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Newark, N.J. — A true enforcer is a rare sight in today’s NHL, but Devils forward Jack Hughes can attest to the benefit of having a physical presence backing him up on the ice.

During New Jersey’s 5–4 shootout loss Friday, the Winnipeg Jets knocked the Devils’ prized draft pick around a few times in his NHL debut. The worst came in the third period when Jets center Jack Roslovic crushed Hughes into Winnipeg’s bench. Moments later, Devils forward John Hayden skated furiously across the ice to retaliate and demolished Winnipeg’s Mathieu Perreault.

“I think when [Hayden, Miles Wood and Wayne Simmonds] are in the lineup, we’ve got some meat,” Hughes said. “Those three guys are pretty tough.”

And while Hayden came to Hughes’ defense, the pair was never intended to be on the ice together. The original lines for New Jersey’s season opener had Hughes skating with Jesper Bratt and Nikita Gusev, and Hayden with Miles Wood and Pavel Zacha.

After the game, Devils coach John Hynes said he flipped Hayden onto Hughes’ line to add stability. In reality, he was trying to create the best situation for Hughes to excel by minimizing his weaknesses. With Hughes’ massive offensive upside, he needs time and space to work in the offensive zone to generate good chances. To best set him up, Hynes ordered a late-game dose of physicality and defense.

“You need men to win in this league,” Hynes said. “You gotta have some men in your lineup that know how to play and can bring some physicality. Maybe they’re not stats or analytics darlings, but they’re guys that understand how to play with [and] without the puck. They can bring a physical presence that can change the momentum of a game with some size.”

Sticking to these principles, Hynes put Hughes with Wood in New Jersey’s second game against Buffalo (Hayden was scratched) and plans to skate his star rookie with Blake Coleman and Wayne Simmonds against Philadelphia Wednesday.

The faces may keep changing but the message is the same: Hynes is trying to back Hughes up with size, strength, defensive responsibility and veteran leadership. Every extra puck battle won and defensive zone play ended early spells more time in the offensive zone for Hughes to play his game.

Hynes’ mid-game modification Friday and subsequent explanation give us a small peek into how NHL players and coaches view line construction and why there’s a tremendous emphasis on balance.

Coleman and Simmonds are a natural complement to Hughes because they’re big, strong, good without the puck, able to generate stops and fight for pucks in the offensive zone. Hayden and Wood do the same by playing physical, responsible games, creating space and retrieving pucks. Coleman can also take faceoffs anytime Hughes is knocked off the draw.

The right complement creates a two-way attack, one that allows players to be who they are without rescinding any parts of their style to accommodate others. In the case of Hughes, Hayden doesn’t have to be any less of an offensive player just to focus on defense. Their games complement each other naturally.

“You won’t watch a game of all my shifts and a game of all Hughes’ shifts and see the same exact play, right?” Hayden said. “There’s a complement there and what you see around the league is that complement can work at times. I don’t think it rescinds anything. I think it enhances the game overall.”

However, finding the right partners on the ice is not enough long-term. Whenever Hughes skates with steady, defensive veterans, it’s a lead-by-example situation. He has to internalize the lessons around him to grow as a player. Given his immense potential and hockey I.Q., those skills should come in time, but Hughes has to continue to buy-in to the learning aspect of the game as he’s done in his short professional career.

“Jack’s learning,” Hynes said. “He’s learning how to play at this level and how competitive it is. Two veteran guys that are strong, that should help and those guys should be able to help him, but he’s also got to help himself.”

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This story is part of a running series of spillover content from The Fischler Report, the longest-running hockey journal in its 27th year of publication. To inquire about subscriptions, please email FischlerReport@gmail.com.