Latest Injury Glut Could Change How Devils Approach Season’s Second Half
NHL To Gamblers: (Profanity) You!
Another day, another Devil down. High-octane Vancouver invaded Prudential Center on Saturday night and came away with a 6-4 victory. Adding injury to insult, New Jersey defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler broke his left foot from blocking a shot early in the second period. While down on the ice, the Canucks pushed across their second goal.
For those keeping track, Siegenthaler’s injury made it five of New Jersey’s eight highest paid players who were missing in action when the final horn sounded. Considering the top-heaviness of the Devils’ payroll structure, that horn could also serve as a sound for alarm.
The team’s high aspirations are on, excuse the pun, thin ice. The Devils who played their hearts out on Saturday’s back-to-back, where they are now 1.7-1 on the back end (and will face seven more sets over the season’s second half), were a shell of the club that was expected to continue its rise into the NHL’s elite this season.
The schedule only served as a partial explanation for the one-sided nature of the affair. Rarely do you see an NHL team disrespect an opponent the way Vancouver just did in terms of their puck pressure. I’m not just talking about the usual heavy forecheck with defensemen pinches. The Canucks would chase puck possessing Devils defensemen behind the net knowing that they couldn’t be beaten up the ice. Through two periods, Vancouver owned a 17-3 advantage in high danger scoring chances, per NaturalStatTrick.com. If not for Devils goalie Nico Daws, the Canucks might have hit double digits.
That the Canucks allowed the gassed Devils (21-15-2) to creep within a goal twice after generating three-goal leads is a small matter for their coaching staff. On the other hand, New Jersey’s top brass, including General Manager Tom Fitzgerald, has far more pressing concerns. As in, what next?
In the tight Eastern Conference, there can be no respite. Though the Devils have four days off, that might not be enough to allow any of their top absentees to return to action by Thursday’s contest at Tampa Bay. All we know about superstar Jack Hughes’ “upper body” injury, incurred during an innocuous late-game offensive zone entry during New Jersey’s 4-2 victory over visiting Chicago on Friday night, is from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman’s report that “the Devils are optimistic that this can avoid surgery, and that’s the best-case scenario.”
Whatever “this” or the “scenario” is (see below).
In the meantime, the Devils might be able to find a replacement stay-at-home type defenseman like Siegenthaler in their system or via a trade, but you can’t just pick up a 1.41 points per game generator like Hughes anywhere. Add in major point producers like forward Timo Meier and defenseman Dougie Hamilton and New Jersey now has 86 goals (117 if you include Meier’s tallies before being traded from San Jose in February) from last season’s total currently sitting on the sidelines.
Depending on Hughes’ status, this could change everything with regard to how Fitzgerald approaches the next two months leading up to the March 8 trade deadline. How much of his remaining asset cupboard does he want to divest chasing an East wild card? Even if he chooses to push Hamilton’s $9 million salary cap hit into the long-term injured reserve pool, is that even prudent given that he will have to deal with several important pending free agents this offseason like Tyler Toffoli, Dawson Mercer, and Michael McLeod (the latter two will be restricted)?
The better part of valor might be to simply stay the course. This isn’t the same thing as tanking, where the Devils would sell off pieces and look to maximize their 2024 pick in the NHL Entry Draft. New Jersey’s youth (fourth youngest as of the NHL’s opening night rosters) means that their window to reach the ultimate goal of a Stanley Cup isn’t anywhere close to shutting.
Practically speaking, the Devils could simply give heavy minutes to defensemen Simon Nemec (19), Luke Hughes (20, Kevin Bahl (23), and AHL call-up X (Santeri Hatakka and Danil Misyul are 22 and 23, respectively), plus Graeme Clarke (22) and other forward prospects they wish to evaluate. You never know who is going to pop—Alexander Holtz (21) appears to be blossoming with more ice time this season.
Or this season may just end up being a rough year of adolescent growth. It isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the world. Fitzgerald’s old boss Ray Shero used to say that progress isn’t necessarily linear. I am also reminded of a retort from the film “The Power of One” when confronted by an impatient student pressing for change: “(History) is never kind to those who try to hurry it.”
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The sports gambling explosion was supposed to come with the side benefit of increased transparency from pro sports clubs. Except the NHL remains the sole business to give the proverbial middle finger to such a notion.
While there can always be a bit of gamesmanship when it comes to reporting injuries, at least most leagues recognize the risks of too much secrecy. The NFL, for instance, has been publishing injury reports in the lead-up to games for decades because the last thing they want is for someone on the inside to sell certain privileged information to unsavory people. When their rules appear to be violated, they investigate, like with Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow.
The NHL, though, continues to operate like they’re in the “Slap Shot” movie, where they fear sadistic players who will pound on vulnerable areas. That’s how we got “upper body”, “lower body”, and, in Meier’s case, “mid body” injury descriptions. Trust me, it isn’t because of HIPAA privacy rules.
The communication is better when players like Hamilton and Siegenthaler require surgery and is out for an extended period. But with Hughes, we might never know. All signs pointed to captain Nico Hischier suffering a concussion that cost him 11 games earlier this season. The Devils kept is hush-hush.
And that’s not quite right when you’re promoting gambling. Many bets are props, such as whether the Devils will reach a win total, make the playoffs, or capture the Cup. You can also wager on how Hughes will do individually. Knowing the seriousness of his injury would seem to be relevant to those decisions.
To that, the NHL says, “(Profanity) you!”