said we were going to do things step by step to build long-run winners,” Harris said. ”Sometimes everyone gets impatient and we get impatient. Last year wasn’t great to be me. It’s very exciting to be in the hunt, but we are not done.”Much of the credit for the turnaround has to go to general manager Ray Shero, who came on board in the offseason in 2015. He has revamped the roster with the latest addition being the acquisition of 25-goal scorer Michael Grabner from the Rangers on Thursday in the first deal between the area rivals since the Devils came to New Jersey in 1982.It was just the latest deal by Shero who has acquired forwards Taylor Hall, Kyle Palmieri and Marcus Johansson, defensemen Sami Vatanen and Mirco Mueller and goaltender Eddie Lack in trades and signed free agents John Moore, Brian Boyle, Ben Lovejoy, Will Butcher, Jimmy Hayes and Drew Stafford.Hall is having a career season with 26 goals and 40 assists. His 66 points are 25 more than any player on the team.The bad season last year also helped earn the Devils the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. They got a winner with 19-year-old Nico Hischier, who is centering the top line.”Look when Ray came in in 2015 I still remember him saying things won’t necessarily change overnight, but we’re going to move this in the right direction and that’s all across the organization,” Blitzer said. ”What he has been able to do over the last 2 years, and I think as we look at the future, it has been incredible.”New Jersey still faces an immediate obstacle in its playoff push. Nine of its next 12 games are on the road, including eight with teams in playoff positions heading into Sunday’s games.Blitzer believes the Devils are going to finish what they started this season.”Certain things happen that you plan and certain things happen that you don’t necessarily plan,” he said. ”We got some really interesting pieces that you could not predict at the beginning of the summer. Will Butcher; for Nico to come and do what he is doing. Taylor Hall to turn over what he is doing this season and the leadership he is showing.”It’s just been incredible,” he added. ”I just think you see a team really gelling. It’s also a team not just built for today. This is a team that is built for the future and that’s what makes it so exciting.”— Hockey fans have often criticized NBC’s coverage for not showing more of the NHL’s young stars and the up-and-coming teams.That changes when the season opens Wednesday as the network goes with a new approach.NBCSN’s “Wednesday Night Rivalries” has been replaced by “Wednesday Night Hockey.” As part of the repackaging, the network’s studio crew will occasionally report on site, starting on Wednesday from Washington when the Capitals begin defense of their title against Boston.“We’re now showcasing the brightest team and stars. We think it’s a great way to add new teams and stars to a big night,” NBC Sports Executive Producer Sam Flood said. “The intent on Wednesday nights has always been to make it the destination night for hockey. Now we can really take advantage of that.”Much like the NBA does on Thursdays, the NHL has tried to make Wednesday its night for must-see TV.Steve Mayer, the NHL’s chief content officer Womens Nick Jensen Jersey , said “Wednesday Night Rivalries” proved how special that night can be for the league.“We’re going to make Wednesday night feel special and we want our players to once we get into this to say, ‘Wow, we’re playing on Wednesday night.’ We know that in football, for example, playing on ‘Monday Night Football’ is a big deal,” Mayer said. “Well, why can’t playing on Wednesday night hockey be a big deal? And that’s what we’re striving for.”The biggest beneficiaries of the change are the Western Conference teams. NBCSN will air 18 doubleheaders on Wednesday nights — up from five last season — and 67 of the scheduled 110 games on NBC and NBCSN will have a team from the conference.Winnipeg, which has not made a regular-season national appearance since 2014, will make five this season, including an Oct. 24 game against Toronto that will see NBCSN’s studio show going on the road.NBC’s Mike Emrick said the Jets are one of many teams that deserve the increased exposure.“That matchup could be a Stanley Cup final. There is going to be plenty of excitement with that game early in the season,” he said.Other teams receiving increased exposure are Tampa Bay and Nashville. Both teams will make 12 appearances, which is almost double what they had last season. Defending Western Conference champion Vegas (9), Anaheim (8) and Edmonton (7) also have nearly twice as many appearances as last season.Colorado, which was on only once last year, will be on six times.“We feel it’s time and vital that, given the parity of the league throughout, that we start to develop other teams,” Mayer said. “If suddenly the Nashvilles and the Tampas and some teams that haven’t had the grand exposure get exposure, what’s to say that they’re not going to be the higher-rated teams? … We really believe that our audience is into great hockey played by the best teams and the way we present the games and the stars will lead to great ratings.”The traditional teams will still get plenty of exposure. Chicago will have the most appearances with 19 despite not making the playoffs last season. One of those games will be the Winter Classic at Notre Dame Stadium on Jan. 1 against Boston. Washington will make the first of its 18 appearances followed by Philadelphia (17) and Pittsburgh (15).The only teams not scheduled to appear on NBCSN are Ottawa and Vancouver.“Certainly from a kind of talent standpoint, a competitive standpoint, showing more clubs is better,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. “The fact that NBC is prepared to engage on that basis where we don’t necessarily have to have major U.S. markets for their national games says a lot about how far we’ve come as a sport.”The All-Star Game, which will be held in San Jose on Jan. 26, will be broadcast in prime time on NBC, which is the first time that has happened on a major broadcast network since 1997.Flood thinks the three-on-three format could draw even more fans. It also will be the week before the Super Bowl, which should allow the league to reap increased exposure.The league is also focusing on improving its digital offerings through its deal with BAMTech, which began as a spinoff of Major League Baseball Advanced Media before becoming its own entity. The Walt Disney Co. took a controlling stake in BAMTech in 2017.The NHL.TV offering will include more pregame and postgame coverage, as well as being able to view programming during intermission, after deals were made with team broadcasting partners.ESPN hasn’t aired the NHL since 2004 on any of its channels but will have nine games a week on its ESPN streaming service starting this season. ESPN , which launched in April and just crossed over a million subscribers, had at least one baseball game a day. ESPN will also air a nightly hockey show.“We know there is a big opportunity to grow the subscriber base with both products,” said Disney Streaming President Michael Paull. “One thing we learned is that fans want more video. They want more coverage before and after the games.”