New Jersey Devils: 3 Reasons Nico Hischier Becomes A Superstar This Season
By Nick Villano
3. A Full Season In Lindy Ruff’s System
We got a glimpse of Lindy Ruff’s system last season, but he wasn’t able to really put it in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He had a shortened training camp, no offseason, and a rapid season that got even worse when the Devils faced an outbreak. There was no time to really put a brand new system in place, and that proved even more true for Alain Nasreddine’s penalty kill and Marc Recchi’s power play.
This season, the Devils have a full training camp and six preseason games to test out the new system. This is going to be fast, attacking, and (wait, have we been here before) tiring for the other team. It allows the Devils to get to loose pucks, and that creates more opportunities. Jack Hughes led the league in takeaways last season. That’s something Hischier has been GREAT at the past four years. He has 47 takeaways in his rookie season. He had 11 in 21 games last season (at 5v5). That number should go up.
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Hischier is someone who is looking to find the best play, and this system will get players open. His assist numbers were putrid last year, but this year he has more opportunities to make things happen. A fully healthy season under a relatively new regime as he’s now settled into his captain role means we’re predicting a major breakout season from Nico Hischier.