Maybe the biggest disappointment of all for the Devils this season wasn’t just Jack Hughes’ injury, but the fact that they’d already seen what Hughes’ absence does to this team and still weren’t properly prepared for the impact.
Alas, the team was doing well enough at the beginning of the season. It’s not dramatic to say everything completely fell apart the moment Hughes left the lineup after hand surgery. Of course, you can’t blame the collapse all on Hughes’ absence, but the failure to score when he’s out of the lineup has indicated a need for more secondary scoring for a while, now.
On top of Hughes’ injury, the Devils failed to win the sweepstakes for brother Quinn, and according to the Canucks, no team “came close” to what the Wild offered.
This season was a disappointment on multiple levels for the Devils, and there’s some soul searching to do in the offseason.
