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The New Jersey Devils have looked like one of the premier teams in the National Hockey League over their first nine games — and the team is likely to get even better over the weekend.
Both Luke Hughes and Brett Pesce could make their season debuts as soon as this weekend, head coach Sheldon Keefe confirmed after the team's practice on Wednesday.
The Devils are in Motown to take on the Red Wings on Thursday night, before returning home to host the New York Islanders on Friday and Anaheim Ducks on Sunday.
“They will travel with us [to Detroit] but we haven't made a determination,” Keefe said, according to NHL.com's Mike G. Morreale. “I would think it's fair to say at this point that we would see them this weekend, in one of our games, be it in Detroit or against the Islanders.”
The head coach continued: “We'll see how they respond to practice today, how they get through it tomorrow, and we'll make a decision on what's best with them. We've got a busy schedule upcoming, so we've got to make sure we manage them appropriately and monitor where they're at.”
Hughes sustained a left shoulder injury back in September and hasn't been in the lineup to start the year. He was exceptional in the extended absence of Dougie Hamilton last season, recording nine goals and 47 points in his rookie campaign in 2023-24.
Pesce is patiently awaiting his first game as a member of the Devils after signing a six-year contract with the club on July 1. He continues to recover from offseason surgery to repair a fractured fibula, per Morreale.
The impending returns of Hughes and Pesce is certainly excellent news for the Devils, and couldn't come at a better time — New Jersey was shellacked 8-5 by the Tampa Bay Lightning during Frozen Frenzy on Tuesday night.
Devils off to an encouraging start, but can be better
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Despite a disappointing result against the Lightning on Tuesday, the Devils remain 5-3-1 and second place in the Metropolitan Division. They began the season swimmingly, beating the Buffalo Sabres in back-to-back games in the 2024 NHL Global Series Czechia.
While the return to North America hasn't been quite as graceful as the team had hoped, both Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen have been serviceable in the early going, and it looks like goaltending won't be a glaring issue for the roster this year.
And the Devils should be even better once Hughes and Pesce are able to return; one budding star entering his sophomore season and one rock-solid defender who helped form one of the league's best second-pairings along with Brady Skjei in Carolina.
New Jersey's blue line should be completely transformed this weekend, which is just what the squad needs in the quest to keep pace for the Metropolitan Division crown in 2024-25.
Hughes and Pesce could be an option as soon as Thursday night, but more likely the two will make their highly-anticipated debuts in front of the home crowd at Prudential Center this weekend.
