New Jersey Devils: Young Players Shine Against Boston Bruins
The New Jersey Devils took three of four points from the Boston Bruins thanks to their young players.
The New Jersey Devils are one of the surprise teams so far this season. It has only been two games, but they have looked mostly good against the Boston Bruins in their first two games. Many peg Boston as the best team (on paper) in the East Division. It is fair to say that they are, at a minimum, one of the best teams in the division. They are surely better than the New Jersey Devils.
Each team was missing a key player or more as the Devils were missing Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Sami Vatanen while Boston is missing David Pastrnak. One thing the Devils do have, however, is a bunch of really good young players who are just scratching the surface of how good they can be in the NHL.
For one, Mackenzie Blackwood has been amazing.
Mackenzie Blackwood is looking like he is one of the best players on the team and one of the best goalies in the East Division. If he is able to keep this up, the Devils will be able to win more games than people initially thought. He is so young so he is going to be there for a long time.
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Blackwood isn’t the only young player who made a huge difference in the early going. Jack Hughes, Ty Smith, and Yegor Sharangovich have all been great. Hughes has three assists in the first two games, Smith has a goal and an assist, and Sharangovich has the overtime game-winning goal in their most recent game. It has been great so far and they all need it to continue.
Hughes looks like a completely different player from where he was a year ago. When he has the puck, it just feels like New Jersey is going to have something good happen to him. His decision making and vision have obviously improved during the offseason. He was the number one overall pick because of all these tools and now he is starting to put them together.
Smith has been a long time coming for New Jersey. He is looking like someone who can be one of their core defensemen for a long time. They sent him down to the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs two years in a row after being drafted and it was surprising both times. Well, it looks like the patience has paid off because he is a stud. He knows how to get pucks through traffic to the opposition’s net. One has found its way in on its own and another was tipped into the net by Miles Wood. If he can keep this level of production up, he will be a key piece to this team starting now.
As for Sharangovich, not many have benefited (on the ice) from the long pause more than him. He went from being an AHL bottom-six forward to a KHL superstar (on a loan) and that caught a lot of people’s eyes. He started using that sweet shot of his and it helped improve every other part of his game. He has shown the ability to draw penalties, create traffic in front, and snipe overtime game-winners in these two games against the Bruins. This is officially a player that the team should consider a core piece going forward.
Related Story. Yegor Sharangovich gives New Jersey their first win of the season. light
When Hischier and Bratt come back, all of the young players that are expected to play this year will all be in the lineup. When you look at it and assume Blackwood continues to stand on his head, it isn’t that bad of a team. 2021 isn’t the year that they will make a playoff run but they can surely use it as a big year for development. This is an exciting team and hopefully, they keep it up.