On Wednesday night, New Jersey Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe took one last look at the ice with a stoic expression before departing the bench at the end of his team's 3-0 loss to the Dallas Stars. It marked his team's third straight loss and sixth of their last nine.
After the game, Keefe stood at the podium and said his team was "essentially lifeless" after the Stars scored. An apt description that most watching the game, whether in person or on TV, would agree with.
It is worth noting the team is playing without their strongest offensive weapon, Jack Hughes (finger), and best defensive defenseman, Brett Pesce (upper body). Additionally, the club is without Evgenii Dadonov (unknown), Johnathan Kovacevic (knee), and Zack MacEwen (upper body).
After 27 games, the Devils have a record of 16-10-1 for 33 points. At the time of publication, the team is in a wild-card spot.
New Jersey's record with Hughes in the lineup is 12-4-1. Without the star 24-year-old, the club's record is 4-6-0. With Pesce playing, the record is 8-1-0, while it is 8-9-1 without the defenseman.
To objectively examine the team's current state, those two losses to the lineup need to be kept in mind, as the Devils are without two of their best players.
It is commonly said that it requires 20 to 30 games to get a feel for a team. The Devils are now in that window.
"We have got to start to understand what makes our team play well, and what we need to do to be successful," Connor Brown said Wednesday morning. "For us, it is becoming more and more clear, so it is sticking to that. We know when we are not having a successful period, and what we are doing, and we know what our good process looks like by now. It is just about building on that."
The Devils have offensively leaned on Nico Hischier and Timo Meier during this stretch without Hughes. The captain has 13 points in those 10 games, while Meier was on a six-game point streak from Nov. 22 to Dec. 1.
The team's depth has struggled offensively, with Luke Glendening, Juho Lammikko, Stefan Noesen, Paul Cotter, Cody Glass, and Brown combining for three goals and six assists since Hughes' injury in Chicago in mid-November. That's not to say some of the above players aren't contributing in other ways, be it penalty kill or face-offs, but it's been a challenge to get consistent offensive production from that group as of late. Without Hughes skating 24 minutes a night, the bottom-six's lack of points becomes a more apparent concern.
MSG Networks shared the following graphic on Wednesday night, detailing how essential Hughes is to the Devils, specifically in the second period.
A team's performance can't be this hindered by the absence of one player. In moments like this, the roster construction and those responsible for it come into question. With Hughes' unfortunate injury history, this team needs to be built to withstand his absence, and over the past few seasons, it has proven it can't.
I began covering this team five seasons ago, and since then, the roster has undergone a complete overhaul, with players moving in and out. From that first season in 2021-22, only eight players remain, including Nico Daws and Colton White, who is in his second stint with the organization.
General manager Tom Fitzgerald's handprints are all over this roster; this is what he has put together, along with his staff. His players, especially his core, deserve a general manager who will take a risk to bring in reinforcements, whether it is further tweaking the middle or bottom six or adding a top-line left winger.
The offseason addition of Brown was a good one, as was the signing of Pesce and Brenden Dillon. Good work has been done, but once a team enters that win-now era, risks need to be taken eventually. At this point, sitting on your hands can prove just as costly as taking that one risk that doesn't pan out.
Something has to give for New Jersey because, as the team hits that 20 to 30 game mark, two things are certain. First, inconsistent play remains a cause for concern and has been for multiple seasons, dating to before head coach Sheldon Keefe began his tenure. Second, there is little faith that the team, as currently constructed, can withstand an extended absence of Hughes.
The Devils schedule does not get easier as the club hosts the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday and visit the Boston Bruins on Saturday. It presents another challenge for Keefe who can only work with what he has until Fitzgerald and his staff take action to bolster his roster.
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