Confirmed Signing with Link: [NJD] D Luke Hughes signs ELC with the Devils (3 years, $925k AAV)

[MMC]

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[Forge]

Don't expect him to get a ton of run this year, but excited for the future

 

[SEALBound]

Adding him and Semec is exciting for NJD future. Good for them. Takes a long time of being in the gutter to acquire those types of assets.

 

[Zeeker]

Good deal for both sides.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

He will be the greatest ever Chet

 

[SI90]

 

[Luck 6]

Wasn’t he supposed to wait until after his senior year so that he could be a UFA and sign in Vancouver to play with his brother?







….. Haha I’m just trolling. Very interested to see what he can do in the NHL!

 

[NHL Fanatik]

Thanks @MMC !

Jack has been grinning ear to ear since Luke's arrival. Man is he on cloud 9 right now lol

 

[BKarchitect]

Will be interesting to see how the Devils deploy Hughes and Nemec next year.

They are going to be really good again - and while the thought of adding both those guys to the core right away is tantalizing - blooding two rookies at the same time in the regular six of a blueline on a team expecting to win may not be in the cards right away, even if he gets some PT with the big club right now.

Hughes is older and more dynamic but Nemec has a year of AHL under his belt and may be the safet guy to integrate right away. Luke definitely has things he needs to clean up defensively - would not be shocking nor a bad sign necessarily if he spends some AHL time next year.

Of course they both may come in and just be fire come the fall - but just trying to set some expectations here.

 

[PB37]

Fantastic core of youth the Devils have collected.

 

[Classic Devil]

Will be interesting to see how the Devils deploy Hughes and Nemec next year.

They are going to be really good again - and while the thought of adding both those guys to the core right away is tantalizing - blooding two rookies at the same time in the regular six of a blueline on a team expecting to win may not be in the cards right away, even if he gets some PT with the big club right now.

Hughes is older and more dynamic but Nemec has a year of AHL under his belt and may be the safet guy to integrate right away. Luke definitely has things he needs to clean up defensively - would not be shocking nor a bad sign necessarily if he spends some AHL time next year.

Of course they both may come in and just be fire come the fall - but just trying to set some expectations here.

Don't forget Seamus Casey in a few years.

My guess is one of them will be in the top-6 next season (probably Luke), and then the season after we'll integrate Nemec. But within two seasons, the D will look something like:

LHD: Siegenthaler, Bahl, Hughes
RHD: Hamilton, Nemec, Marino

With one other spot in the top-7 yet to be determined. Though to me that defense looks awfully offense-oriented (which may not be a bad thing) and I do wonder who the shutdown pairing(s) will be. I think we're trying to groom Nemec to work on his defensive game to help fill that void, though.

 

[Kibe]

Don't forget Seamus Casey in a few years.

My guess is one of them will be in the top-6 next season (probably Luke), and then the season after we'll integrate Nemec. But within two seasons, the D will look something like:

LHD: Siegenthaler, Bahl, Hughes
RHD: Hamilton, Nemec, Marino

With one other spot in the top-7 yet to be determined. Though to me that defense looks awfully offense-oriented (which may not be a bad thing) and I do wonder who the shutdown pairing(s) will be. I think we're trying to groom Nemec to work on his defensive game to help fill that void, though.

You don't think Nemec will be ready next year? Seems like a perfect time to bring him in with Severson leaving and Hamilton/Marino taking the tough minutes.

 

[M2Beezy]

Classic sign and trade situation going on here

 

[Classic Devil]

You don't think Nemec will be ready next year? Seems like a perfect time to bring him in with Severson leaving and Hamilton/Marino taking the tough minutes.

I think it's a lot to ask two rookie defenseman to assume top-6 positions at the same time, especially when at least one of them is going to need to play top-4 minutes with a lot of defensive responsibilities. We won't just be losing Severson (who is comparatively easy to replace), but likely also Graves.

And this assumes that Bahl really is ready for primetime. Fully half our defense would be kids who are still proving their way.

 

[Breakers]

Surprised it wasn’t announced yesterday morning.

 

[Forge]

You don't think Nemec will be ready next year? Seems like a perfect time to bring him in with Severson leaving and Hamilton/Marino taking the tough minutes.

I think Nemec starts in Utica next year and maybe moves up and down and then locks in a spot by the end of the year

 

[Oneiro]

With Luke, I think they're just going to take the bad with the good. What he brings is enough to overlook the raw defensive game and frankly, both Graves and Severson aren't exactly rocks either so I don't think it will be super jarring to have Luke as a regular next season.

