The New Jersey Devils need Jack Hughes healthy and playing well if they want to get back to being a winning team. Even if they ran out of track to be a playoff team this year, preparing for the future must be the emphasis for the core of this team.
Jack Hughes is the most important player among them. On Thursday, he looked healthy and productive in his Olympic debut with Team USA. In a 5-1 victory over Team Latvia, Jack Hughes has a case to be considered the best forward on the team.
Two goals were waved off with Hughes on the ice in the first period, but he ended up having two assists anyway. Both of them came as primary assists on goals scored by Brock Nelson. The former New York Islanders and current Colorado Avalanche forward has found great chemistry with the young Devils’ star.
These are the types of plays that Hughes is capable of making at a high rate when he’s healthy. Finding instant success with Nelson is a great way for him to get his legs going strong in Olympic competition. If Mike Sullivan wanted to keep his depth as strong as possible, he would keep these two together, regardless of how you label the line.
Jack’s first Olympic game was also his first with his brother, Quinn Hughes. Jack gets to play with Luke Hughes in the NHL all the time, but now he has a chance to skate with Quinn. They didn’t collect points on the same goals, but they did make some magic in the offensive zone more than once. Quinn did have two power-play assists on goals scored by Tage Thompson and Auston Matthews.
Jack Hughes showed up and showed out in his first Olympics appearance
Although many metrics will tell you that Jack Hughes played a solid role defensively at the 4-Nations Face-Off, he only had one assist over the course of the quick tournament. This time around, he seems to be ready to contribute more on both sides of the ice. Hughes has 387 points in 404 career games for a reason; he will collect his at every level.
It is hard to find chemistry in best-on-best situations. At the NHL level, you get training camps, lots of practices, and in most cases, years together. Nelson and Hughes became teammates last week. Mike Sullivan put Jack on the fourth line, and it was an incredible decision.
After the game, when asked about playing with Brock Nelson, he deflected any credit between the two of them. He simply talked about playing with the whole team, calling them a "special group".
There is no reason for this line to see less ice time as the tournament goes along. They are as talented and productive as most players on the team in the NHL, and they deserve the respect to play a lot as the tournament moves forward.
Next up for Team USA is a day off on Friday before a match against Denmark on Saturday.