{"id":441718,"date":"2026-02-02T17:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T17:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/441718\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T17:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T17:32:16","slug":"devils-season-all-but-over-after-loss-to-senators-jack-hughes-hurt-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/441718\/","title":{"rendered":"Devils season all but over after loss to Senators; Jack Hughes hurt again"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is part of ourSpeaking of the Devils newsletter<\/a>, which is sent to your inbox every Monday morning.<\/p>\n

1. The Devils\u2019 4-1 loss to the Senators on Saturday felt like the final nail in the coffin of their disappointing 2025-26 season. Their playoff chances are all but toast (I\u2019ll spend the next few points explaining just how hard it will be for them to make it).<\/p>\n

2. For starters, Money Puck<\/a> now gives the Devils an 8.9% chance to make the playoffs. That\u2019s eighth worst in the NHL. This time last week it was 27%. Yikes\u2026<\/p>\n

3. Had they won Saturday, New Jersey would have been five points out of a playoff spot due to the Islanders\u2019 collapse vs. the Predators. Alas, the 2025-26 Devils can\u2019t get a timely win or a timely save. That\u2019s been the unfortunate reality for them all season.<\/p>\n

4. It took me just two clicks to clinch the No. 1 pick for the Devils on the TankAThon simulator<\/a>. I wonder if Gavin McKenna says Pork Roll or Taylor Ham\u2026<\/p>\n

5. It goes without saying, but let\u2019s say it anyway: Ownership should not let general manager Tom Fitzgerald try to salvage the season with a panic trade. I don\u2019t think any player could come in and right the ship immediately. The Devils have to be thinking long term.<\/p>\n

6. Credit where it\u2019s due: Fitzgerald won a trade this week by shipping out Ondrej Palat\u2019s albatross contract. Lest we forget, though: Fitzgerald is the one that handed him that in the first place. I hesitate to give him full credit for a problem that he created and should have gotten out of months ago.<\/p>\n

7. Jack Hughes got hurt again. He left in the first period of Thursday\u2019s 3-2 OT win over the Predators with a lower body injury. The good news: Sheldon Keefe told reporters Saturday that it\u2019s not serious and he\u2019ll be back soon. The bad news: he missed yet another game and the Devils lost.<\/p>\n

8. Man, this has been a gloomy newsletter. Let\u2019s spend the next few points talking about their few bright spots. We\u2019ll start with Cody Glass, who has 10 points in his last 10 games and six goals in that stretch. Health has been a concern this season, but when he\u2019s in, he\u2019s been on fire.<\/p>\n

9. I talked to someone this week who has seen the Devils\u2019 new alternate jersey. They described it as \u201cpretty.\u201d <\/p>\n

10. The young duo of Arseny Gritsyuk and Lenni Hameenaho remains very promising. They have a staggering 5-0 goals for edge and a 71.35 expected goals for percentage when playing on the same line together, according to Natural Stat Trick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bonus: Here\u2019s your weekly reminder to check out our YouTube show \u201cSpeaking of the Devils<\/a>.\u201d Postgame live streams after every game and we\u2019ll have a trio of exciting guests joining the show later today. Join in on the fun.<\/p>\n

Question of the week (from via Rick via X): Why is Jack going to the Olympics????<\/p>\n

I understand the arguments for and against this. The Olympics mean everything to the players, so I won\u2019t fault Jack Hughes for going \u2014 even if he\u2019s not 100%. That said, it would be a terrible look if he misses this crucial Devils stretch in order to rest for Milan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is part of ourSpeaking of the Devils newsletter, which is sent to your inbox every Monday morning.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5109],"tags":[201,5,576,151,5185,5184,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-441718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-jersey-devils","8":"tag-devils","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-new-jersey","11":"tag-new-jersey-devils","12":"tag-newjersey","13":"tag-newjerseydevils","14":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116002235634152245","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}