5 Moments That Ruined New Jersey Devils Season

3. January 5th
Jack Hughes falls down

This is the turn that was really hard to come back from, and it was really hard for Jack Hughes to come back from. The Devils were playing the Chicago Blackhawks, a game the team had to win. They were actually losing most of the game, putting the team in a desperate spot. Right after Simon Nemec scored the game-tying goal, Hughes went down after losing his footing, and he came up favoring one side.

Devils fans were hopeful it was just a precaution. The team took the lead for good a few minutes later, so it wasn't necessary to keep him out there. He even tried to take another shift before he was shut down. It can't be that bad if he was able to take another shift, right?

It sounded like it wasn't going to be that bad an injury, but then Lindy Ruff came out and said it would be "weeks not months." That showed that the injury could indeed be more serious than we hoped.

Hughes ended up missing more than a month. That would have been fine if he looked even close to what he was when he got hurt. Hughes had five goals and seven assists in the 10 games before he was hurt. Let's just take Hughes' last 10 games for an example of what he's become. He has three goals and eight assists. That's good, right? More than a point per game? If anyone has seen the Devils, Hughes is not impacting the game the same at all. The assists are not as important, and he has missed more than he's hit on passes.