Luke Hughes can save New Jersey Devils because of this one attribute

As we write this, the New Jersey Devils are getting embarrassed by the Tampa Bay Lightning. At the time of this writing, it was 8-4. The team completely went into the tank after a big hit on Jesper Bratt by Erik Cernak. Who knows if the two have anything to do with each other, but one thing that was clear is the Devils inability to get out of their own zone led to many of the Lightning goals.

The Devils couldn't get the puck out of their own zone. Their failure to get the puck out is a mixture of less speed than they've had in years past, throwing the puck to areas that don't make a lot of sense, failing to get good wood on attempts to get the puck out (a lot of flailing at the puck), but more than anything else, the Devils could not get the puck out of the zone with possession.

For a team with Jack Hughes and other superstar puck-possession monsters, this is unacceptable. They should be able to easily get the puck out of the zone.

Another issue is their inability to keep the puck on their stick. Dougie Hamilton led the league in giveaways before the game with 18 according to MoneyPuck. Jonas Siegenthaler was tied for second with 15. Brenden Dillon, Jack Hughes, and Dawson Mercer all found themselves in the top 20. Way too many of those giveaways happened in the defensive zone and are going to kill this team.

So let's talk about who is missing from the lineup. Both Brett Pesce and Luke Hughes will help with both of these situations. Replacing the two worst performing defensemen (sorry Simon Nemec, we think you're going to the Utica Comets) with two amazing players in Hughes and Pesce will only make this team better. Pesce had 18 giveaways all season last year.

What's really going to help is speed. The Devils have been desperately looking for someone who can carry the puck out of their zone and into another zone with speed all season. That's Hughes' specialty. He has some of the fastest bursts of speed in the NHL. He can hit speeds over 20 miles per hour with consistency.

Hughes led all defensemen with 199 bursts of over 20 miles per hour last season, according to NHL EDGE stats. Those same stats had the Devils in their own zone just 38 percent of the time before the dreadful Lightning game (which only hurt that number). They are in the offensive zone 43 percent of the time. Both of those numbers are below average.

Hughes can skate the puck out of the zone in all situations. His speed is a factor that give the Devils an instant advantage. It forces opposing defensemen to take two extra skates back to make sure they can avoid giving up a breakaway or an odd-man chance. This is like how cornerbacks used to treat Randy Moss. They go the extra mile to keep the speedster in front of them.

Hughes has to show he is fully recovered from his shoulder injury before teams start to give him the benefit of the doubt, but if he skates from one zone to the next (which he has on multiple occasions) teams will start to respect his speed, and that will desperately help the Devils with zone exits.