Devils GM is on thin ice without Quinn Hughes to save his crumbling team

The biggest losers in the Friday night trade that rocked the NHL were much-relieved winners on Saturday afternoon — and maybe, given the player at the center of this mega deal, these two events were related.

The Devils didn’t land superstar Quinn Hughes but they did play their most complete game in weeks to beat the Anaheim Ducks, 4-1, at the Prudential Center. Admitting that outside noise has infiltrated a locker room is usually verboten in pro sports, but for this franchise and this player, how could it have not?

Hughes wasn’t just an All-Star asset sitting on the trading block. He is brothers with two of the Devils’ core players, and one of them copped to feeling disappointed that Minnesota had stunned the league by completing the blockbuster deal with Vancouver.

“I would have loved to have had him here, and not just because he’s our brother but because he’s a top-two D in the league,” said Luke, the youngest of the Hughes siblings. “He’s an unbelievable player.”

Quinn Hughes will remain in another time zone, and for one day, the Devils looked like a burden had been lifted. Head coach Sheldon Keefe said it “would be silly” to think that the constant trade rumors didn’t impact his players, who were embarrassed, 8-4, by Tampa Bay on this same ice two days earlier.

This victory, however, feels like a temporary reprieve for the team’s architect. Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald couldn’t get a deal done for Hughes — the kind of trade that would have provided a jolt for his team’s torpedoing chances.

Can he do something — anything — to keep his team in the playoff race as it deals with an almost unfair level of adversity this season?

Even with the win on Saturday, the Devils are 6-9-0 since losing Jack Hughes to a freak mid-November injury. When Keefe announced Saturday that defenseman Simon Nemec had joined the team’s injured list and that his status “is not day-to-day,” it almost seemed like a cruel joke. The players currently missing from this roster might beat the available players in a scrimmage.

It would be unfair to blame Fitzgerald for the lousy luck. This team, however, was trending in the wrong direction before Jack Hughes cut his hand at the appropriately named Chicago Cut steakhouse in what remains one of the oddest mishaps in team history. Everyone knew the Devils would struggle in his absence, but only Fitzgerald was in position to do something about it.

He has done nothing. The GM already was an easy target for the one move he did make this season, signing veteran goaltender Jacob Markstrom to a two-year, $12-million extension on Nov. 1. It was the rare deal that looked bad before the ink was dry on the contract, and on many nights, the Martin Brodeur statue outside the Prudential Center has looked like a better option in the crease.

A trade for Quinn Hughes wouldn’t have solved many of these problems, but it certainly would have changed the narrative. Instead, Minnesota swooped in with what Vancouver president Jim Rutherford called “clearly the best (offer)” to steal him away.

Hughes is not expected to sign long term in Minnesota, but with the prospects of an eight-year contract extension this offseason, all bets are off if the Wild avoid their typical first-round playoff exit and make a Stanley Cup run. The Devils have to hope Hughes is back on the market next season or wait until he becomes a free agent in 2027 for the long-anticipated reunion with his brothers.

And that’s the problem. The Devils window to contend is open right now. Captain Nico Hischier turns 27 next month, and while that’s still just the beginning of his prime, he and fellow building block Jesper Bratt will crack the 600-game threshold with the franchise this season.

How many more seasons can the Devils wait before it builds a contender around this promising group? Better question: When will the sense of urgency that fans are feeling finally hit the front office?

Fitzgerald was not made available to the media on Saturday afternoon, and if he waits much longer, he might get the full Joe Schoen treatment when he does face the music. His one saving grace is that, in the screwy Eastern Conference standings, everyone is separated by just a handful of points. The win over Anaheim pushed the Devils back into a playoff position — for now.

“When we play like that, we can beat anyone at any time under any circumstances,” Keefe said.

Keefe has no choice to put a positive spin on the situation even as he sends a lineup loaded with AHL players onto the ice. Quinn Hughes isn’t coming through the locker room door to save the Devils this season or, for that matter, maybe ever.

Fitzgerald couldn’t get that deal done, but his team still needs help — and soon — if it is going to fulfill its potential this season. The clock is ticking.

Devils GM is on thin ice without Quinn Hughes to save his crumbling team | Politi

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