The New Jersey Devils are trying to find a new identity without Jack Hughes in the lineup. It has not been easy since he was injured at a team dinner back in November after a victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. There is no denying what Jack Hughes brings to the team with his skills with the puck and his ability to back off defences with his speed through the neutral zone.
Nico Hischier Continues to the New Jersey Devils His Way
However, it is clear that despite the “depth scoring” they acquired in the offseason, this is still a one-man team, and everything offensively runs through Jack Hughes. And that was the caveat with this team entering the season. The Devils, when healthy, are still one of the best teams in the NHL. But they need to be healthy. They haven’t been this season at all.
That’s why it is hard for many to pick the New Jersey Devils as a top team in the Eastern Conference.
“I mean, this is why, for me, personally, guys, I always have a hard time picking the New Jersey Devils to do to be at the top of the standings and picking Jack Hughes as one of the top players to maybe finish in the Hart Trophy race, just because nothing to do with his talent, but the guy is always hurt, and the New Jersey Devils go as far as Jack Hughes will take them,” Anthony DiMarco of Daily Faceoff said on TSN Radio in Montreal two weeks ago.
And we saw it last season, too, with the Devils. When Jack Hughes hurt his shoulder, which required surgery, it happened days before the trade deadline. That injury altered the plans of GM Tom Fitzgerald heading into the deadline. Whether the Devils would be buyers or not is a different story. However, it is hard to pick the Devils to do much when one of their star players is always injured.
“And we saw it last year leading up to the NHL trade deadline, where the New Jersey Devils we’re not really hot and heavy to go in at the trade deadline and be buyers, because Jack Hughes is on the shelf, and now again, he’s out for how long, like two months, or whatever it might be, and it’s like, I just, can’t keep buying what New Jersey is selling for no other reason that when your star player is constantly on the shelf, I can’t buy into it,” DiMarco continued on TSN Radio in Montreal.
However, the Devils still have a talented team to overcome his injury. Offensively, Nico Hischier and Timo Meier have stepped up in his absence. Meier always steps up in Hughes’s absence, but he is using his skating and physical presence more. Jesper Bratt is always a threat to score and chip in offensively.
The New Jersey Devils Can’t Measure Depth Scoring
But the Devils need more from Dawson Mercer, who is better at the wing than at center, Arseny Gritsyuk, and Ondrej Palat. And suppose you look at the additions of Connor Brown and Cody Class alongside the rise of Simon Nemec and Luke Hughes. In that case, the Devils have the talent to overcome injuries offensively until he returns.
When Jack Hughes does return, whether that is the beginning of January or later, who is to say he won’t get injured again? You never wish that upon a player, but can you trust him to stay healthy? Yes, his current injury is a freak one off the ice, to go with the many, many freak injuries off the ice this season, but on the ice, he has a history of getting hurt, too.
“I mean, look, it’s possible, but it’s just, I think it’s more for me, on like a macro level, where, okay, he’ll come back in, let’s say January,” DiMarco continued. “They’ll weather the storm, they’ll stay in the playoff race, but I just don’t trust that he won’t get hurt again. And it just seems to me that when you’re dealing with Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils, you’re always kind of like holding your breath waiting for that final, like injury shoot a drop, if you will.”
The Devils were able to survive and get into the playoffs last season. New Jersey has a nice cushion in the standings currently, thanks to that eight-game winning streak at the beginning of the year. But you can tell when the Devils don’t do things the right way defensively, it is taxing on their 35-year-old goaltenders.
New Jersey Devils Still Have a Long Way to Go to Be True Contenders
As the New Jersey Devils enter into a busy December schedule, they need to prove they are more than just a couple of players. More importantly, they need to prove that Jack Hughes isn’t the straw that stirs the drink offensively for the club either.
If they do that, they will quite a lot of the doubt that surrounds this team every time he is out of the lineup.
