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Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

Devils’ Blue Line Left with Hole After Ryan Graves Departure

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Lucas Standel | Last updated 7/4/23

The New Jersey Devils have not been very active during the free agency period. However, they have lost some players to other teams. One of these players is Ryan Graves. He signed a six-year deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and he will make $4.5 million per season. After re-signing both Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier, and trading for Tyler Toffoli, the Devils could not afford to give Graves this kind of deal, and he was able to walk into unrestricted free agency. The Penguins gave him one of the biggest contracts of the free agency period so far, and he will be a key member of their defense core for the next six years.

On the other hand, the Devils lost one of their most valuable defensemen and have a hole in their lineup that needs to be filled. Are the Devils going to rely on a player like Luke Hughes, who is entering his first full season in the NHL, to take his spot? Or will they need to make another signing or trade to help fill the void? Either way, the Devils will miss having Graves on the backend, even if he was only with the team for two seasons.

Graves’ Impact on the Devils

Graves was traded to the Devils by the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Mikhail Maltsev and a 2021 second-round pick. The Avalanche traded him because they did not want to lose him for nothing in the Seattle Kraken expansion draft. The Devils were able to get him for cheap, and he became one of their most reliable defenders as soon as he joined the team. Graves was coming off a season where he was a plus-15 and a season prior where he was a plus-40, which was the best in the NHL during the 2019-20 season. His first season with the Devils was not as good, but that can be blamed on the fact that the rest of the team was not good, and the Devils were still in rebuilding mode. He was a minus-9 during his first season with the team, but that would not be the case during the 2022-23 season.

As the team became better this past season, so did Graves. He became the player that he was on the Avalanche, and he was one of the Devils’ best defenders. He scored eight goals and 26 points in 78 games played, and he was a plus-34 playing on the Devils’ top paring with Dougie Hamilton. While Hamilton was driving the offense, he was staying back and making sure he was playing good defense. He was a top penalty-killing defenseman for the team, and his presence is going to be missed on this blue line going into next season.

Can Luke Hughes Fill the Void?

The Devils will give Hughes every chance to take the spot that Graves occupied for the last two seasons. Hughes got into two regular season and three playoff games last season, and he played pretty well. This season will be his first full season in the NHL, and now, he has the chance to play top-four minutes on the Devils going forward. Since they want Hughes playing in the top four, he has two choices of who his defensive partner might be to start the season. He could take Graves’ spot next to Hamilton, or they could move Jonas Siegenthaler up and put Hughes with John Marino. Either way, he will be playing with a great defense partner, and he is going to need to make the most of the time he is given early on.

Hughes has all the tools to be a top defenseman in the NHL for years to come. He has the skating, the offensive tools and the defensive game. While he still needs time to grow and to figure out how to play in the NHL, the Devils will give him the best chance to become the player they thought he could be when they drafted him fourth overall in 2021. With Graves gone, Hughes is the player that will benefit the most from this opportunity.

Graves In Pittsburgh

The Penguins got a very good defender that can slot into the top pair with Kris Letang if he needs to. The Penguins are trying to reshape their team, and signing Graves makes their defense better than it was last season. Is his deal too long and for too much? Many would say yes, but the Penguins are still trying to win now, and Graves will help them with that for the next two to three seasons. The Devils will miss his presence this season, and while the Devils lost a key piece of their defense core, they hope Hughes and others can step up and fill the void Graves has left.

This article first appeared on The Hockey Writers and was syndicated with permission.

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