New Jersey Devils' star Jack Hughes week-to-week with injury

Hughes has masked a lot of problems with his play. Now, the Devils have to survive without him.

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One of the biggest reasons the New Jersey Devils sit 3rd in the NHL is team health.

While Ondrej Palat, John Marino, and Nathan Bastian have all missed chunks of time, none of the Devils’ top, top, players have.

We’re 50 games into the season and Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Dougie Hamilton, and Nico Hischier – the team’s four brightest stars – have combined to miss one game. One. Until now.

Jack Hughes has been dealing with an upper-body ailment of late. It’s clearly not something he could, or should, continue to play through and he will miss a matter of weeks rather than days as a result.

Losing Hughes is obviously a very tough pill to swallow. The entire offense runs through him every time over the boards, he’s on pace for gaudy offensive totals (57 goals/110 points), and he ranks 2nd to Connor McDavid in average Game Score.

The caliber of hockey Hughes has given the Devils is borderline ridiculous; especially considering his most frequent linemate – by far – is Erik Haula, a third line forward on pace for 6.5 goals this season.

What makes his absence more problematic, though, is that the Devils’ team game is at its lowest point of the season.