The Canadian faced a formidable young team Thursday night in New Jersey. With this victory, the Devils improved their record to 9-5-2, second in the Metropolitan Division. They may not aspire to the Stanley Cup in the spring, but their future is bright.
Posted at 12:13 p.m.
Their first two centers, Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes, are 25 and 23 years old respectively. The former produced at a rate of 77 points last year, while ensuring rare reliability defensively. The second would have amassed 98 points prorated over a full season. At 25 years old, Jesper Bratt amassed 83 points. He already has 18 points in 16 games this year. Timo Meier scored 28 goals in just 69 games at 27 years old.
On defense, Luke Hughes had some hiccups in his zone, but had 47 points and played 21:28 at just 20 years old, a high for the Devils last year. Simon Nemec, 2e overall pick in 2022, has just been sent back to the American League to continue his apprenticeship and the giant Anton Silayev, 10e choice in 2024, has not yet arrived.
The Devils have solidified the goalie position with the arrival of Jakob Markstrom and Jake Allen over the past year.
However, New Jersey took a long time to get there. Let’s compare the evolution of the team to that of the Canadian. If we set the first year of the CH’s rebuild at 2022-2023, the summer when Juraj Slafkovsky was drafted first overall, let’s set that of the Devils at 2019-2020, when they drafted Jack Hughes with first choice.
An 1
2019-2020 (Devils)
2022-2023 (Canadian)
New Jersey
Nico Hischier, the first overall pick in 2017, is already in the organization, as are Pavel Zacha, the sixth overall pick in 2015, Michael McLeod and Jesper Bratt. We hope to see Ty Smith, first pick of 2018, become the offensive defenseman so sought after. Mackenzie Blackwood is the goalie of the future. Hischier has just finished his third season. His 36 points in 58 games represent 51 points over a full season. He had 52 in his first season.
Ray Shero amassed several draft picks at the trade deadline a few months earlier by trading away Brian Boyle, Ben Lovejoy, Keith Kinkaid and Marcus Johansson. PK Subban nevertheless comes to 30 during the summer to solidify the defense. He cost two second-round picks and second-tier prospects.
Jack Hughes entered the NHL at age 18. He had a modest first season with just 21 points in 61 games. Taylor Hall was traded in December 2019 for a first-round pick and some prospects by general manager Ray Shero. He will be fired in January. Blake Coleman was sent to the Lightning in February by Shero’s successor, Tom Fitzgerald. Head coach John Hynes was fired in December. The Devils finish at 26e overall ranking with a record of 28-29-12.
Montréal
Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield are already in the NHL. Head coach Dominique Ducharme and general manager Marc Bergevin were relieved of their duties during the previous season. The day Slafkovsky was drafted first overall, new GM Kent Hughes traded Alexander Romanov for center Kirby Dach. Slafkovsky entered the National League at age 18. He only gets 10 points in 39 games. The Canadian finishes at 28e overall ranking with a record of 31-45-6. He will draft defenseman David Reinbacher fifth overall. The rejuvenation phase continues with the departures of Joel Edmundson, Jonathan Drouin and Mike Hoffman, after those of Ben Chiarot, Tyler Toffoli, Artturi Lehkonen and Jeff Petry.
An 2
2020-2021 (Devils)
2023-2024 (Canadian)
New Jersey
The Devils have three first-round picks and draft Alexander Holtz at No. 7e rang, Dawson Mercer au 18e (Taylor Hall exchange) and Shakir Mukhamadullin at 20e (Blake Coleman exchange). Expectations are not very high. We include the young Yegor Sharangovich, Janne Kuokkanen, Ty Smith, Michael McLeod and Nate Bastian. Veterans Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri will be next to go, together, for a first-round pick by the Islanders.
Jack Hughes is making progress. He gets 31 points in 56 games, 45 points prorated over a full season. Nico Hischier is limited to only 21 games and obtains 11 points. A very disappointing season for a first overall pick. New Jersey finishes at 29e overall under Lindy Ruff, with a 19-30-7 record, and will draft defenseman Luke Hughes fourth overall.
