5 Players New Jersey Devils Can’t Afford To Get Injured This Season
The New Jersey Devils got a scare on Saturday when Jack Hughes went to the locker room during their game against the New York Islanders. This was mostly a game to see the goalies play, as Mackenzie Blackwood and Scott Wedgewood were two of the only players who had any hopes of contributing to the NHL team this season. The Devils did play Yegor Sharangovich and Jack Hughes, so they were trying to carry the offense on their own. Then, it was only Sharangovich. Luckily, Lindy Ruff says they don’t believe Hughes is dealing with anything serious. Taking him out was likely only precautionary.
All hockey teams have to deal with injuries. The Devils are dealing with one right now with Ty Smith. He seems to be day to day, but it isn’t a player they really want to lose for any significant amount of time.
Injuries will happen, but if they happen to the wrong person, it could make the entire season fall apart. We’ve seen it happen to the Devils in the past. Last year, the injury to Nico Hischier really made an impact, but the Devils looked alright until they were hit by a COVID outbreak. However, we saw what happened to the Buffalo Sabres when Jack Eichel went down with an injury.
The Devils need to stay healthy if they are going to hit their expectations. Some people don’t expect much, but after a lot of wins to start the preseason, the fans are building up their own expectations. After a few undesirable seasons, it’s time for the Devils to overachieve. They need to avoid these five injuries if that is going to happen.
1. Jack Hughes
The most important player to keep healthy is the one who gave us a scare over the weekend. Jack Hughes is the key to this Devils winning formula. He is expected to have a major breakout season, and an injury would derail that immediately.
Hughes has had two very tumultuous seasons to start his career. His first season sucked. Straight up. He wasn’t good, his head coach was fired, his star player was traded, then the GM who drafted his was fired, and on top of it all, his captain was traded. That was one of the worst rookie seasons a first-overall pick had to endure.
In his second season, he looked like a different player to start. He was dominant with Nico Hischier on the shelf, and he looked like a legitimate top-line player. He was beating opposing players to the puck, and he was making his own plays and scoring goals. Then he got COVID. And everyone else got COVID. The rest of the team fell in the tank, and it was another lost season.
Hughes is now in his contract year, and he’s trying to show he can be the type of player worth star money. He’s shown flashes of it, but he needs to prove it on a season-long basis. Also, the Devils themselves can’t afford a Hughes injury. Then, they’d probably have to put Sharangovich to center, and that completely changes his focus. It moves his expectations, and his goal-scoring ability goes down by a lot.
2. Dougie Hamilton
Damon Severson and P.K. Subban are both quality right-handed defensemen who can certainly play a role on the New Jersey Devils. They might be some of the best second and third-line right-side defenders in the league. It’s a really good situation for the Devils to be in. However, one injury puts the Devils in one of the best situations into one of the worst.
The Devils signed Dougie Hamilton in the offseason to a massive contract. He looks like an absolute stud in training camp, and he was just as good against the Rangers in his preseason debut. The Devils are going to get the best of Hamilton this year. He is directly in the middle of his prime, and they are paying for that kind of production. However, an injury ends that dream before it starts.
We saw what happens when Subban and Severson try to establish themselves as the top defensemen. They did it last year, and it ended terribly. Subban averaged 22:22 of time on ice last season. That was surprisingly more than he was averaging in his first season when the Devils had dreamed he could still be a Norris-level defender. It didn’t happen, and it’s not happening this season either.
Hamilton plays a key role in every unit for the Devils. He plays power play and penalty kill. Losing him means that Lindy Ruff has to make major changes everywhere on top of reshuffling the defensive lines. It would be a nightmare if he gets injured.
3. Jonathan Bernier
This probably feels like it should be Mackenzie Blackwood, right? Well, Blackwood needs a backup or he struggles. That has always been the case, and that’s why the Devils spent so much money to bring Jonathan Bernier to New Jersey. He isn’t the starter. Even with Blackwood’s vaccination status still up in the air, he’s the guy who leads the Devils where they are going next. However, Bernier is more important to stay healthy.
Bernier has carried the load before when a starter got injured, so he’s used to that position. Scott Wedgewood can come in and backup from time to time. He might even get in a game. However, say Bernier gets injured before the Devils’ road trips to Canada, and Blackwood isn’t vaccinated yet. That means the Devils are sending Wedgewood and Nico Daws to Canada. Hopefully, the Utica Comets don’t have a game that day because then they are starting the tandem that was in Adirondack.
It’s not a great situation in net. There is too much on the line with Bernier, but it is what it is. Bernier is the only goalie to play a full game so far, and he looked really good against the Rangers on Friday. He should get the game later this week, too. If he builds up that stamina, hopefully, that helps him avoid the injury.
4. Michael McLeod
This one is not so obvious, but the Devils were looking for someone who perfectly fits the change of pace line for years. They desperately tried to make Kevin Rooney work, but he never quite fit. Now he’s trying it out with the New York Rangers. Brett Seney is another name that got an extended look. It didn’t help the Devils kept trading players away and needed these other players to step up in the lineup, but last year they found some magic on the fourth line with Michael McLeod.
There is no replacement for McLeod. The Devils aren’t going to move Pavel Zacha to the fourth line. They aren’t going to call up Dawson Mercer to play him there, either. So, who gets that spot? The most obvious option is Jesper Boqvist, but that doesn’t seem like the best place to put him to get him to succeed.
McLeod has also been playing some penalty kill this preseason. We’ll see if that lasts until the regular season, but he did play 81 minutes of PK time last season. It’s expected he will at least play a role on that unit, and losing anyone will drop what is a very fragile penalty kill in the first place.
5. Ty Smith
This is where things start to get real. Lindy Ruff said it’s possible that Smith might miss the season opener. This feels like how the Devils have treated every injury that happened before the season. It comes with secrecy and frustration from the fanbase. Nico Hischier apparently “had a chance” to play opening night last season, when it was clear he had no chance to do that. Taylor Hall three seasons ago had a knee injury that wasn’t supposed to last long, but he ended up missing the rest of the season with it. The Devils don’t reveal injuries, and it has us waiting on bated breath for weeks to see when they are coming back into the lineup.
Losing the Devils best defenseman on the left side really hurts that position. Ryan Graves is an even more important acquisition now, but who comes in after him? Is it Jonas Siegenthaler with Damon Severson and Kevin Bahl with P.K. Subban? That sounds disastrous. No offense to any of them, but it seems like the chemistry wouldn’t work with their play styles. The Devils got Christian Jaros in the offseason, but he’s had a rough training camp so far. They also just claimed Mason Geertsen off waivers, so maybe he is someone they have plans for.
Next. Predicting Opening Night Lines. dark
If Smith is out long term, the Devils are in trouble on defense again. Graves’ partner becomes more important, and the team might consider pairing a lesser defenseman with Dougie Hamilton to lift them up.