5 Questions New Jersey Devils Must Answer This Season

Who is Jack Hughes?

The New Jersey Devils need to figure out who is Jack Hughes. Is he the savior American center that’s going to be a 100-point play in due time, or is he someone that needs the goalposts moved because his NHL talent has been widely overexaggerated? He put on a ton of muscle during the pause, and it showed in training camp. He was often the best player on the ice in scrimmages, and the coaches made it sound like he took over practice at times.

Hughes was awful last season. There’s no other way to put it. However, there are a lot of examples of number-one overall picks having a tough time in their first season and immediately bouncing back to become Hall of Famers. There aren’t many examples of players who have two rough seasons and then bouncing back. Nathan MacKinnon did make a huge jump in year five, but we all know Devils fans won’t be that patient.

Hughes needs to show *something* this season. Right now, the Devils have him on a line with Nikita Gusev and Kyle Palmieri. Will that continue if one or both of them are traded? They are both in their contract years, and the Devils reportedly want to re-sign them, but the trade deadline is April 12th, so the Devils only have three months to figure out what they are. If they are moved, it could hurt Hughes production. Also, the return of Nico Hischier makes it a question mark.

Still, Hughes needs to be a driving force for the Devils’ offense. Especially with Hischier dealing with a lower-body injury, Hughes needs to be a top center.

Is P.K. Subban Cooked?

This question might be a little too on the nose, but the Devils need to get right to the point with P.K. Subban. He was awful last season in his first year in New Jersey. He still has two years left on his contract paying him $9 million per season. The Devils can afford this if it’s just a sunk cost, but obviously, ownership would love to have more bang for their buck.

Subban looks like he’s playing on a line with Ryan Murray, who the Devils got from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the offseason. The impending unrestricted free agent has been dealing with injuries for most of his career, but the Devils hope this season is different. He’s a true defensive defenseman, so he should be a good partner for Subban.

Subban is only 31 years old, so he should still be in the end of his prime. There are plenty of defensemen who are still very good late into their 30s. It doesn’t make a lot of sense that Subban would just fall off completely with no real explanation.

Subban is another player the Devils desperately hope can bounce back. Either way, he’s likely going to be exposed in the Seattle Kraken expansion draft, and there’s a possibility they could look to bring him on the last year of his deal to see if he has enough left to fight for a new deal. However, if he truly is something worth keeping, the Devils will find out this season.

Can Mackenzie Blackwood Carry The Team Alone?

The New Jersey Devils were hoping a tandem of Mackenzie Blackwood and Corey Crawford would be enough to make them competitive in the East Division. There are very good opponents on a nightly basis, so good goaltending is a must. They play in a division with Artemi Panarin, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, David Pastrnak, Mat Barzal, and a plethora of other offensive stars. For the Devils to compete, they need to at least stop the puck from going in the net.

Things changed a lot when Crawford announced his retirement this past weekend. So, the Devils have Scott Wedgewood and newly acquired Eric Comrie to fight for the backup job. Either way, the Devils need to rely on Blackwood to play at least 80% of the time.

Last season, Blackwood was terrible to start the year. He posted a .871 save percentage and lost four of his six games (although one of them he came in relief and watched a four-goal lead disappear). He needs to avoid that kind of start with the Devils missing Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Sami Vatanen for the first part of the season.

If the Devils are going anywhere, they need Blackwood to play like one of the best goalies in the league. He’s shown in the past that he can play to those standards, but he needs to do it consistently.

How Far Can A Young Core Take You?

The Devils have a lot of young players on the roster this season. The two with the most responsibility are Hischier and Hughes obviously, but they aren’t the only players under the age of 25 that have huge responsibilities.

Just look at the Devils’ third line. Yegor Sharangovich, Janne Kuokkanen, and Jesper Boqvist have a combined 43 games of NHL experience. 35 games are Boqvist’s 2019-20 season, which just didn’t put him in a position to succeed. They are all 22 years old and spending their first opening night on an NHL roster.

Then, there’s the fourth line as currently constructed. Right now, with Hischier and Bratt still out of the lineup (both of whom are also 22), they have Miles Wood, Michael McLeod, and Nathan Bastian on that bottom line. They are 25, 22, and 23 years old respectively.

How far can a roster with six 22 year olds, two 23 year olds, and one 20 year old in prominent forward positions go? The Devils hope they can take them far. That’s just at the forward position. This isn’t to mention 20-year-old Ty Smith and 24-year-old Blackwood between the pipes. It’s a youth movement on a team that was too old for too long. Now, let’s see how this works.

Where Will Zajac/Gusev/Palmieri Go?

One of the biggest questions surrounding the Devils is one not a lot of people are talking about. The Devils have eight players who are in the final year of their contract and heading into unrestricted free agency at the end of the season. That includes five defensemen. However, the ones that are the focus here are Travis Zajac, Kyle Palmieri, and Nikita Gusev. That’s because the Devils would get the most back if they decided to trade them this season.

Zajac is the longest-tenured player on the Devils. He was drafted back in the 1st round of 2004, and he’s been a staple of this roster since 2006. This is someone who transcends eras. He’s played with Sergei Brylin, John Madden, and Brian Rafalski. Then, he played with Zach Parise, Ilya Kovalchuk, and Martin Brodeur. And now, he plays with Blackwood, Hischier, and Hughes. He’s the last player on the roster that took the 2012 run to the Stanley Cup Final. It will be hard for the Devils to part with Zajac, but it might be time.

Palmieri is probably the most valuable asset on the Devils they might actually move. Reports said the Devils were looking for something of the equivalent of two 1st-round picks last season. Nobody hit that price, so Palmieri is starting the season in his native New Jersey. He’s still on the trading block, but the Devils are also trying to re-sign him to an extension. If things work out, the Devils could win either way. The only way they lose is if they allow this to go to the offseason.

The same goes for Russian sniper Nikita Gusev. He’s spending his second season in New Jersey, and he’s on the final year of his $9 million deal. Figuring out what he might want in another contract must be an interesting negotiation. He hasn’t really lived up to his $4.5 million price tag, but nobody really flourished on the Devils last season. Still, his value is high on the trade market for a team that needs a player with his skill set.

Will the Devils be sellers again? With this amount of expiring contracts, it sounds like that is at least a backup plan. What they do with Zajac, Gusev, and especially Palmieri will tell where the Devils go from here.