Devils Will Soon Have Decision To Make As To Whether Younger Hughes Is The Man to Relight Spark For Stretch Run
Instead of staying home on Friday night to watch the Devils continue to scuffle down the stretch of the regular season, losing for the fifth time in their last six games in Buffalo, 5-4, I decided to trek over to Allentown, PA to check in on a potential sparkplug.
That of course would be Luke Hughes, the Devils No. 4 overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. The superb University of Michigan sophomore defenseman led his club to an 11-1 walloping of Colgate in the first round of the NCAA Tournament with a goal and four assists.
Hughes, the younger brother of Devils All-Star center Jack Hughes, was as advertised—a tremendous skater with exceptional skill with the puck on his stick. His dazzling backhand feed from behind the Colgate net to Nick Granowicz to open the scoring in the first period merely whetted my appetite.
Unlike Jack, Luke has some size—he’s listed at 6-foot 2 and 190 pounds—which helped him absorb a bit of a pounding in the early going from the Colgate forwards who were likely instructed to hit him at every opportunity. In the second period, Hughes keeled over after blocking a shot in the midsection, but he did not miss a shift.
By the end of the period, the left-handed shooting Hughes imposed his will on the game. He had a primary assist on Mark Estapa’s redirection from in front to put the Wolverines up, 4-0, and, for his piece de resistance, he picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone while killing a Michigan penalty, carried it across the blue line. faked to the inside, and, in one quick motion, went back to his forehand with a wicked snipe from a bit of distance that beat the beleaguered Colgate goalie high to the far side.
With the game out of hand in the third period, Hughes recorded a pair of assists to Rutger McGroarty on a five-minute major power play, the first after his one-timed slap shot was tipped in by McGroarty and the latter a crisp pass from the right point to McGroarty cutting in front for a backhanded score.
Obviously, one game versus an overmatched opponent isn’t enough to evaluate whether Hughes has the goods to step into the NHL fire this season—part of me was hoping Michigan would lose so that we wouldn’t have to wait as many as two more weeks before he signed his Entry Level contract, as has been reported. However, just as there were many intriguing aspects to his game, there were also concerns that gave me pause.
Hughes is the ultimate high risk/high reward player. In college, he has no fear about carrying the puck through the opposition, even if it sometimes leads to turnovers. I won’t kill him for his weak poke pass along the boards in his own zone that Colgate intercepted and transitioned into their lone goal early in the third period, but there were other plays in the game that would have had Devils Head Coach Lindy Ruff, given his obsession with “puck management”, spinning his head.
There will be tremendous temptation to get Hughes on the New Jersey ice in relatively short order, but if the Wolverines make it to the Frozen Four and Championship Game, his collegiate season might not end until April 8. The Devils will only have two regular season games thereafter, which isn’t a ton of time to get him acclimated to their system.
There’s also the matter of fit. Barring any injuries, Hughes would likely take the spot of the current sixth defenseman, which is being manned by a rotation of Brendan Smith and Kevin Bahl. Both are defensive-oriented d-men who are often used on the penalty kill. Again, just because Hughes has been killing penalties at Michigan doesn’t mean he is qualified at the next level. As for the Devils power play, Hughes would have to compete for ice time against Dougie Hamilton, who is on a franchise record-setting points pace, and Damon Severson, a capable quarterback for PP2.
The organization’s conundrum is that no one projected this team to rise from the ashes to the league’s third-best record so quickly. Had there been more of an incremental growth this season through the help of some cagey veteran additions last summer as expected, inserting Hughes into the lineup as soon as he was made available would have been a no-brainer.
The so-called timeline, though, has been expedited by the high regular season achievement. The Devils are on a crash course with the rising Rangers in what will be an overhyped first round playoff matchup. It wouldn’t be unreasonable if some of the younger core players experienced a few growing pains in such a high-profile series. With regard to substituting Hughes for a veteran like Smith, the organization will have to do a hasty cost/benefit analysis.
My guess after my limited experience of watching him in action (thank you, Andrew, for the hospitality) is that Hughes will earn his way into the lineup by Game 1.
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I should also mention the two other Devils prospects who manned Michigan’s blue line this season. Seamus Casey, a 2022 second-rounder, and Ethan Edwards, who was selected in the fourth round of the 2020 Draft, comprised the Wolverines’ second pair.
The duo complemented each other well, with Edwards more of a stay-at-home type who delivered some big hits that belied his listed 5-foot 11, 190 pound frame, and Casey your standard right-handed shot puck mover. As you’d expect in such a rout, both players contributed offensively, with Casey registering three assists to Edwards’ one.
Casey left a big impression with me as a player with Brian Rafalski vibes. His size (5-foot 10, 178 pounds) and the way he transports the puck with his smart skating and passing brought flashbacks of Rafalski’s days winning two Stanley Cups in New Jersey.
The size, though, could be a big hurdle for Casey. General Manager Tom Fitzgerald’s predecessor Ray Shero seemed to have a fondness for that type of d-man—Will Butcher and Ty Smith come to mind. The new regime, though, has been operating with more of a bigger-is-better agenda for their defensemen. John Marino is the lilliputian in the group—at 6-foot 1 and 181 pounds. Good thing he has played all season like a beast.
I was glad Fitzgerald was able to hold onto Casey in last month’s package that went to San Jose in the trade for power forward Tim Meier. Casey is clearly a valuable asset. Whether he can leap into The Show like Rafalski once did or he becomes the new version of Reilly Walsh who gets stuck in the minors is a question for another year.