During the first several games of the season, New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes was the subject of much concern. Well, that was from the fans. However, if you have been watching the Devils this season, Hughes looks like a player learning to be more defensively responsible.
Hughes does not have a problem with offense. It will come, and it is starting to pick up. On Tuesday night, he scored his first goal of the season against the Carolina Hurricanes in the second of back-to-back games. He has five points (one goal and four assists) through six games. Hughes felt it Tuesday night against the Hurricanes, especially after he got the goal.
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However, what has been more noticeable this season has been his work along the boards and in the defensive zone under head coach Sheldon Keefe. For those who do not know, when Keefe was the head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he turned two offensive players, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, into defensively responsible players. Both Matthews and Marner were nominated for the Selke Trophy for the best defensive forward in the NHL.
Keefe is doing the same thing with Jack Hughes. Hughes struggled with that area. He did not understand how to play center, especially in the defensive zone. Everyone knows he has an unbelievable stick and can get in the passing lane. In 62 games, he had 64 takeaways. So, that aspect of his game is improving.
Hughes has seen his takeaways increase since coming into the NHL in the 2019-20 season. In the last two seasons, he has generated 60 or more takeaways; that was a down year when he was coming off injury. Again, he was injured last season, so his takeaways could have gone even higher.
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However, the one thing Sheldon Keefe is doing with Hughes is making him a smarter player without the puck. When Hughes first got to the Devils he was all about the offense. Previous head coaches during his time in New Jersey tried to get him to play better defensively and turn him into a well-rounded player. From Lindy Ruff to Travis Green, something was not clicking. Even though it is early, you can see that Jack Hughes is already a different player.
“That to me is he’s competing harder, and he’s around the puck,” Keefe said prior to the game against Utah on Monday. “I thought even if you just look at it, it’s a very small thing, and it’s not something he’s known for. But you look at the Casey goal the other night (Saturday night versus Washington), and Jack drives hard through the middle of the ice through to the net, and one of their defenders has to pick him up as a result. Because of that, the puck travels through the seam to Casey, who immediately makes a play and scores. If Jack doesn’t do his job and drive the net, in that case, that ice doesn’t open up. So just little subtle things that he’s doing without the puck.”
We know how poor the New Jersey Devils were defensively last season. It also did not help that they had no goaltender to stop the puck. Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen have given the players confidence to play their game. There are still things the Devils can work on, but the players, especially Jack Hughes, are taking pride in playing better defensively.
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“As I talked about before the game to me, Jack’s doing a lot of really good things without the puck that aren’t showing up and maybe you’re not used to seeing it from him or you are not looking for from him,” Keefe said post-game on Monday. “But another guy that to me, is just not complicating the game when he’s out there. He’s doing good things, even when he’s not scoring. Today, I thought he was, and it was really good. He was all around the puck tonight. But all those guys, all those top guys who we know and expect to produce offensively for us, they got a job to do defensively as well. And to me, they’re showing improvement.”
Good defense leads to good offense, whether it’s battling on the boards or winning the 50/50 puck battles. It is doing all the little things in a game that leads to offense. So, it is not always about being on the scoresheet points-wise but doing the right things that lead to team success.
Being a well-rounded player is better than being one-dimensional, as Keefe noted.
“You want all your players to be well-rounded,” Keefe added. “And Jack’s gonna fill the net, and things are gonna happen, the more that we play. But he’s had a nice foundation through his game defensively with his habits that we’re trying to build out that I’ve liked.”
Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils get back at it Thursday night when they play the Ottawa Senators in the Canadian Capital.
