Do you know how they say bad news comes in threes? Bad news has come in 10s for the New Jersey Devils this season. While they do enjoy a stop in first place in the Eastern Conference, they've pretty much lost on average one player per game. They've played 17 games so far this season, and they've had Evgenii Dadonov, Stefan Noesen, Seamus Casey, Mark McLaughlin, Cody Glass (2x), Zack MacEwen (2x), Johnny Kovacevic, Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, Jacob Markstrom, Connor Brown, Juho Lammikko, and Jack Hughes on the shelf. That's 15 injury stints over 17 games for those counting at home.
Obviously, the worst of them was Hughes's injury, which was announced on Friday night. Hughes was injured at a team dinner and will miss eight weeks. He won't even be evaluated until six weeks from now.
Now, the Devils need to figure out what they have at the center position behind Hughes. Nico Hischier has struggled this season, but he should be able to figure it out on the first line. The real issue is Cody Glass. He played second-line center last season when Hughes went out at times, but he is also out.
He left the Chicago Blackhawks win on Wednesday night after sliding hard into the boards. He tried to return in the second period, but he left in the middle of his first shift. It was bad news that just kept getting worse.
For those hoping that Glass was fine and would be able to help supplant the impact lost by Hughes, we have some more bad news for you.
#NEWS: Head coach Sheldon Keefe says Cody Glass is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury. pic.twitter.com/WPxTLWeOSd
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) November 15, 2025
Cody Glass is the latest player who is going on the shelf for an extended period of time
The Devils are holding onto that first place spot in the standings for dear life at this point. Losing Glass for even two weeks would hurt the team, but it’s devastating for a team already down its top-line center.
Now, the Devils have to play two players out of position to get through this, or they have to seriously hurt the roster to keep natural centers in their position. The first option is to play both Paul Cotter and Dawson Mercer at center. This isn’t a great scenario, but it might be better than putting both Lammikko and Luke Glendening in the lineup. One or the other is perfectly capable of getting the job done on the fourth line. Forcing them to play up on the third line is when it becomes a problem.
The bad news isn’t going away, but if the Devils can tread water and go .500 without Jack Hughes in the lineup, then they should be well within a playoff spot when he returns.
This has been a very rough day for the Devils and its fanbase, but there are positives to come. Maybe 2025 isn’t our year, but the playoffs are played in 2026. Here’s to a better next calendar year.