With their backs against the wall versus the Carolina Hurricanes, the New Jersey Devils are turning to 19-year-old defenseman Luke Hughes in Game 3, head coach Lindy Ruff announced Saturday.
Hughes will replace Ryan Graves, who's out with an upper-body injury.
The Devils used the following defense pairs during Saturday's practice:
LD
RD
Jonas Siegenthaler
Dougie Hamilton
Luke Hughes
Damon Severson
Kevin Bahl
John Marino
Hughes received work with the top power-play unit at practice, too.
Veteran Brendan Smith was an option to replace Graves, but the Devils are rolling with the rookie instead.
Hughes, the younger brother of Devils forward Jack Hughes and Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes, tallied a goal and an assist - including a memorable overtime winner - in two games with New Jersey during the regular season after turning pro.
The 2021 fourth overall pick registered 10 goals and 38 assists in 39 games at Michigan this past season.
The Devils trail 2-0 in the series. Game 3 is set for Sunday.
Another Starboy has entered the sweepstakes to purchase the Ottawa Senators.
Canadian singer Abel Tesfaye, best known by his stage name The Weeknd, has joined the Harlo Capital Group led by Toronto billionaires Jeffrey and Michael Kimel to hope to buy the Sens, sources told Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch.
Actor Ryan Reynolds and rapper Snoop Dogg are also making separate efforts to purchase the NHL franchise. Reynolds' group is reportedly prepared to bid $1 billion. Seven groups overall remain involved in the bidding.
The Weeknd, a native of Toronto, has won four Grammys, is the most streamed artist on Spotify, and performed the Super Bowl LV halftime show.
"He's going to be a great partner for Ottawa and the NHL," a source close to The Weeknd told Garrioch. "The team he works with grew up in Ottawa, so they know the market really well, but he's the largest musician (on the) planet right now. He has the most views, the most streams, and he's a hockey guy.
"He doesn't like to be in the media very often, so this really says something that he wants to be part of a bid. He wants to get this deal done, he wants to build something that will be great in Ottawa and he'll be a good fit. He's got a lot of connections worldwide."
The Senators have been owned by Anna and Olivia Melnyk since their father, Eugene, died in March 2022. The franchise was put up for sale in November.
New York-based bank Galatioto Sports Partners, which was hired to sell the club, has set a May 15 deadline for final nonbinding offers.
The Carolina Hurricanes are in complete control through two games of their second-round playoff series, having outscored the New Jersey Devils 11-2. The typically dynamic Devils, who also lost the first two games in Round 1, are looking to flip the script in Sunday afternoon's pivotal Game 3. Here are three duos primed to swing the series as the action shifts to Newark, New Jersey.
Jack Hughes and Jordan Staal
Josh Lavallee / Getty Images
You need to see, oh, maybe five seconds from the first two games to get a strong read on how the highly anticipated Hughes-Staal matchup is unfolding.
In Game 1, Hughes was accidentally high-sticked by Staal. The unpenalized incident led to Hughes, one of the faces of the NHL, losing a front tooth. In Game 2, Hughes backchecked to no avail as Staal scored on a breakaway deke. The 3-0 goal led to Hughes banging his stick against the end boards.
Hughes, a 99-point man in the regular season, produced three goals and two assists in the Devils' seven-game first-round series against the New York Rangers. Held pointless through two contests versus the Hurricanes, No. 86 has been on the ice for four goals against, zero for, and has personally gone entire periods without looking dangerous - in large part due to Staal.
Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
Hughes, 21, and Staal, 34, have shared the ice for 20 five-on-five minutes. In that time, Carolina leads in shot attempts (15-14), shots on goal (9-5), and goals (2-0), while New Jersey holds the edge in high-danger attempts (5-4).
Hughes epitomizes the Devils' patented rush offense, which has been virtually nonexistent to start the series, while Staal - who's five inches taller and 45 pounds heavier - epitomizes the Hurricanes' smothering, error-free defense.
