NJ Devils Top Five Players to Watch

As training camp is about to begin, the New Jersey Devils are almost in full swing. After having a historic season for the franchise, it is undeniable that they caught the eye of many people around the league. Let’s look at the top five players to watch from the Devils for this upcoming season.

1. Jack Hughes
It is almost impossible to not have Hughes as number one on this list. Not only is he one of, if not the, most exciting player to watch on the Devils, he is one of the most exciting players to watch in the National Hockey League. After breaking the franchise record in points and being one point shy of the 100 mark, many are ready to see what he does next.

With his speed on the ice, creativity and underrated shot, you never know what you are going to get from Hughes when he steps on the ice. Is he going to skate through three or four players, is he going to make a beautiful pass, or will it be one of those rare times he does something simple? There is no doubt there is never a sense of excitement when he takes his next shift.

Another reason why Hughes has become so exciting to watch is because he has become a goal scorer in this league. After having a career-high of only 26 goals in 2021-22, Hughes stepped it up this season finding the back of the next 43 times, also achieving his first career hat-trick.

As he is still just entering his prime, Hughes will be one of the most exciting players to watch for years to come. Records will be broken, plays that leave you speechless, goals that leave you questioning how it went in is what we all should be expecting from Hughes for the next few years.

2. Luke Hughes
Luke Hughes played a few games for the Devils last season where we saw what he can do for us. His calm composure on defense while already having the confidence in himself to step up on offense. What rookie defender can say they scored their first NHL goal on a wraparound in overtime in the last game of the season after only playing a few NHL games?

Since drafting him, he has been our most promising prospect and no doubt one of the most exciting parts of our future. Having seen what he could do last season should have many people excited about having him for a full 82-game season.

It also helps that we know the skill the Hughes family has in general. We have gotten the pleasure to watch Jack closely the past few years and we see what Quinn does in Vancouver. With Luke’s intelligence, size, and confidence, he should have a great rookie season.

3. Nico Hischier
Our captain. Hischier is the heart and soul of this team. He has also made a name for himself as one of the best two-way centers in the league.

The reason why I believe he is a top five player to watch on the Devils this season is because now is his time to shine. Patrice Bergeron from the Boston Bruins was getting all the attention as the league's best two-way center, respectfully so, but now he has retired. This season, the league will be able to see Hischier’s ability to create offense while also putting up points. There should not even be a debate that Hischier is a top two, two-way center in the league at this point in his career. Many teams would be lucky to have him.

Last season, Hischier ended with 80 points, a career-high. Some may think 80 points is not much compared to all the 100-point scorers in the league, but people probably do not realize he is a defensive forward. With the amount of time he plays on the penalty kill and down a man situations, it is actually impressive for him to have 80 points. His offensive side is very underrated as he has created some amazing plays. Because of the star power on our team like Jack Hughes and Jesper Bratt, who get a lot of credit because of how creative they are, Hischier can sometimes miss some of the spotlight.

Us Devils' fans have always known Hischier is an amazing player, but now it is time for the league to start noticing it as well. Everyone should be excited to see our captain do what he does best. Maybe at the end of the season we will see him walking away with some personal hardware.

4. Timo Meier
After acquiring Meier at the trade deadline, people might have doubted what he can do because he did not seem to be producing much. But, the truth is he was one of the players actually producing the most, the entire Devils team slowed down at the same time.

Meier and Hischier have undeniable chemistry that many have been waiting to see for a full 82-game season. Being one of the best goal scorers in the game on the wing of one of the best two-way centers will be magical to watch.

Even if he is not playing with Hischier, the creativeness of Hughes will compliment him well. Whether he is with Hughes or Hischier, both are very smart centers who can get him the puck. We also know that no matter who Meier is playing with, he has their back. If anyone touches any of our players wrong, we know he will come in and always protect his teammates first.

Besides how much he will be producing, he is also fun to watch because of how easily he can get under opponents’ skin. In sports, it is so important to have someone on the team like that. What makes it even better is that Meier can do that while being a very skilled player playing top line minutes.

A full season of Meier is something everyone should be excited for.

5. Dougie Hamilton
Some might see this as controversial because we all know what Hamilton does on the backend. The reason why I think Hamilton will be an exciting player to watch this upcoming season is because it will be interesting to see if he can have as good a season as he did last year.

After crushing his career high, 50, he ended with 74 points last year. The highest number of points he had with Devils was only 30. This past season he came close to tying that number only with goals. Part of this could be because this was his highest amount of shots in a season, 275.

There is no doubt the most exciting time to watch Hamilton is during overtime. A blast from the blue line is what to expect, as we have seen it many times, but somehow a goalie can never stop it. With his insane shot and size, he has become a key part to this team's success, and I believe without him playing as good as he did, there would be a drop in the entire team's success.

I would love to see Hamilton play as good as he did last season. Time will only tell if this will end up being true. In the meantime we can only replay his amazing one-timers until we get to see them again.

Some honorable mentions to this list are Tyler Tofolli and Ondrej Palat.

Tofolli has his goal scoring ability, but will he adjust to the Devils well and gain some chemistry? On the wing of Jack Hughes it's hard to see him not doing well.

Palat has a lot to prove after having a rough start with the Devils. Will he have a bounce back year and go back to his old form, or will this be another challenging year for Palat?

The Devils' season is getting closer and closer. Each player will be exciting to watch in their own different ways, but the most exciting thing to watch will be the Devils team playing together as a whole.