New Jersey Devils Officially Lose Their Top Defenseman for the Rest of the Season

A few weeks ago, the New Jersey Devils confirmed that Jack Hughes' season was over after suffering a devastating injury, so the last thing this team needed was more bad news on the injury front.

Unfortunately as the team continues to slide, General Manager Tom Fitzgerald confirmed the worst possible news on Thursday, as he revealed that veteran defenseman Dougie Hamilton would miss the remainder of the 2024/25 regular season.

This is a major blow for the Devils blue line, who will now need to give bigger roles to younger names like Luke Hughes and Simon Nemec, and with the team dropping 12 of their last 21 games, it's clear that injuries are severely effecting their 2024/25 charge to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Hamilton wasn't the only blow for New Jersey however, as Jonas Siegenthaler is confirmed to miss the remainder of the regular season as well, with the team desperate to find some consistency all over the ice given their recent injuries.

Despite this, the Devils still sit six points up on the Columbus Blue Jackets for third place in the Metropolitan Division this season, and if they can continue scrapping and fighting for victories, they'll find their way into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but right now things aren't looking great.

Ultimately, this is a team that went all in to chase a Stanley Cup in the summer after acquiring Jacob Markstrom to sure up their goaltending, and now that he's fully healthy, they'll rely even more on him as the rest of the pieces around him continue to fall, with hopes in the organization still very high for the 2024/25 campaign.