Luke Hughes proving to be the No. 1 defenseman ahead of Stanley Cup Playoffs

Luke Hughes may be the youngest of the three Hughes brothers, but as of late he is certainly not in anyone's shadow. In the absence of Dougie Hamilton and Jonas Siegenthaler due to injuries, Hughes has taken his chance and become the Devils' No.1 defenseman.

And to be fair, for most of this calendar year, the New Jersey Devils have been fighting hard to keep their spot alive as the third team in the Metropolitan division for the Eastern Conference Wild Card race. In this race to the playoff, Hughes has really stepped up to fill both the offensive and defensive holes left by the previously mentioned Hamilton and Siegenthaler.

When we look at this analytically, Hughes's numbers are as follows — 16 points over the last 14 games while averaging over 23 minutes of ice time per game.

"Yeah, [Luke Hughes] was excellent. It seemed like any sort of offense we generated he was involved in … We need our game-breakers to beat some coverage and make a play."

Head Coach Sheldon Keefe, post Minnesota

The 21-year-old's 29:11 of ice time against the Minnesota Wild on March 31st was no accident. It was a masterclass in two-way hockey. He quickly killed any plays in the neutral zone while also jumping up in the play to score his seventh goal of the year on a wicked wrist shot, before later adding his 34th assist on the season after making a textbook stick check at the offensive blue line.

But the New Hampshire native was also extremely impressive in the Devils most recent 4-0 shutout win over their Hudson River rival of the New York Rangers.

The youngest Hughes brother earned another point this game with an assists in one of Timo Meier's goals during the matinee matchup.

One of the pivotal moments occurred early in the second period when Meier scored a power-play goal. Captain Nico Hischier won the faceoff, and Hughes passed to Meier, who then fired a one-timer past the Rangers' goalie, Igor Shesterkin, giving the Devils a 1-0 lead.

Hughes's assist helped set the tone of the game and allowed Meier to build up his confidence for the rest of the game after scoring against the highest-paid goaltender in the NHL. The assist also further proved that "Snoopy Hughes" is stepping up as the No. 1 defenseman for the Devils when he's needed.