Blackhawks: New look Devils team comes to visit Chicago

The New Jersey Devils and Chicago Blackhawks are both struggling but are at different points of their development which presents an interesting game.

The Chicago Blackhawks are riding high after a successful road trip. First, they went north of the Border and handled the Winnipeg Jets and then they went to Denver to take on the Colorado Avalanche and earned a come from behind victory there too. It was a weekend that looked bleak for Chicago going into it and they came out strong. If they continue to play like that no matter what they could go on a bit of a run and possibly make some people think twice about their playoff chances.

They will have their next opportunity at home in the final game before the NHL’s mandatory holiday break. A new look New Jersey Devils team awaits them. They are a new-look team because their best player Taylor Hall has been traded away. They sent him to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for three prospects, a conditional first-round pick, and a conditional third-round pick. It was a move that needed to be done as they have failed to meet expectations in 2019-20 so far and Hall’s contract is expiring on July 1st.

So without Hall, the Devils still have lots of great players. The last time the draft was held at the United Center in 2017, the Devils selected Nico Hischier with the first overall pick. He has developed into a great 200-foot player that does everything right for them. He is turning into one of the elite two-way forwards in the game. They also selected Jack Hughes with the first overall pick int he 2019 NHL Draft. Both guys are now the face of the franchise moving forward and the Blackhawks need to be on them in order to give themselves a chance.

This Devils team made a lot of additions during the offseason. They selected Hughes first overall, traded for star defenseman P.K. Subban, KHL MVP Nikita Gusev, and signed Wayne Simmonds in free agency. Those guys have all been okay but the team as a whole hasn’t been great at all. They will likely have another top-five pick this year unless they really turn it around. With that said, with all of that motivated young talent, the Blackhawks cannot take them lightly and expect to win.

You never know what you are going to get from either team on any given night which is why this game could be very entertaining. They played a few weeks ago in Newark and the Blackhawks defeated the Devils in a long shootout. It was a fun game to watch as each team isn’t great defensively but has some skill in their forward positions. This is a good game to send each team into the 2019 holiday break.