Jack Hughes. P.K. Subban. Nikita Gusev. Wayne Simmonds.



New Jersey’s summer was massive and it has the team’s fan base giving high marks to the brain trust and excited about the season to come. Rightfully so. Those four are huge additions to a team one season removed from the playoffs. While that year was likely a fluke, so too was last season when the team finished third last in the league.



Who are the real Devils? The answer likely lies somewhere in between, and with the team making big-time moves during the offseason, New Jersey looks poised for a major bounce-back season, one where a return to the playoffs is a very real possibility.



After they drafted Hughes and traded for Subban, I wrote about the duo’s likely impact and whether it would be enough to make the postseason. I called it a near 50-50 shot. Since then, the additions of Gusev and Simmonds bump that prognostication up even further with the team inching up above the playoff...