New Jersey Devils: 5 Ways To Survive Without Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton
The New Jersey Devils got bad news last week when we learned that Jack Hughes was going to miss at least five more weeks with a separated shoulder. It’s terrible news for a team that is still trying to find its identity on offense. Hughes was the driver of this offense, and he was electric for the first 90 minutes of the season before he got injured against the Seattle Kraken.
It’s okay. The Devils can survive this. They added pieces in the offseason, and Jonathan Bernier and Mackenzie Blackwood are returning. The Devils can survive this.
One of the main reasons they were “surviving” was that Dougie Hamilton was playing like one of the best defensemen in the league. His offense was off the chart, and he was setting up his teammates at an insane clip. His defense was just fine, too. The pairing with Ryan Graves was working out better than anyone could have hoped.
How with the New Jersey Devils survive without Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes?
Then, on Tuesday night (more like Wednesday morning), Hamilton got hurt against the Anaheim Ducks. He tried to skate on whatever injury he had when he came out for the second period, and he immediately went back down in the tunnel. He was never heard from again.
Hamilton’s loss feels like it’s more devastating than the Hughes injury. Maybe because this is the icing on the cake. How can the Devils survive without Hamilton or Hughes? They lost their two best players, their two superstars that were supposed to drive them to playoff contention this season. Now, they have to take the mentality of a college basketball team playing in March Madness. The Devils must survive and advance.
There hasn’t been an update on Hamilton’s injury, but if it is somewhat long-term, here is how the Devils can make sure they aren’t completely out of it when their two superstars return.
1. Fix Special Teams
There is no more important aspect to the Devils’ game that needs fixing more than special teams. Lindy Ruff’s system is working perfectly with this team at 5v5. They are a driver of chances over and over again when at even strength. They are tilting the ice in their favor with just about every single line.
Then someone gets a penalty, and the entire playbook goes out the door.
How can a team that generates so many chances be so bad when they have a man advantage? The Devils are scoring on just 13% of their power plays, and somehow it feels like it’s worse than that. The goals they do get on the power play feel lucky. The system is disjointed, and the players don’t seem to trust what they are doing. Nico Hischier said the team doesn’t have “confidence” in the power play after Tuesday’s loss to the Ducks.
The Devils need to fix it and fast. If they can’t get the power play closer to 20%, then it will be really hard to generate offense in general. It’s already hard to do it without Hughes running the top line or Hamilton creating from the blue line. Now they can’t get chances from the power play?
Then, there’s the penalty kill. They allow a power-play goal 28 percent of the time. The PK actually looked decent to start the season, but it’s fallen off a cliff in the past week. Now, it’s ranked fifth from the bottom of the league, and that’s because most of the league has been awful at stopping power-play goals.
The Devils special teams need to be middle of the pack. They can’t survive these injuries if they don’t fix these two units immediately.
2. No More Excuses From Nico Hischier
Nico Hischier deserved some excuses to start the season. He was creating chances, but his wingers weren’t burying them. He was getting chances up close, but the opposing goalie made an insane save. There were places where he looked like one of the best players on the ice, but the finishing just wasn’t there. No more excuses. Hischier needs to lead this team like a first-overall pick. Maybe he’s worried about playing like a captain. Don’t worry about it. Drive offense. Be selfish. Do whatever it takes to put the puck in the net.
The 22-year-old has 1 goal and 2 assists in 8 games. He’s on pace to score 30 points. That’s unacceptable. He needs to be much, much closer to double that. It’s still early, and players go through scoring slumps, but there is no evidence he can break out of it.
Hischier has 91 points in 258 career games. That’s about .35 points per game or a 29 point pace over 82 games. That is just unacceptable from the Devils captain. He’s supposed to be a 60-point player by now. He needs to be. No more injury excuses, or complaining about his linemates.
Hischier needs to show the offensive upside he showed his rookie year, which is now four seasons ago. 20 goals and 40 assists are the minimum acceptable number from his this season. Start scoring Hischier. Start setting up teammates where they have no choice but to score. It’s time to get the Hischier we expect now that he’s the star of the forward group.
3. P.K. Subban Has To Change His Game
Stop trying to be the superstar on the defensive end you once were, P.K. Subban. Just be what you are now. If Subban tries to mimic Hamilton’s game like he’s playing it, where he’s not the worst defenseman in the world and just gets in lanes in his own zone and then goes to be an elite offensive weapon, this could work. He has to stop doing whatever he’s been doing on defense which is causing him to trip everyone in sight.
Subban has been on the ice for 6 goals against and has been on the ice for 4 goals scored. Honestly, it sounds bad, but it’s not even close to one of the worst on the team. Still, he needs to be better. He has 21 shots and zero goals. If he’s going to have the third-most shots on the team, he has to eventually score. He has 1 individual high-danger chance. Defensemen aren’t usually getting in areas for high-danger chances, but Subban has to get there sometime, right?
Subban is going to be on the line with Ryan Graves. It makes sense to not break up the Ty Smith-Damon Severson line. Smith needs to step his game up, and he can’t do that while also trying to build chemistry with his linemate. Let him cook with Severson, and tell Graves and Subban to be minute eaters. They need to keep pucks out of the net. Focus on that, and let the Devils drive play on the other end. Subban can make great breakout passes, so focus on what he’s doing right.
4. Wingers Need To Start Scoring
Which winger are Devils fans happy with this season? Andreas Johnsson has probably been the best. He has four goals in eight games, and he looks much better than he did last season. Pavel Zacha is tied for the team league with four goals, so that’s something. Outside of them, the next winger on the “positive” side of things is Jimmy Vesey. That’s not good.
Yegor Sharangovich has zero goals this season. He was such an important aspect of the Devils offense, but now they have to sit back and wonder what is going on with him. Jesper Bratt had a good game after he was paired with Dawson Mercer. That should be his center moving forward since they seem to be electric together. However, he needs to prove it beyond one goal.
Who knows what is going on with Janne Kuokkanen. He is invisible this season. He has two points this season. He needs to be better, straight up.
The Devils could always call up Alex Holtz from Utica to save them, but they seem very hesitant to make that move. He’s clearly too good for the AHL, but maybe this is a long-term plan to build his confidence to a new level. Who knows, but the team in New Jersey could really use someone like him on the wing. They are desperate for goals, and Holtz provides them.
5. Elite-Level Goaltending
This one might be the one we’re most confident in happening. Jonathan Bernier has been really good for most of the season even if he didn’t have his best game on Tuesday night. He has proven he can win games on his own. Mackenzie Blackwood is finally back from his offseason heel surgery, and he was the backup on Tuesday night. He should be ready to play later this week. The Devils have two really good goalies who should give them a chance to win on a nightly basis.
Blackwood is the real question mark here. He’s the Devils starter when things fall into place perfectly. He has the skills to be one of the top goalies in the league. He’s been that in seasons past. Last year was a little different as he admitted he had a lot of trouble dealing with some impacts of long-term COVID, but he is fully healthy now. As long as the heel doesn’t become a major problem, the Devils should be able to get the best out of Blackwood.
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These two are going to need to carry the Devils through these hard times. If we’ve learned anything from contenders in the past it’s that the best players need to step up. Outside of Hischier and Dawson Mercer, Blackwood and Bernier might be the best players on the ice for the Devils. They need to prove why they can be an elite duo.