Montréal
We open the door to young people, especially in defense. Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris, Johnathan Kovacevic and Arber Xhekaj start the year in Montreal. Alex Newhook was just acquired for a late first-round and second-round pick. The top line of Suzuki, Caufield and Slafkovsky will progress a lot. Despite the injuries, Dach is showing good things. Sean Monahan and Jake Allen are traded at the trade deadline. The Canadian obtains eight more points in the ranking, even if he wins one less match, and finishes at 28e rank. Montreal gets the fifth overall pick and drafts Ivan Demidov.
An 3
2021-2022 (Devils)
2024-2025 (Canadian)
New Jersey
This is the year when management in New Jersey could have said, at its golf tournament: we need to see progression, we want to be in the mix.
Jack Hughes, after all, will be in his third year, Hischier and Bratt are entering their prime. To speed up the process, GM Tom Fitzgerald acquired a number one defenseman on the free agent market, Dougie Hamilton, under a monstrous contract, 63 million for seven years, or an annual salary of 9 million. Ryan Graves also comes from Colorado, for a second round pick, to solidify the defense. Tomas Tatar is also hired on the free agent market.
This is a big breakthrough for many young people. Jack Hughes amassed 56 points in just 49 games, but fell in battle along the way. Bratt amassed 73 points, Hischier had his best offensive season with 60 points in 70 games. Sharangovich and Mercer get around forty points.
Despite everything, the Devils are having a miserable year with a record of 27-46-9, for 28e rank in the general classification. They even regressed compared to the previous season! They will get the second overall pick through the lottery and draft defenseman Simon Nemec second overall, behind Slafkovsky.
Montréal
The Canadian also wants to speed up the process by acquiring Patrik Laine from the Columbus Blue Jackets. But Laine is recovering from a difficult winter. Kent Hughes is not breaking the bank like Fitzgerald did in year 3. The CH has a record of 4-8-2 since the start of the season, with a club that is still very young, compared to the Devils at the start of the season. Year 3, with Hamilton, Graves, Subban, Damon Severson and Jonas Siegenthaler. Will he draft again in the top 5 like the Devils did in 2022 at the same stage of their reconstruction?
An 4
2022-2023 (Devils)
2025-2026 (Canadian)
Imagine the Canadian next season amassing 112 points, by virtue of a 52-22-8 record, and earning a first-round victory. The reconstruction is finally complete! Suzuki and Slafkovsky are among the NHL’s elite, as were Hughes and Hischier that year, with 99 points and 80 points respectively. Bratt scored 32 goals and Dawson Mercer 27. Luke Hughes didn’t even arrive, or at least he played the last two games of the season. We even had the luxury during the winter of obtaining first forward Timo Meier, 76 points in 77 games in San Jose the previous year, for a first round pick and a prospect. John Marino, obtained for Ty Smith, is also having an incredible season on the right flank of the defense.
An 5
2023-2024 (Devils)
2026-2027 (Canadian)
To everyone’s surprise, the Devils had a disastrous season. Tyler Toffoli had however been acquired to improve the attack. They amass barely five points more than the Canadian in the general classification. Bratt, Jack Hughes, Hischier and Meier, however, had good offensive seasons and Jack’s younger brother, Luke Hughes, established himself in defense. But the injury to Dougie Hamilton hurts.
Even if they no longer played a leading role, with less than 20 minutes of use on average per game, the departures of Damon Severson and Ryan Graves deprive the Devils of experience. But there is no question of covering two third pair defenders with gold as Columbus did in the case of Severson and Pittsburgh with Graves. Head coach Lindy Ruff was fired at the end of the season, replaced by Sheldon Keefe. The Devils get the tenth overall pick and draft monstrous Russian defenseman Anton Silayev.
How disappointed would the Canadiens fans be, in two and a half years, if he had a disastrous season after such a promising year in 2025-2026!
An 6
2024-2025 (Devils)
2027-2028 (Canadian)
The Devils are off to a splendid start. However, nothing is certain. They are not yet favorites to win the Stanley Cup, but they have eight or nine great seasons ahead of them with so many good young players. It requires patience, reconstruction…
The number of the day: 21
PHOTO SERGEI BELSKI, USA TODAY SPORTS
Martin Necas
Martin Necas’ points count after just 12 games. He demanded a trade last summer, before signing a two-year contract extension with the Carolina Hurricanes. They have just won an eighth consecutive victory and bring their record to 10-2-0. Jesperi Kotkaniemi still clings to the center of the second line. He has 8 points in 12 games.
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