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At this point, the Devils believe the younger Hughes could get into a playoff game and fare well enough defensively and make a positive impact offensively. However, it would be unfair to thrust him into certain situations. He wasn’t going to start on the road at Madison Square Garden. He wasn’t going to be put into a Game 5 or Game 7. The biggest roadblock for Hughes is that someone would have to sit to make a spot available for him. The organization feels deference to the players who have been there all season.
• The Boston Bruins‘ first-round exit is still unexplainable. Fans have scrutinized Jim Montgomery’s line changes — and lineup changes — during the Panthers series. Even the coach himself admitted he would have done some things differently, such as starting Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand together for Game 5. However, earlier in the series, he revealed why he shuffled his lines so often. “The reason I do it is because if we get to a third period of a Game 6 or a Game 7, the players are not thinking I’m panicking,” Montgomery said. “It’s just, I think it might give us an edge.”
• The New York Rangers‘ moves this season backfired, and there will be fallout this summer. Coach Gerard Gallant is expected to be the fall guy, but a roster reshape is likely as well. It was especially hard to watch Patrick Kane, who so desperately wanted to make an impact after willing the trade out of Chicago once he found out the Blackhawks didn’t have interest in re-signing him.
Kane was available to members of the media nearly every day, sitting at his stall, fielding questions from a scrum of reporters, no matter how uncomfortable. Even though Kane downplayed his hip injury, people in Chicago told me how much treatment and prep he required just to get on the ice. I texted with a few of his former teammates during the playoffs, and one said it best: “That’s not Showtime out there. Don’t recognize him.” An offseason of rest — and potentially surgery — should help Kane regain his form, and he’ll be one of the more interesting free agency cases this summer.
• One of the coolest things I’ve noticed being at rinks is how supportive goalies have been to their partners, even after losing the starting job. When Alex Lyon started the series in Boston, Sergei Bobrovsky was the most animated player on Florida’s bench anytime Lyon had a big stop, standing up and banging on the boards. New Jersey’s Vitek Vanecek is often waiting for Akira Schmid when he gets off the ice, with the hugest smile before he gives him a hug. And we all saw how Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman supported each other in Boston throughout the season.
• The future of Patric Hornqvist in the NHL is unknown after the 36-year-old Florida winger was shut down in December due to concussions. However, he’s still making an impact on the Panthers. Hornqvist is on the ice early before practices, warming up the goalies — I hear he has been especially helpful with Lyon since his call-up. He then assists running the skaters for the extras. It would be easy for Hornqvist, at this point in his career to just take it easy. But when he’s on the ice, he’s really pushing the players, yelling, trying to light a fire under them — the exact same way he played.
• The Taylor Hall trade to Arizona in 2019 became extremely fruitful for the Devils. It landed them a draft pick they used on Dawson Mercer, a draft pick they used to acquire Jonas Siegenthaler, and Kevin Bahl. Coach Lindy Ruff said when he first inherited Bahl, he would have been on the lower end of a scale from 1 to 10. Bahl is 6-foot-6 and has offensive touch, handles and moves the puck well, and has quick feet. But the Devils believe he’s scratching the surface because now is he playing to his size. The physicality he has added to his game is a result of extra sessions with assistant coach Ryan McGill. As someone in the organization said to me: “Nobody wants to fight a 6-foot-8 guy.” If the Devils move on from Ryan Graves this summer, Bahl is set as their in-house replacement.
