Devils play dangerous game with Jack Hughes stars after ugly goals

What the hell is going on with the Devils? They allow Jack Hughes target in open ice by Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov, and that same week, watch and do nothing as Jesper Bratt is swept behind the net by Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak?

Players shouldn’t be forced to fight after delivering clean hits, which is what both Romanov and Cernak did, and I believe that. But teams certainly have a duty to protect their veteran players from harm, and that’s something I implicitly believe.

The Devils failed to do that twice in three games this week. The other game in Detroit ended in 1965 with Hughes flat on his back and Michael Rasmussen going all Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston in Lewiston, Maine, after No. 86 bounced off the Red Wings forward as he tried in vain to cross an empty field defend. net.

The three-ring circus could have come with sound effects from the old Batman TV series: SPLAT! CRASH! WAM! POW!

If there is open season on Hughes, not only would the Devils have no chance, but they would deserve what they get. If they allow their able boys to be bullied, they don’t stand a chance. You’d think this would be a given in the room and in the coaching areas, when Sheldon Keefe should have learned long ago during his time in Toronto that this skill alone won’t win championships (or even multiple playoff rounds).

It’s early, the Devils are just getting started. But it’s never too early to protect Jack Hughes. Because one of these times it will be too late.

If the Senators had offered Shane Pinto-plus to the Rangers in exchange for Alexis Lafreniere in the summer of 2023 before the betting site issue arose, I’m not so sure it would have been an automatic no on the part of the Rangers.

I’m not sure baseball is better if the Yankees win the World Series – caller Steve from Queens certainly disagrees – but I do believe the NHL is better if Montreal is a perennial contender. Or maybe I’ll date myself like the Habs.

The Canadiens go 32 years without lifting the Cup. I guess that’s a good comparison if your standard is the Maple Leafs, on Year 58, or the Flyers, following almost 50 years after the last parade down Broad Street.

But the franchise that set the historical standard in the 1950s, 60s and 70s – the one that produced Rocket Richard, Jean Beliveau, Doug Harvey, Larry Robinson, Guy Lafleur and Ken Dryden; the one that won 15 Cups in a 24-year span from 1956-79 – looks a bit like the Yankees of Bobby Murcer, Mel Stottlemyre, Jerry Kenney and Horace Clarke, after the M&M Boys and Whitey Ford.

The hierarchy that includes Executive VP of Hockey Jeff Gorton, GM Kent Hughes and head coach Marty St. Louis has put the franchise on the right course after the bottom fell out a few seasons ago. But the club is in no man’s land, a conglomeration of exciting young talents both established (Cole Caufield) and trying to gain traction (Juraj Slafkovsky, Lane Hutson), but without a strong mid-range to provide meaningful support.

If the steps Gorton took are anything like the steps he took as Rangers GM after the letter, the problem is that there is neither an Artemi Panarin nor an Igor Shesterkin equivalent. But the pressure will build in the same way it did when Rangers stalled.

Aside from the surprise run to the Cup Final in 2021 after the COVID-affected 56-game season, the Canadiens have won nine playoff rounds since last winning the Cup in 1993 — with perhaps the weakest roster in modern history, by the way to raise the chalice.

The Senators are at the forefront of rebuilding, same for the Sabers and same for the Red Wings. None of these teams have made the playoffs in at least seven years. This doesn’t reflect the Habs’ trajectory particularly well.

The leaguewide save percentage has fallen to .899, the first time it has fallen below .900 since 1995-96, when the total number was .896.

The infusion of skills and youth plus the impact of teams needing entry-level and cheap contracts to compensate for the top of the food chain have created an environment where savings rates have steadily declined year-on-year since 2014-15 and 2015. -16, when netminders posted a combined .915.

However, that is not a sufficient explanation for the fact that the Devils have given up 23 goals during this four-game losing streak (0-2-2).

John Tortorella set it up that way, not the Flyers’ head coach, who predicted how concerned he was about the team’s goaltending before the season even started. Don’t blame anyone for 1-5-1! Back to you, Jonesy.

There is an explanation for the Penguins honoring the legacy of the Sidney Crosby-Evgeni Malkin-Kris Letang triumvirate the way the Yankees honor the legacy of the Core Four.

But the decision to honor Tristan Jarry’s legacy with a five-year extension in 2023 didn’t seem to have the same historical basis, did it?

Finally, I see Chris Pronger defended Jacob Trouba on the latest (not really) controversial hit from #8 when speaking to the estimable Pierre LeBrun. But I’m not sure calling one of the NHL’s most infamous and brazen headhunters to the stands as a character witness is a winning strategy.