11/17/25 01:44:00
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11/17 13:42 CST East-leading Devils face another extended stint without best
player Jack Hughes
East-leading Devils face another extended stint without best player Jack Hughes
By STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Hockey Writer
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) --- Jack Hughes is a big reason the New Jersey Devils are
atop the Eastern Conference and one of the best teams in the NHL six weeks into
the season, and now they'll have to endure the next two months without their
best player.
Hughes is out long term after undergoing surgery to repair a non-hockey-related
finger injury, and his teammates are faced with the challenge of filling the
void left by the absence of the face of the franchise. They've been here
before, forced to play the final two months of last regular season and the
playoffs after Hughes had shoulder surgery, and with an upgraded roster might
be even better equipped this time around to handle it.
"You've got to now just dig in for it," captain Nico Hischier said after
practice Monday. "Obviously he's a game-changer type of guy that can decide
games for us. We've still got enough skill in here, but we've got to be even
more glued together, stick together and keep working on our process that we
believe can have us being a successful hockey team."
There has been a lot of success early for New Jersey, which won 13 of 17 games
with Hughes leading the way with 10 goals and 20 points. Beating Washington on
Saturday night without him ensured first place in the East at least into the
start of an upcoming road trip.
First-line winger Timo Meier said the Devils have not been beating themselves
and know they cannot rest on what has worked in the past, given it's a long
season.
"We're giving ourselves a chance every night to win the game, and we have high
expectations on ourselves," Meier said. "We've got to continue and raise that
level every day."
They are playing at a high level despite a bevy of injuries. Defensemen Brett
Pesce and Dougie Hamilton, forwards Connor Brown, Cody Glass and Evgenii
Dadonov and No. 1 goaltender Jacob Markstrom have all missed time.
Hamilton, Brown and Dadonov all could return this week, though no one around
the team wants to use being banged up as an excuse.
"We've got to play with those guys that are available," Hischier said. "Nobody
wants to be out. Obviously it's great to have Dougie back and Brownie, as well,
and we move on from here."
Winger Jesper Bratt, who leads the Devils with 12 assists, pointed out that
Hughes is a particularly hard player to replace. Hughes has big roles at even
strength and on the power play and also gets some penalty-killing time as part
of his 21 minutes a night.
When Hughes was sidelined in March, brother Jack, Hischier and Bratt were all
point-a-game producers down the stretch.
"You never want to be used to it or anything, but there was definitely a
situation that we got known for a little bit from last year: losing him in the
end of the season through the playoffs, new guys stepping up and taking on
bigger rules and stuff like that," Bratt said. "From that standpoint I think
that we, as a group, just got to move forward."
Sheldon Keefe, in his second season as New Jersey's coach, is counting on
defending to carry his team through to sometime in January when Hughes is ready
to return.
"Even with Jack, producing offense was a challenge for us, so not having him
and the number of others we've been missing, the expectation is offense is
going to be harder to come by, so let's not give them any freebies," Keefe
said. "We've got to be smart and we've got to protect our goaltender: reduce
the amount of shots and high-quality chances so that we can keep the goals
against down."
Missing Hughes, Keefe knows he cannot ask more out of Hischier but will lean on
the likes of Ondrej Palat, Stefan Noesen and rookie Arseni Gritsyuk and others
to pick up some more slack. Getting other reinforcements back should also help.
"You manage it as best you can," Keefe said. "And you hope that along the way
here, we can stay healthy and get some people back and then that can make it a
lot easier."
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