The New Jersey Devils number-one overall pick Jack Hughes is getting ready for his first NHL training camp and fans should be excited for what he will bring.
The New Jersey Devils are heading into the season with some major excitement. This is a team that finished third to last in the entire league in 2018-19. Injuries to key players and suspect goaltending in the first half marked their downfall, but it was all worth it when the won the Draft Lottery for the second time in three years.
With the first-overall pick, New Jersey selected Jack Hughes from the United States National Development Program. It has been well documented all summer long that he is awesome and the Devils have made moves to surround him with as much talent as they can.
In an ideal world, he will be the second-line center (with first-line capabilities) with Nikita Gusev on his left-wing and one of Kyle Palmieri or Jesper Bratt on his right-wing. This would be a line that is fast and can both pass and shoot. It would be something to have an offensive trio like this while Taylor Hall and Nico Hischier man the top line.
Coming into a situation with Hischier there is a major boost for Hughes, especially since Travis Zajac is there as well to man all of the really hard minutes as far as the matchups. Hughes is going to be put in a really nice position to be in contention for the Calder Trophy. There are other really good rookies that he is going to compete with like Kaapo Kakko of the New York Rangers and Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche. Either way, his offensive capabilities promise to really help the New Jersey Devils win more games in his rookie season.
His abilities in the offensive zone are largely involved with speed. He is agile with the puck and can use his edges to create and make his teammates look awesome. He also has a sneaky good shot that should allow him to be a duel threat. He is not a big player but he plays a big game. He had 34 goals and 78 assists for 112 points in 50 games for the USNDP. He got off to a slow start in his World Championships appearance in May, but his ice time was limited and he started to look dominant towards the end of the tournament.
People often compare him to Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane. Kane is a first ballad Hall of Famer and nobody laughs when Hughes’ name comes up in comparison. He very well might not live up to expectations quite like that, but he also might. Most of the recent first overall picks are awesome players today, including his teammates in Hall and Hischier. Some of them even go on to be considered elite in their rookie years like Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews.
There is plenty of reasons to believe Hughes is going to be awesome in his first year. He is going to get lots of solid looks in the preseason as he hopes to head into the regular season feeling strong and confident. It might take some time to get adjusted physically, but he has the supreme talent to overcome it.