Plain and simple, if New Jersey can't find a way in Game 3 to gain speed through the neutral zone, make controlled zone entries, and then infiltrate Carolina's defensive zone structure, this series will only go four games. The Devils are days from golfing if they're unable to access the inner-slot area.
New Jersey has the home-team benefit of last change on Sunday. Expect coach Lindy Ruff to work feverishly to get Hughes away from Staal. It's been a pretty lopsided matchup, with rare glimpses of hope mixed in along the way.
Nico Hischier and Timo Meier
Scott Taetsch / Getty Images
The Devils were outscored 10-2 to start the Rangers series and 11-2 so far in this one. So, if you're a New Jersey fan looking for a silver lining … the Devils have been in this spot before, and it worked out fine in the end. Does that help at all?
Yeah, it ain't pretty for the Devils, who are being schooled by the Hurricanes in all even-strength facets: pace of play, teammate-to-teammate connectivity, board battles, functional physicality, and puck management. What's more, New Jersey's power play, a respectable 13th-best in the regular season, is 0-for-5.
"We should be really pissed off right now," said Hischier after Game 2. The Devils captain and Selke Trophy finalist was referring to overall team results, but he may as well have been talking about himself and Meier.
Consider this: According to Natural Stat Trick, 16 players have accumulated 3.5 expected goals or more in the playoffs. Fourteen have bagged between two and seven actual goals. The other two - Hischier and Meier - have zero.
Icon Sportswire / Getty Images
Hischier is goalless in nine playoff games despite recording 24 shots on goal and 39 total attempts. Yes, he's collected five assists - three of them primary, none versus Carolina - but the lack of finishing is crushing, especially considering he's received a ton of offensive-zone starts in the second round.
Meier, the splashy midseason acquisition, is even more snakebitten. Zero goals off 32 shots of many types: 16 wrist shots, six snap shots, six backhands, two tips, and two slap shots. Injured in Game 7 of Round 1 thanks to a thunderous hit by Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba, Meier missed the series opener. He looked OK, if not slightly tentative, in his return to the lineup on Friday. Like his teammates, Meier generated very little in the middle of the ice in Game 2.
For their careers, Hischier and Meier are above-average finishers, scoring on 11.9% and 10.5% of regular-season shots, respectively. If the hockey gods have any mercy, they'll let at least one puck cross the goal line in Game 3.
Brent Burns and Jaccob Slavin
Joel Auerbach / Getty Images
Former top-three draft pick Jesperi Kotkaniemi between grinders Jordan Martinook and Jesper Fast is the forward line operating at a higher clip than all others in this series. The unsung trio has hounded pucks in each zone, delivered body checks at the right times, and buried scoring chances.
In less obvious ways, the Hurricanes' top defensemen have been equally valuable over the first two games. And, based on how well Burns and Slavin performed in the regular season, there's absolutely no reason to believe the yin-and-yang pairing will be rendered ineffective anytime soon.
Burns and Slavin, who sit second and third in ice time, trailing only Devils blue-liner Jonas Siegenthaler, have put on a defensive clinic. Tight neutral-zone gaps. Textbook stick checking. Brute force on occasion. Seven combined blocked shots, including four on the doorstep of Carolina's crease.
Josh Lavallee / Getty Images
The No. 1 pairing is leading the charge in insulating goalie Frederik Andersen, either by denying New Jersey clean zone entries or keeping opposing forwards to the perimeter throughout their time in the zone. In other words, Burns and Slavin, each with 50-plus games of playoff experience, are executing Rod Brind'Amour hockey to a tee, and the rest of the Canes players aren't lagging far behind.
That's what, from the Devils' perspective, is ultimately so demoralizing about going down 2-0. Despite missing offensive catalysts Max Pacioretty, Andrei Svechnikov, and Teuvo Teravainen, Carolina is scoring enough while playing its coach's system perfectly. The Canes aren't perfect. They are vulnerable like every other team. But right now, they're completely dialed in.
