Luke Hughes was one of the focal point players of the New Jersey Devils this past summer. The young star defender entered restricted free agency with minimal leverage, despite a 47 point rookie season and 44 point sophomore season where he missed 11 contests. It took a while before he and the team settled on October 1st to a seven year, $63 million dollar deal. With this new deal coming so late into training camp/the preseason, it meant Luke would not dress for a single game prior to the start of the regular season. Sometimes in cases of holdouts, it takes a bit for players to adjust.
Right now, it appears that’s where Luke is living; while he has managed to contribute nine points, none of them have been goals. For a $9 million offense first defender, usually you’d like to see a goal or two (or more) after the first fifth of the season has concluded. Perhaps not having the full camp/preseason experience could’ve explained some of his early struggles, but with the number of games played by now, surely he should’ve settled in, right? Well, there’s one major component that could be messing with that data.
If you guessed “injuries” you’re right on the money.
The Devils are down essentially their entire right side at this current interval; Dougie Hamilton is out for a short period while Brett Pesce has joined Johnny Kovacevic on injured reserve. The team’s coaching staff has thusly decided that Luke should be on his the one shifting to his off side (prior to Dougie going down and now having five left handed defenders) playing with Brenden Dillon on the team’s middle pair. Now, to be fair, that was the side he was accustomed to playing in college, so perhaps with four lefties on the roster, moving him made the most sense. Yet it seems as though it isn’t really paying off, neither for him nor for the Devils as a whole.
I started writing this prior to last night’s game and was mainly going to cite his rough outing against the Islanders as a need for a quick reset of sorts. After last night’s game though, I think it’s almost a necessity to reduce his workload for a bit. Not only were there periods where he was out of place or looked gassed, but he made a spinning blind pass (again) that got picked off (again) leading to a goal against (again) shortly thereafter. He’s also not producing goals at the moment, while there is one defender who certainly stepped up and produced in the last pair of games, so maybe a little less power play ice or just a couple fewer shifts would benefit Luke.
The question though is can you really reduce his ice time? Nemec isn’t going to be able to pick up much more, if any, as he and Luke each logged over 26 minutes last night, and even without overtime both had probably played 25. Jonas Siegenthaler could maybe take a minute or two more, but he’s already carrying a lot of responsibility as well. Then we get to the Dillons, Dennis Cholowskis and Colton Whites of the world. Dillon is already playing more than most of us are comfortable with and I feel as if I were to advocate for Cholowski and/or White to receive more minutes, I would be looked at as crazy. Fortunately, I’m already wary enough of Cholowski and White playing the 12 or so minutes they’re getting each game anyway, so I will not be wanting them to get more ice. Luke having a bit less responsibility to make fewer errors would be great, but with so many injured players right now, it just seems like it isn’t a possibility. Devils teams of the past have sat young defenders for less, but right now, there’s just not really an option that allows Luke to take a reduced role.
I also want to clarify that this isn’t a “rag on Luke Hughes” article or comment thread, because he honestly hasn’t been bad this season. He’s still light years ahead of either defender currently on the bottom pairing, and is still chipping in points. It might be weird secondary assists on passes back to a goalie before a huge outlet pass leading to a partial breakaway, but points nonetheless! He’s also been really solid in most games, it’s just that the struggles amounting from the increased ice time seem to be compounded by some boneheaded decisions which all adds up to frustration with a defender who is making $9 million not playing up to that cap number.
I just wish there was a way to give him a little less responsibility and a bit more perspective right now, as I think with a little reset, he could go back to being more of the player he was the last two years than what’s he’s been to start this season. Getting the team healthy should also help, as it will mean less over-relying on him Nemec and to an extent Siegenthaler as well. Luke is still a big talent, and a huge piece of this team’s future; between coaching, temporary reduction of responsibilities, more games and improved team health, he should hopefully get back to the dynamic Luke we know and want to see.
What are your thoughts on Luke Hughes as of late; do you think he would benefit from reduced minutes, be it now or when at least one injured defenseman returns? Any concern over his lack of goal scoring so far this season? Do you think the coaching staff is more responsible and needs to tell him to knock it off with the spin-o-rama? Are his struggles being overblown by fans and possibly even myself based off of his last few performances? Leave any and all comments down below and thanks as always for reading!