Why New Jersey Devils' Success Still Hinges On Life Beyond Jack Hughes

New Jersey opens the 2026-27 season under new general manager Sunny Mehta, and his first offseason answered a question the organisation had avoided for years. The Devils have built everything around Jack Hughes, and every time he's missed real time, the team has collapsed with him. Preseason matchups against the Islanders and Rangers this week are the first genuine look at whether additions like Anthony Mantha and Luke Evangelista actually solve that dependency, or simply mask it for a few months before the same old problem resurfaces once the games start counting.

What does "Beyond Jack Hughes" actually mean for New Jersey?

The pattern is hard to miss. Over the last three seasons, whenever Hughes has gone down, the Devils have struggled to stay afloat, sometimes losing five or six straight before finding their footing again. That wasn't bad luck. The top line was built around him, with Jesper Bratt riding shotgun, and the depth behind that line never had enough juice to cover for his absence, leaving the rest of the roster scrambling to fill a gap it was never designed to handle. 

Mehta spent the summer trying to fix exactly that. He came over from Florida, a roster that never leaned on one star to do the heavy lifting. If Sam Bennett had an off night, Sam Reinhart stepped up instead. That's the blueprint Mehta is chasing here, and it explains why Mantha and Evangelista matter more than their stat lines might suggest. Mantha produces regardless of which line he's slotted into. Evangelista fits well next to Hughes or Hischier, but he isn't reliant on either one to be effective.

So the real challenge isn't asking Hughes to reinvent his game. It's asking everyone around him to stop needing him quite so badly.

Can the Devils handle it if Jack Hughes gets hurt again?

That's the question that actually matters, and the roster overhaul suggests New Jersey believes it can finally say yes. Forward depth had been a weak spot for years, and instead of hoping the top six would carry more weight, Mehta went out and added bodies who can. Nico Hischier and Timo Meier still shoulder plenty, and Meier in particular tends to matter more once the postseason slows the pace down and physicality takes over.

There's a bigger question surrounding Hughes too. Can he win a Stanley Cup the way Nathan MacKinnon or Connor McDavid have, by adjusting his game when the moment calls for it? Nobody has that answer yet. What's different now is that New Jersey no longer needs him to figure it out on his own. If the new pieces hold up once camp turns into real games, the Devils finally look built to survive a rough stretch, not just ride a good season.