It’s no surprise to say that the New Jersey Devils are struggling right now despite their record. They have been outplayed almost every game since going on a four-game West Coast road trip at the end of October. There are multiple reasons for the struggles, with injuries being at the top of the list.
They’ve lost Cody Glass, Connor Brown, Brett Pesce, and Dougie Hamilton since then. That’s especially frustrating since they have already been playing without Johnny Kovacevic, Zack MacEwen, and Evgenii Dadonov. The injuries are piling up, and it’s impacting all phases of the game.
The injuries on the right side of the defense are especially frustrating. The Devils are missing all three of their starters. Pesce’s injury hurt them at 5v5, but they are seriously feeling the injury to Hamilton on the power play.
Hamilton’s injury forces Luke Hughes to play on PP1. That has worked out at times in the past, but it’s not clicking this season.
According to Natural Stat Trick, Jack Hughes has been on the ice for six power-play goals in 25 minutes away from his brother. Meanwhile, Luke Hughes has been on the ice for three goals in just nine minutes away from Jack. In 20 minutes of power play time on the ice together, the brothers have seen just one goal. And in six minutes where neither Hughes brother is on the ice, the Devils have zero PP goals.
Diving deeper, the Devils' power play has been one of the worst since they left for Colorado on October 28th. They have just two PP goals in the past six games. What’s worse is they aren’t getting power plays at all in that time. Their 21:47 of PP minutes since October 27th is fifth-worst in the NHL, with the Jets and Canadiens playing one fewer game than the Devils.
It gets worse. They are tied for a league high with four high-danger chances allowed on the power play. They’ve been bailed out by their goalies, giving up no goals in that time, but it’s a terrible look. The team they are tied with, the San Jose Sharks, have 20 HDCF in that same timetable. The Devils have six.
Changes to the power play are necessary. The Devils can’t keep going forward like this. The most logical change is to separate Jack and Luke Hughes. And while it might come as a surprise, the best replacement is Simon Nemec.
Simon Nemec makes total sense on the first power-play unit
There are a few reasons why Nemec makes a ton of sense here. For one, he’s incredible at keeping the zone. Whether it’s with a great stick on the line or a worthwhile pinch, Nemec can increase zone time every time he’s on the ice. He’s volatile, which can be a problem, but this power play can survive volatility with who they have at forward.
Nemec hasn’t had a ton of opportunities on the power play, but we feel that is a mistake. He’s only played around four minutes. One might say it makes sense with Hamilton and Hughes ahead of him, but Nemec has always made sense on this unit. To be honest, Nemec and Hughes could play on the second unit together when Hamilton returns.
But we’re talking about now. Putting Nemec with Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Dawson Mercer/Timo Meier gives them another piece to the cycle that isn’t cyclical. With Luke Hughes back there, it tends to be a little too predictable where the puck is going to go. Nemec’s decision-making is often based on his instincts, so he could bring unpredictability that confuses the defense.
We understand this could lead to chances the other way, but that’s happening already. Might as well get a supreme offensive chance to go with it.