Jack Hughes Returns to Practice | NOTEBOOK

Devils forward Jack Hughes (upper-body) returned to practice for the first time with his teammates since suffering an injury at St. Louis on Nov. 3. 

Stay tuned to the notebook for the latest info, updates, interviews, videos and more from the practice session!

Injury Updates

Hughes will be a game-time decision for Saturday against the New York Rangers. There is no timeline for the return of Meier or Hischier.

Practice Details

While Jack Hughes has returned to practice, forwards Timo Meier, Tomas Nosek and Nico Hischier were absent. Meier missed Thursday's game in Pittsburgh, though he did skate following the team's morning skate. Hischier has been out since Oct. 27 with an upper-body injury. Nosek played Thursday night. 

We'll get an update from head coach Lindy Ruff following practice. 

Below is the workflow from practice.

Jack Hughes was back in his usual flanker position on the power play. The following units were deployed:

LHughes, JHughes, Bratt, Palat, Toffoli
Hamilton, Haula, Holtz, Mercer, Bastian

*OOO: Point man, left flank, right flank, bumper, net-front

He Said It:

Ruff on the chatter on the bench: “We were playing three lines. For the most part, when they come back to the bench they’re catching their breath.”

Miller Time

Devils defenseman Colin Miller made his team debut in Thursday’s 5-2 victory at Pittsburgh.

“It was fun. Long awaited,” Miller said. It was good and nice to get the win.”

Miller, who signed as a free agent in the summer, has been dealing with a lower-body injury that kept him out of the lineup for the beginning of the regular season. While out, he was able to do a lot of work on film and observing of the Devils’ system and style of play.

“There will be bumps in the road, but guys always talk about not thinking too much and just play,” Miller said. “I felt like I was able to do that without thinking too much.”

Miller, who was one of seven defensemen dressed in the game, logged 17:30 minutes of ice time and finished the game with a plus-1 and two shots. But Miller’s most obvious contribution was his skating ability.

“I saw a real solid game. Coming off missing a lot of time,” Ruff said. “I thought he was an important part of us moving the puck out of our zone, getting that first touch and moving his legs. That’s part of his game, the speed of getting back for pucks and also the speed getting up ice to close gaps when players are coming the other way.”

Dressing seven blueliners was a way for the Devils to ease Miller back into game action for his first game of the season.

“The rotation is a little weird. I’m sure some guys on D don’t love it,” Miller said, “but I think it went well last night.”

Blueprint

The Devils defeated the Penguins, 5-2, in Pittsburgh on Thursday night. The team did so with arguably their top three forwards in Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier and Timo Meier.

Most of the team’s players felt it was one of, if not the, best 60-minute efforts the team has had this season.

“I thought it was a great team win. We played really well, strong,” forward Dawson Mercer said. “We had a lot of chances. Coming into the third period we put the pressure on. Getting those few goals quickly and closing out strong. Overall, we were pretty happy with that game.”

The Devils got contributions from role players like Nathan Bastian and Curtis Lazar. They also had goals from their skilled players like Jesper Bratt, Alexander Holtz and Tyler Toffoli. It was a total team effort.

“We’ve made some subtle adjustments. You know other players will have to be big players for you,” Ruff said. “We’ve seen those guys step up. You saw the Lazar goal, the Bastian goal. We need more goals like that. We’re going to the net. We’re getting second opportunities around the net. You saw the pretty goals. The Bratt goal. Driving through and finding the open ice. You saw the Holtz goal. You win a battle on the wall by Palat, resets the play. We made a nice play below to the net to Alex. He got himself in good position.”

But goals aside, the most encouraging aspect of the game was the club’s compete and execution on passes, which allowed it to play fast and aggressive.

“If you want to win every night, that is a blueprint for how you need to play and how you need to compete,” Ruff said. “You can’t control if you’re hitting goalposts or crossbars or missing some great opportunities going against a hot goaltender. There are different ways to losing. If you compete at that level and move the puck at that level we moved it out, we’re going to give ourselves a chance to win every night.”