This season the New Jersey Devils are not the team that everyone thought they were going to be. After making it to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs last year, there were high hopes for this team. Some even thought that they would be a cup favorite, while Jack Hughes would continue to play like one of the best players in the league. The second one is still known to be true. With 45 points in the 32 games that he has played in this year, Hughes was on pace to be an MVP candidate. This was until he went down with an injury earlier this season, just for him to get re-injured shortly after he returned to the ice.

Currently the Devils are tied at fifth place in the Metropolitan Division. This sounds really bad in writing, but they are not far off from being back inside the playoff race. Sitting at 24-20-3 during the break, New Jersey is going to have to dig deep to get back into the conversation of making the playoffs.

Some good news for Devils fans this week would be that Jack Hughes has announced that he feels “really close” to returning from his injury. As Hughes is one of the captains for the NHL All-Star Game, he spoke to reporters after the Player Draft on Thursday night.

Hughes returning would mean that the Devils have a shot at making a final playoff spot. The team would add an X factor player to a team that is already overachieving in the goal scoring category (tied for second in the Metro).

With plenty of worried Devils fans hoping for a return from their star player, they may be getting it in the coming weeks. If what the 22-year-old superstar said is true, then the rest of the league can be sure to see a brand new Devils team hit the ice once he comes back. No further details have been announced at this time, but the future looks promising for New Jersey.