New Jersey Devils Are Set With Their Top Two Centers
Winning is fun, especially when the New Jersey Devils are the ones doing it. On Sunday, they defeated the St. Louis Blues thanks to a big goal from Dougie Hamilton in overtime. He is one of the most important pieces of this whole puzzle going forward.
Speaking of important pieces, few will ever be as important as Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier. A lot of the recent successes in the NHL as far as teams are squads loaded down the middle, especially at the top of the lineup. New Jersey is hoping that Hughes and Hischier become that.
They are certainly well on their way. There wasn’t much continuity early in the season thanks to COVID-19 and injuries but things have certainly gotten better lately. These two are starting to show why they were first overall picks.
Since February 1st, which is really when things started to become normal again for the Devils, Hughes leads the team in scoring with 15 points and Hischier is in second with 14. Jack has played in fewer games because he tested positive after All-Star Weekend but he came back just fine.
The New Jersey Devils need a lot out of Jack Hughes and Nico Hischier.
Most people were able to see the breakout for Hughes coming. He is always creating high-quality chances with his offense. He is also a wizard at stealing the puck from his opponents and turning it into offense which makes him a premier center if the point totals get really high.
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As for Hischier, he has his critics. Unfortunately for the anti-Hischier crowd, he is really starting to heat up. His advanced statistics always suggested that he was an outstanding player but the point totals weren’t there yet.
Now, the points are coming. Hischier and Hughes are both also so young and entered the league as teenagers. Their development took some time and still has a long way to go but they are on the right track.
Sometimes a player’s draft status creates illogical expectations. Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews are generational talents that don’t come around very often. Those guys hit the ground running in the NHL without much help but that doesn’t mean you can expect that from everyone that goes first overall.
It took Nathan MacKinnon, Aaron Ekblad, Steven Stamkos, Taylor Hall, and a list of others a lot of time to become superstars. Now, with a little bit of patience, they have all had tremendous success in the NHL. Hughes and Hischier are on that path.
What does the ceiling look like for these two? Well, both of them have high offensive ceilings. Jack’s is probably a little bit higher but Nico’s defensive game is probably a little bit better. There is no doubt that they each drive their own line.
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They complement each other enough to be an elite two-headed monster down the middle. Hopefully, this leads to a lot more team success in the future.