What will the Devils defense look like without Hughes?

Sheldon Keefe will have some unwanted decisions to make.

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The New Jersey Devils have yet to hit the ice and they’ve already lost one of their impact players.

Last week it was announced dynamic defenseman Luke Hughes would be out six-to-eight weeks with a shoulder injury.

That timeline takes him to the end of October on the short end while missing a handful of games in November is a very realistic possibility as well.

Looking at how the schedule shapes up, Hughes could miss anywhere from 13 games to 18 games. This injury is costing him 16% of his season at minimum. That’s not nothing.

How will the Devils assemble their defense without him? What impact might his absence have on others? Let’s take a closer look.

Even strength outlook

Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald did a great job of adding to the defense core this summer. Not only did he add legitimate top-4 talent; he also added depth to put the team in a better position to absorb injuries like this.

The Devils have five defenseman who are capable of playing top-4 minutes and have experience doing so. That means the blueline is in good shape even without Hughes.

I would think Sheldon Keefe will use Jonas Siegenthaler alongside Dougie Hamilton on the top neutral usage pairing. Even in a down year for Siegenthaler, he fared very well in his minutes with Dougie.

The two helped the Devils control 58% of the shot attempts and 57% of the expected goals. They were also outscored by only a goal despite a) poor goaltending and; b) an unsustainable low on-ice shooting percentage of 5.95%.

TLDR: They were good together and are a good bet to remain so.

That would mean Brenden Dillon slots in as LD2, per se, and plays alongside Brett Pesce on an all-out defense pairing. They’d be fed to the wolves while the Hamilton sees cushier usage – often behind the Jack Hughes line.

Assuming Simon Nemec is ready to go come October, he will spearhead the 3rd pairing. What’s really up in the air is who his partner will be.

Sheldon Keefe has a few different paths he can take there, depending on what he’d like to do.