Jack Hughes spoke to the media about the rough stretch his team is currently experiencing.
"We're 16 games in. We have a lot of runway. This isn't our final product."
New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes sat at his locker stall and spoke to the media for a little under two minutes after his team's 5-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Nov. 19. In typical fashion, he quickly answered each question and honestly assessed the current state of his team.
"I think we're a good hockey team. We're in a rough stretch of hockey right now, including tonight (versus New York)," Hughes said. "That's a game really good teams win. And we're not there right now. That's something that we'll have to get back to. We've done it before. We just have to sharpen up, our top guys all the way to the bottom."
At the time of publication, the Devils are sixth in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 8-7-1. They are three points out of a wild-card spot.
It hasn't been the start the team wanted. Over the past few weeks, players have spoken about not being overly happy with their play to begin the 2023-24 campaign.
"As the season goes on and you still have yet to find the back of the net, it gets tough," Bastian said to MSG host Erika Wachter during the team's game versus the Pittsburgh Penguins. "Personally, I haven't been particularly happy with my own play."
It took Bastian 14 games to score his first goal of the season, but he is not the only one who was snake-bitten this past month. Dawson Mercer didn't celebrate his first goal until 11 games into the season, and Ondrej Palat scored his first on Saturday night versus the Rangers.
Injuries to key players like Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Timo Meier have not helped, as the team has struggled to generate offense at even strength through their first 16 games. The team's power play has been a bright spot as it remains at the top of the league at 39 percent.
It has taken time for the Devils to find their stride defensively, and goaltending has been a mixed bag of key saves at the right time and letting in a goal that should have been a save.
The good news is that there is a lot of time left for New Jersey to address their issues, and they could be getting reinforcements back sooner rather than later. Hischier joined his team for practice Monday afternoon and is not officially ruled out for their upcoming game versus the Detroit Red Wings.
This month, four of the team's final five games are against teams near or below them in the standings. It's the perfect opportunity for New Jersey to get out of their rough stretch and work towards their final product.