The New Jersey Devils' power play is firing on all cylinders

They haven't missed a beat without Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton, two of the league's best at their positions.

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I thought the New Jersey Devils would be fine on the man advantage without Jack Hughes and Dougie Hamilton.

That’s not a slight toward either player – both are objectively among the most dangerous and productive weapons in the league at their positions.

Only 13 forwards have more power play points than Hughes since the beginning of 2022-23.

He has outpaced names like Auston Matthews, Sam Reinhart, Sidney Crosby, Kyle Connor and Alex Ovechkin, which is incredibly impressive given the amount of time he’s missed due to injury.

Similar can be said of Hamilton, who slots 18th in power play points among defensemen during that span despite playing 40-60 fewer games than many of the players in front of him.

The Devils are just lucky enough to have great replacements in-house. There aren’t many teams that can lose two elite power play weapons and replace them with talents like Timo Meier and Luke Hughes, who were patiently waiting on standby.

Even so, I’d be lying if I told you I thought the power play would be anywhere close to as dangerous as it has been.

Since the Devils lost Hughes and Hamilton, they rank top-4(!) in every single relevant offensive metric you can think of.

They’ve piled up the shots, chances, expected goals, and actual goals while keeping company with the Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights, and Florida Panthers in those major categories. And every single player has looked unstoppable along the way.