Fansided

Devils continue to waste the talents of Jack Hughes

By Vincent Parise |
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - OCTOBER 25: Jack Hughes #86 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his power-play goal at 18:26 of the first period against the Arizona Coyotes at the Prudential Center on October 25, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - OCTOBER 25: Jack Hughes #86 of the New Jersey Devils celebrates his power-play goal at 18:26 of the first period against the Arizona Coyotes at the Prudential Center on October 25, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

The New Jersey Devils continue to waste the talents of Jack Hughes who had an impressive night despite a loss to the Arizona Coyotes.

The New Jersey Devils surrendered another multi-goal lead in their matchup with the Arizona Coyotes on Friday night and it hurt for a variety of reasons. The most important reason is that they lost the game and instead of gaining some ground in the Eastern Conference races, they are still hovering near the bottom of the conference. There are so many games to go and nothing is even close to certain yet but they need to start learning how to close out games.

Another reason why this loss stung was that it was a wasted performance of 18-year-old Jack Hughes. Jack had one goal and two assists for the first multi-point game of his career. He was so dynamic out there and is as confident with the puck on his stick as any player on the team. He can use his vision, hockey sense, and skills to create chances at even strength and on the power play. He is really starting to cook now and that is bad news for the rest of the league.

If the Devils are going to continue to see Jack develop and be as good as he was in this game they need to start figuring it out as a whole. The Devils are a team that has a lot of proud players on it and ones who can be doing much more based on their talent and capabilities. Nico Hischier came back from injury in this one and had limited ice time based on another big hit he took and just getting back up to game speed. Once he is fully back that will be a big boost to the team as a whole.

More from Pucks and Pitchforks

They also need to get a little bit better goaltending. Starting MacKenzie Blackwood just a few days after coming back to practice from illness instead of Cory Schneider was a weird move.

Schneider has now been the backup for three straight games and you wonder what the results of the game would have been like if he played instead of a potentially still recovering Blackwood.

Goaltending might have been the difference as Antti Raanta had an amazing game and was the main key to Arizona winning.

The Devils pretty much outplayed the Coyotes for the entire game so a lot of credit is being given to Raanta for the way he played. He made a save on a Wayne Simmonds power-play chance in the third period that would have tied the game.

The Devils need to play their game to their strengths and they will get back to winning for sure. Their next test is probably the most difficult of them all as they have another decent layoff before they play the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night. A big stretch of practice is going to be necessary in order for the Devils to come out on top in that one.

Home / Editorials