WSOU

Opinion: Additions of Subban and Hughes alter Devils franchise

Date: June 24, 2019

By Bob Towey

For Devils fans languishing in the misery of missing the playoffs for six of the last seven seasons, the potential for a team built for years’ worth of sustainable postseason runs just got a lot closer.

Between the Devils’ 2012 Stanley Cup Finals appearance and the 2016 whirlwind trade that general manager Ray Shero finagled when he acquired future Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall from the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman Adam Larsson (the hockey equivalent of trading a 2004 Honda Accord for a 2019 Lamborghini Aventador), Devils faithful had a low bar for happiness.

In the post-Cup Finals/pre-Hall days, each passing Devils season seemed more futile than the last. Superstar talent either left them in the dust (see Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk) or aged beyond their usefulness (see Patrik Elias and Martin Brodeur) faster than they could be replaced. The Devils found themselves in an abrupt rebuild, struggling offensively, annually at the bottom of the Metropolitan Division, and largely unable to recruit young talent.

Like a slow crescendo, the progress of the Devils’ rebuild began sluggishly, even unnoticeably, from 2013 to 2016. Veterans came and went through forgettable stints on short contracts. Minor league call-ups underwhelmed expectations. The offense stagnated, scoring among the least goals of any NHL team each season as opponents bulldozed their defense.

But the with the Hall trade, his Hart Trophy win a season later, and the glimmering hope of the Devils’ 2018 playoff appearance, the low, droning note that was the Devils’ performance grew louder and stronger. In addition to Hall’s instant impact on the Devils, young prospects started maturing and contributing to the team’s success while the veteran talent breathed life and experience into the roster.

Now, after a disappointing 2018-19 campaign that saw the Devils’ stock plummet with Hall’s near season-long injury, a lack of scoring to compensate for Hall’s absence, and insurmountable defensive and goaltending lapses, the Devils’ crescendo is swelling again and the team appears on the brink of a thunderous return to form. The tide may finally be turning in New Jersey after drafting American hockey phenom Jack Hughes with the first overall pick and trading for dynamic defenseman PK Subban last weekend.

Hughes, an 18-year-old center from Orlando, Florida, was the best pick in the draft and a compelling fit in New Jersey. A close observation of the Devils’ forwards with the exception of Hall reveals a dark truth: the team has no player who can really take control of a line. That’s not to say that the team lacks scorers; Nico Hischier, Kyle Palmieri, Blake Coleman, and Myles Wood (among others) have shown deft scoring touches the past two seasons. But in the NHL, there is a difference between a player who scores and a player who can score and make his teammates better.

Hughes is that athlete, the kind who pushes his linemates to play better by creating quality scoring chances for them while simultaneously weaving his way through defenses to generate his own offense. Equally impressive are his electric bursts of speed, fast hands, locker room leadership, and turn-on-a-dime maneuvers, qualities that have garnered him comparisons to Connor McDavid and Patrick Kane.  For proof of Hughes’ prowess as both a scorer and playmaker, look no further than his 112 points (34 goals, 78 assists) in 50 games as captain of the U.S. National U18 team in 2018-19.

And if that’s not convincing enough, trace Hughes’ career back to his time playing midget hockey with the Toronto Marlboros AAA team, where he scored 159 points (58 goals, 101 assists) in 80 games. That season warranted a closer look from the U.S. developmental program, which called him to its ranks a year later and where he had impressive stints on their U17, U18, and U20 teams before the draft.

On the heels of their second first overall selection in three years, Shero and the Devils then traded defenseman Steven Santini, prospect Jeremy Davis, and a pair of second round picks to the Nashville Predators in exchange for the 30-year-old Subban, who can revitalize a defense that struggled mightily last season.

Similar to his trade heist to pick up Hall, Shero worked a similar kind of voodoo against the Predators, exploiting their need to free up salary cap space to sign a major free agent forward. The Devils, who had $35 million in free cap space before the trade, can easily handle Subban’s annual $9 million cap hit over the remaining three years of his contract.

To New Jersey, Subban brings more than just his veteran talent at locking down the league’s sneakiest forwards and his penalty killing skill. He brings far more than the 408 career points he tallied between stints in Montreal and Nashville, and even the Norris Trophy he won with the Canadiens as the league’s best defenseman in 2013.

He carries a passion for the sport and an insatiable hunger to win the Stanley Cup after a decade spent coming close but falling just short. He carries a sense of humor and flair that automatically make him the biggest personality on the Devils and one of the most marketable showmen in a league known for cliché-speaking athletes.

He carries a legacy of serving the communities he plays in, including a $10 million donation to the Montreal Children’s Hospital in 2015, his Blueline Buddies program to help connect underprivileged kids in Nashville with area police officers, and millions more in fundraising for children’s causes through his charity, PK’s Helping Hand.

And on top of all that, he carries a robust, infectious energy and a winning mentality to New Jersey. Rather than voice his displeasure over the trade, Subban took to Instagram on Saturday and released an optimistic video to his nearly one million followers. With a smile on his face, Subban thanked the Predators for his time there and expressed his excitement about the trade, asking Devils fans worldwide, “are you ready for the Subbanator?”

They’re ready, PK. They’re ready for you and for Hughes. They’re ready for the final chapter of the rebuild to be read, and to see their team reestablished as a perennial playoff contender.  

Bob Towey is the News Director at 89.5 FM WSOU, and can be reached at wsounews@gmail.com.

Posted in: Sports, WSOU, Editorial

Seton Hall

Seton Hall

Merchandise

wsou store