The New Jersey Devils are going into this season with a different unit on defense. They let Ryan Graves and Damon Severson sign elsewhere (actually, within the division), and they are replacing them with a mixture of new veterans (Cal Foote, Colin Miller) and youth fighting for a roster spot (Simon Nemec, Kevin Bahl, Santeri Hatakka). One player who isn’t fighting for a spot is Luke Hughes.
The former fourth-overall pick was given a look at the end of last season, and he made an instant impression. He helped the Devils secure their final regular season victory of the season with an overtime goal against the Washington Capitals. He was benched during the Devils first-round series win against the New York Rangers, but he got himself into the lineup in Game 3 of the second round with the Devils down 0-2 to the Carolina Hurricanes.
He made another immediate impact, helping lead the desperate Devils to an 8-4 victory. He was electric the entire game and finished with two assists. In the final game of the season, a 3-2 overtime loss in Game 5, only John Marino played more minutes than Luke Hughes. This team trusted a 19-year-old in their most important game of the season to play 25 minutes.
This season, Hughes is a lock to make this roster. Without those three games in the playoffs, there would be questions if he’d play in the AHL to start the season, but that is out the door. He’s an NHL player.
There are some concerns there. Hughes is mistake-prone, as most 20-year-old hockey players are. We saw some mistakes go awry in an instant in the playoffs. Some of his passes just boggled the mind. It was strange because his process and his passing were two of his best features at the University of Michigan. However, nothing was terribly concerning. Mistakes will happen. Veterans make bad passes. None of them have the ability of Luke Hughes.
His skating will cause so many more goals than his weaknesses will cause goals against. His movement and agility will open windows of opportunity every single shift.
Luke Hughes power-play shift pic.twitter.com/NfyzaddRAh
— Sam (@Samaold1) June 2, 2023
There aren’t many forwards who can skate like that. The fact Luke Hughes can do it shift after shift is a major advantage for New Jersey.
Of course, some will worry about Hughes and how he transitions to the NHL full-time. Analysts are looking for holes in this New Jersey Devils team. The young defense and the goaltending seem to be the two most popular targets. However, Luke Hughes is much more of an asset than he’ll ever be a detriment to this team, even in 2023-24. In fact, he should be a top candidate for the Calder Trophy.