The New Jersey Devils have spiraled, going from potential Cup contenders to unlikely to play past Game 82. There are plenty of theories for what exactly went wrong – whether it be goaltending, coaching, the general manager’s inability to act quickly enough, etc…
The bottom line is with all things considered, the team’s star players have not been getting it done on the ice. In particular, the iconic sibling duo of Luke and Jack Hughes have certainly been fighting it.
At the most crucial point of the season, they both appeared to have fizzled out. Albeit, potentially for reasons entirely out of their control. Combined, they are a dreadful minus-16 in their last ten games played.
Jack Hughes
A couple weeks ago, J. Hughes uttered the phrase, “People pay to watch me play!” in a chirp to Los Angeles Kings’ forward Viktor Arvidsson. With the way it’s gone for him, hopefully those people didn’t spend much more than the $16 it costs to get in the door next Tuesday (via TickPick).
What we’ve seen out of Hughes recently has been a lot of sloppy and inconsistent play. Turnovers have become commonplace, and his passes haven’t been nearly as crisp. All in all, he’s scored seven points to go with a minus-5 rating in his ten games back in the lineup. From a player of Hughes caliber, that’s not good enough…especially this time of year.
In a recent interview, he mentioned, “I’m obviously not playing at my best. But I’ve gotta find a way to get to that point and help us make a push.”
That bears some discussion. It feels like not too long ago that we were talking about a historic early season run by Hughes, who put up 20 points in nine games prior to facing the St. Louis Blues when he first got injured.
So, what gives? Was he never fully recovered from injury? Head coach Lindy Ruff confirmed that after Sunday’s loss: “We have guys playing through stuff. Jack is one of them, obviously.”
The reality is that even with the struggles, the Devils’ playoff hopes move from unlikely to nonexistent without Hughes in the lineup. His seven points in those ten games are tied with Jesper Bratt for third on the team.
It’s a double-edged sword. Hughes deserves kudos for pushing through whatever is ailing him in order to give the team a fighting chance. With that said, his many acts of frustration (including but not limited to) throwing his stick on the ice and giving snark to the media haven’t helped him get the benefit of the doubt there.
If the Devils slip a little more and fall out of the playoff picture, one would have to wonder if the Devils will shut Hughes down. On the contrary, maybe he’ll find his footing as he continues to work through his injury and return to his dominant form.
Luke Hughes
Unlike Jack, Luke Hughes has been able to remain healthy, taking the ice for all of the Devils’ 58 games thus far. However, he’s seemed to have simply run out of gas, and the results have been ugly.
He’s an abysmal minus-11 to go along with just three points in his last ten games. He’s also quarterbacking the powerplay which has performed at a historically poor pace since early January – 6 for 68 (8.8%).
From the eye test, he’s looked uncertain with puck management decisions and often fumbles the puck when pressured. Opposing penalty kills have feasted on his inability to efficiently and quickly move the puck.
Despite starting off the season strong defensively, he’s been very poor lately and has gotten bodied off the puck countless times. Adding muscle is definitely going to have to be a priority over the offseason.
However, it’s tough to completely fault him given two reasons. First, Hughes has played more minutes than any Devil this season, out of pure necessity with Dougie Hamilton’s injury suffered in November. Secondly, his longest season in college was just 41 games. Adjusting to the grueling demands of an 82-game schedule is not easy whatsoever, and we see in this chart how he completely hit a wall:
While he’s only 20 years old and has a promising future, his play is another hurdle that seems tough to overcome as the Devils fight to remain in the playoff race.
Temper Expectations
Does this all mean that the Hughes brothers are bad hockey players? Absolutely not. But what it does mean is that even without the Devils’ other issues, the struggles of the Hughes brothers alone would likely prevent them from making a run even if they did happen to slip into the playoffs.
It’s looking more and more like the Devils will have to chalk this season up to a lost one. But hockey is a weird and crazy sport, so anything could happen…
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