The New Jersey Devils have been rolling lately, ignoring the game against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night. They've dominated in possession, analytics, and on the scoreboard. Things have been going very well, and one of the biggest reasons the Devils have been winning is depth scoring.
It’s actually really interesting. Through 13 games last season, 10 Devils players had at least two goals. This year, it’s also 10 players. We had 16 players score at least one goal, up from 13 last year, which shows the Devils were a very different team after October.
What’s most different between last year and this year is the process. The Devils seem to be winning the right way. They are beating players to the punch, winning board battles, and making timely shots. They are the best rush team in the league. It’s going very well for the Devils.
One person for whom it could be going better is Jack Hughes.
Jack Hughes isn't having a bad season by any metric. His analytics are incredible, especially since Sheldon Keefe moved Arseny Gritsyuk onto his line. His counting numbers, not so much.
The Devils got the Jack Hughes that's a fascilitator so far this season, but that hasn't worked out as well as it should. Jesper Bratt has struggled with finishing, and that's usually fine because Hughes does his own finishing, but it hasn't worked out that way.
Jack Hughes is tied with his brother Luke Hughes and Jesper Boqvist with four goals in 13 games. On Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars, he scored his first 5v5 goal. Prior to that, he had two overtime goals and an empty-net goal.
That makes his shooting percentage even worse. Hughes is shooting 8.5% this season. He’s tied for the league lead with 47 shots. Timo Meier is also first, but he has just one goal this season.
With more than 20 minutes of ice time per game, Hughes is going to start seeing goals come in bunches. His shooting percentage right now would be the lowest it’s been since the COVID-shortened 2021 season. There’s no way this will remain like this.
The same goes for Bratt, so Hughes should get even more points than he has now. Hughes has 14 points in 13 games, so he hasn’t been bad by any stretch, but the Devils would love to get a few more important goals outside of overtime from him.
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