G63 New Jersey Devils vs. Dallas Stars: Life without Jack begins

The Devils struggled without their superstar center a season ago, winning just seven of 20 games. They'll need to perform better this time around.

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Here are a few notes to get you set for tonight’s game between the New Jersey Devils and Dallas Stars:

Life without Jack begins

There is not yet a timeline on Jack Hughes’ injury but, even if the news is good, we probably won’t see him for a while.

Surviving without Jack is going to be challenging, to say the least. The Devils won just seven of 20 games without Jack a year ago.

While they didn’t have the defensive structure or the caliber of goaltending they have this season, they also weren’t as reliant on Jack to produce offense.

Colorado is the only team currently in playoff position whose leader in on-ice goals for percentage ranks above Jack Hughes in that category.

Hughes is the straw that stirs the drink for an offense that needed to be bolstered before he was taken out of the mix. Scoring goals will only be more challenging now.

There is nobody who can replace Hughes’ offense. The hope will be to extract more from what the team does have – Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer stepping up would be a good start – and let the defense/goaltending take care of the rest.

We’ll get our first look at that formula and how it might work against a Dallas Stars team that owns a 22-7-1 record on home soil. Certainly a big first test.

Chances should be there