Fitz likely goes out and gets an insurance RHD before Nemec takes over in 24-25. If CGY blows it up, I wonder if Tanev would waive to come here. Or I guess we sign someone like Gudas. Nemec probably gets integrated the way Bahl has, slowly getting more and more games and minutes until it's obvious the team is stronger with him. I also think he will get up to speed as an NHL quality in-zone defender faster than Luke.

 

[VoidCreature]

Fitz said he expected Luke to take a couple days to digest what happened in Michigan, then meet the Devils before the Buffalo game. Far from that, Luke tried to get on a midnight flight and get to New Jersey yesterday morning, says he’s watched 85% of the Devils’ games this year to study tendencies, couldn’t wait to get here. This is a guy who’s absolutely stoked to be a Devil.

 

[HockeyVirus]

What I wonder is Devils want to win now. Are they in a position to develop two rookie dmen and all that comes with that? Rest of the team did their developing already

 

[Musampa]

Luke turned to the devil’s side

 

[Jerzey Devil]

 

[Eggtimer]

It will be interesting to see what the Devils do next season for their 6 D. Severson and Graves are very likely gone . That leaves 3 spots to fill with Bahl , Luke , Nemec , Smith , as the only real options we currently have. I can’t see them using 3 rookies (I consider Bahl still a rookie). Bahl is playing better than Smith right now.
I think they get a guy like a Gudas ( veteran on a one / 2 year deal maximum) until Nemec is ready. My guess is they let Luke figure it out on the fly and Nemec figures it out in Utica.
It might be a step backwards defensively going from Graves / Severson to Bahl / Luke / Nemec so a stop gap is likely needed.

 

[biturbo19]

Will be interesting to see how the Devils deploy Hughes and Nemec next year.

They are going to be really good again - and while the thought of adding both those guys to the core right away is tantalizing - blooding two rookies at the same time in the regular six of a blueline on a team expecting to win may not be in the cards right away, even if he gets some PT with the big club right now.

Hughes is older and more dynamic but Nemec has a year of AHL under his belt and may be the safet guy to integrate right away. Luke definitely has things he needs to clean up defensively - would not be shocking nor a bad sign necessarily if he spends some AHL time next year.

Of course they both may come in and just be fire come the fall - but just trying to set some expectations here.

Yeah. It's going to be fascinating seeing how NJ handle this situation. You don't often see a team trying to integrate two top-tier defence prospects at the same time. Especially not where NJ is, on the cusp of being a contender. That's 1/3rd of your blueline being rookies. It's a good problem to have, but it's still weird.

They're both great talents, but that's a really interesting composition to your defence if you have both of those guys in the lineup and playing significant minutes next year. There's a hugely steep learning curve for rookie defencemen.



Personally, i think they should just trade Luke Hughes to the Canucks to play with his brother so they don't have to even deal with the situation.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I think you can just slap Luke-Marino together as a 2nd pair and not really worry about it. Marino has been a revelation this year and I completely trust him to cover for Hughes.

The question of integrating Nemec is a bit tougher. You could pair him with Siegenthaler, but then that leaves you with a Bahl-Hamilton #1 pair and I don't think that's a good ideal for many reasons.

I'm guessing Luke gets first crack at the roster, and then they're have a "figure it out" approach with the rest.

 

[Zippy316]

I think you can just slap Luke-Marino together as a 2nd pair and not really worry about it. Marino has been a revelation this year and I completely trust him to cover for Hughes.

The question of integrating Nemec is a bit tougher. You could pair him with Siegenthaler, but then that leaves you with a Bahl-Hamilton #1 pair and I don't think that's a good ideal for many reasons.

I'm guessing Luke gets first crack at the roster, and then they're have a "figure it out" approach with the rest.

I would worry about a Luke - Marino pairing in the defensive zone. Marino is incredible defending in transition and on the rush, but I’d be afraid that them two together would struggle against a forecheck.

I think the most likely scenario is it ends up being Bahl/Siegs - Marino as the shut down pair. Luke gets the third pairing duties with Smith or another addition. Nemec slow cooks in the minors for at least the beginning of next year, unless he just blows the doors off in training camp.

In an ideal world, Devils can maybe find a way to retain Graves (or perhaps a low-end second pairing guy like Gudas) on a two/three year deal allowing them to make sure Hughes or Nemec are playing with Siegenthaler, Graves, or Marino. I can’t see Graves not cashing in a long term deal as a UFA though.