Injury-Plagued Devils Handed Their Toughest Blow Yet

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It would be quite difficult to find a team that has been hampered more by injury than the New Jersey Devils thus far. Brett Pesce, Dougie Hamilton, and Jonathan Kovacevic headline the injuries on defense. Fitzgerald's two main signings in the offseason, Connor Brown and Evgeni Dadonov, are both sidelined. Cody Glass, who was retained by Fitzgerald this summer, is now dealing with his second absence this season and is out week-to-week. Despite all of the adversity and line shuffling, the Devils remain first place in the Eastern Conference and have continued to find ways to win. However, the Devils' biggest obstacle will come in the next 6-8 weeks as reports surfaced Friday that Jack Hughes injured his hand at team dinner following a 4-3 win in Chicago, and he would not be in the lineup against the Washington Capitals. The unprecedented non-hockey injury sent shockwaves through the NHL world, but the worst news was yet to come. As the Devils' brass and fans had hoped for a minor situation that could be healed with stitches, it was announced that Hughes was flown to a specialist in New York City and underwent surgery. The prognosis was that the return to playtime is eight weeks, with a reevaluation at the six-week mark. There is no question about how valuable Jack Hughes is to the New Jersey Devils. In many ways, he is the Devils' franchise, and unfortunately, the Devils are not unfamiliar with being without him.

With Hughes' absence slated at 8 weeks from the surgery, he is on track to miss the next 29 games, which totals to 30 when you include Saturday's shootout win in Washington. It's truly a massive blow and one the Devils must try and survive. Unlike last season's Hughes injury, this should not fully derail the season. So what does the Devils lineup look like now?

Meier - Hischier - Bratt

Cotter - Mercer - Gritsyuk

Palat - Lamikko - Noesen

Lachance - Glendening - Legare

Siegenthaler - Nemec

Dillon - L. Hughes

Chowlowksi - White

This was the lineup that was responsible for the 3-2 shootout victory on Saturday night. A game where they jumped out early and then heavily relied on Jake Allen to survive the Capitals' third-period push. It's clear this lineup is top-heavy and it puts doubt on the depth of this team long term. In the next 30 games the Devils will hope that reinforcements rejoin the lineup as soon as possible. By mid December the Devils' lineup could look something like this:

Meier - Hischier - Noesen

Dadonov - Mercer - Bratt

Gritsyuk - Glass - Brown

Cotter - Glendening - Palat

Pesce - L. Hughes

Hamilton - Dillon

Siegenthaler - Nemec

Assuming the Devils can get some of these guys back from injury, the lineup above is much deeper than the one that went into the playoffs a year ago without Hughes. It's not an ideal situation but the Devils have a good enough group this season to make some noise in the playoffs so this 30-game stretch cannot feature a collapse. With all the adversity they have faced through injuries this season, you just have to hope that come March, everyone is healthy and ready to go for the final push.