John Matisz is theScore's senior NHL writer. Follow John on Twitter (@MatiszJohn) or contact him via email (john.matisz@thescore.com).
New Jersey Devils captain Nico Hischier hopes his teammates are as angry as he is after Friday's blowout loss at the hands of the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 2.
"What bothers me the most is that we just got outbattled," Hischier said after the loss. "It's the playoffs, we should be really pissed off right now."
The Devils dropped the critical contest 6-1 and have now been outscored 11-2 in the series.
The game was scoreless after the first period, but New Jersey unraveled in the second, allowing four straight Carolina goals. The onslaught prompted the Devils to pull goaltender Akira Schmid for the second consecutive game.
Devils head coach Lindy Ruff hasn't committed to a Game 3 starter yet, according to team reporter Amanda Stein.
The Hurricanes have held the Devils' high-octane offense in check so far. Carolina holds an 8-2 advantage in five-on-five goals and has controlled 56.16% of expected goals, 52.69% of scoring chances, and 53.11% of shot attempts, according to Natural Stat Trick.
"We have lots of skill here, but skill doesn't mean a thing in the playoffs," Hischier said.
Hischier has been on the ice for three goals against through two games. He entered the second round on a five-game point streak but hasn't found the goal column in the playoffs after a breakout regular season in which he notched a career-high 80 points in 81 appearances.
If there's a silver lining for the Devils after Friday's demoralizing loss, it's that they found themselves in an 0-2 hole in Round 1 against the New York Rangers before winning the series in seven.
Jim Montgomery of the Boston Bruins, Dave Hakstol of the Seattle Kraken, and Lindy Ruff of the New Jersey Devils were named finalists on Friday for the 2023 Jack Adams Award, given annually to the head coach "adjudged to have contributed the most to his team's success."
The honor is voted on by members of the league's broadcasters association.
Montgomery guided the Bruins to the best regular season in NHL history, collecting records in wins (65) and points (135). Boston led the Atlantic Division wire-to-wire, and its plus-128 led the league by 61. He accomplished all this in his first season with the club.
Hakstol oversaw a remarkable turnaround for the Kraken, who improved by 40 points this year after a disappointing inaugural campaign as the NHL's 32nd franchise. Seattle earned its first-ever playoff berth in 2022-23 and shocked the hockey world by eliminating the defending champion Colorado Avalanche in a seven-game thriller in Round 1.
Ruff established Devils franchise records in wins (52) and points (112), and helped the club snap a four-year playoff drought with the league's third-best record. New Jersey won 13 games in a row early in the year to establish itself as a Metropolitan Division powerhouse and erase the angst of a restless fanbase that famously chanted "Fire Lindy" after a slow start to the campaign.
This marks Ruff's fourth nomination for the award. He won it in 2006 with the Buffalo Sabres, and he was a finalist in 2007 with the same club as well as in 2016 with the Dallas Stars.
Meier didn't play the closing minutes of the Devils' Game 7 victory over the New York Rangers and was sidelined for the opening game of their second-round series against the Hurricanes after taking a massive hit from Jacob Trouba.
Jacob Trouba sends Timo Meier to the Devils dressing room with an open ice hit. pic.twitter.com/sRmGAegROP
New Jersey head coach Lindy Ruff described Meier as day-to-day on Thursday, per Stein.
The Devils acquired Meier prior to the trade deadline for a package including Fabian Zetterlund and a 2023 first-round pick. The 26-year-old failed to register a point in the first round despite recording 27 shots on goal.
Dan and Sat answer your questions about who might slot in on the wing for the Canucks next season, the potential return to the NHL for Nikolay Goldobin and Nikita Tryamkin, plus much more!
This podcast was produced by Josh Elliott-Wolfe.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
Dan and Sat get you set for the Draft Lottery on Monday and what winning it could do for the Canucks next season. Also, hear from Jannik Hansen on what players think of the lottery, what an older player like JT Miller needs to do to have success, and more.
This podcast was produced by Josh Elliott-Wolfe.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.
