When the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Chicago Blackhawks are mentioned, what do you think of them? Some words that come to mind are history, tradition, excellence, and the premier franchises of the NHL. These are some of the teams that are commonly recycled in the NHL’s outdoor games.
Since the inception of the National Hockey League’s venture outdoors, they’ve been very stingy with who gets the honor of playing those games. For Bettman and company to bestow this honor on the New Jersey Devils is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. This is an acknowledgment of what’s been built and what’s to come. Heck, if you said at this time last year that the Devils would be scheduled in an outdoor game, you’d be called nuts.
Jack Hughes and the boys
Every one of us knows how this season went. Fairytale, surprising, underdog story, the ways to describe the improbability of making the playoffs, and then the second round of the dance. Let’s talk about the team and why they’re the first in a new wave of NHL teams. Led by our very own Jack Hughes, the NHL is younger, faster, flashier, and much more confident.
Gone are the days of vanilla personalities and copy-paste personas. “The Boys” are brash. They’re cocky; they look, play, and feel good. With a player of those attributes, the NHL wants them to be seen and celebrated. Insert Jack Hughes. From witty press conferences to electrifying play, and now his younger brother Luke Hughes as a sidekick. He’s got the ball in his hands.
Jack Hughes will get a lot of attention and eyes for deserving reasons. A ton of players still got the Devils to this point. Names like Dawson Mercer, Akira Schmid, John Marino, and Nate Bastian aren’t on many top-player lists. However, they’re players that this fan base and other fanbases gravitate towards. Multiple times this year, you could go online and see fans of opposing teams clamor for a Dawson Mercer-type player. His ability, mixed with his intensity on the ice, is something desirable to all fans of the game.
For a couple of weeks in April, Akira Schmid was the talk of the town. The former USHL goalie had the New York Rangers in the palm of his hand. John Marino was a cap causality for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who became integral to the New Jersey Devils’ defensive core.
When the Seattle Kraken took Nate Bastian in the expansion draft, the uproar by Devils fans was something not often seen from this fanbase. Fast forward to his return and subsequent play; that reaction has been greater than the letdown. None of these four are the marquee names, but they’re the players that get their shine in these big games. When the Devils are playing in next season’s Stadium Series, the internet will be littered with their names.
When looking at the teams that have won Stanley Cups in the past 10 years, what did those teams all have? Established cores. By no stretch of the imagination can the Devils claim to have the core of any of those teams. The Devils have a great opportunity to be in that same discussion one day.
Up-and-coming talents like Luke Hughes, Simon Nemec, and Akira Schmid, paired with the existing core of Nico Hischier, Dougie Hamilton, and Jack Hughes, will be amazing to watch for the next few seasons. Grow from the inside, keep evolving, and never stop learning. Three teams (Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Tampa Bay) have won multiple Cups in the past 10 years, and nobody would be shocked if Colorado got another. They did it with their cores.
Last time, and the only time the Devils played outside, they were considered the home team, but they weren’t actually. This time, it’s all ours. Few fanbases in sports are like that of the New Jersey Devils, and the red and black faithful will show out in MetLife Stadium in February.