Things aren’t going well for the New Jersey Devils lately. What started as a physically dominant season for the Red and Black has quickly faded to a middling team that lacks the depth and confidence to get the job done night in and night out, even as they’ve become as healthy as possible in the last few weeks. Yet, despite the poor product on the ice, one former league executive still sees the bones of a championship roster.
Former Florida Panthers assistant GM Steve Werier joined the Devils Rink Report and drew striking parallels between New Jersey’s foundational pieces and the championship core he helped build in Florida.
“One parallel is when you have a franchise cornerstone like Sasha Barkov, it’s something you can’t go trade for most of the time,” Werier said. “And the same goes for the [Connor] McDavid’s and the [Nathan] MacKinnon’s… Jack Hughes is one as well. So you got that cornerstone to build on.”
Jack Hughes is back from injury, and was a huge part of the reason why New Jersey ran like a well-oiled machine to start the 2025-26 season. There’s no doubt, he’s the face of the franchise.
What the former Panthers GM said next about player commitments I really liked.
Werier framed player decisions through “one-way” and “two-way” doors.
“A two-way door signing is a guy you might sign for two years at $3 million and if he doesn’t work out… it’s not going to necessarily derail your franchise long term. The one-way doors are those big-ticket long-term contracts to players you almost always acquire through the draft and can’t otherwise acquire.”
Florida obviously hit the jackpot on several, and utilized previous assets to bring in the similar pieces through trade.
“Florida has that. We had Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, who were both hits. Jonathan Huberdeau, who was eventually monetized off the deal I signed him to in his final year for Matthew Tkachuk, and is similarly a lottery-caliber player like Sam Reinhart.”
He sees a similar trio in New Jersey. Nico Hischier, the captain and a former first overall pick, and Jack’s brother, Luke Hughes, who is projected to be a No.1 defenseman in the future.
“For New Jersey… you’ve got three of those players under contract… And that’s Jack, and I don’t think there’s any debate about what Jack is. It’s Nico. And I don’t think there’s any debate about what Nico is… And then the third one’s Luke Hughes.”
It’s been an up and down year for the youngest Hughes brother. He’s been asked to play out of position and perhaps about his weight class. Thus, Luke carries the only slight uncertainty, as he’s been out of his weight class this year, perhaps due to missing training camp.
“Maybe Luke’s the one that has the question mark, just by virtue of being the youngest and least experienced… But if Luke turns out to be what Tom Fitzgerald is paying him to be, those are three really good pieces to build around.”
From there, it’s about surrounding them properly.
“Similarly, it’s just a matter of complementing them with the right guys and finding that window. And maybe it’s shedding another contract or two, which I think will be a lot easier to do this summer than right now.”
Werier pointed to Dougie Hamilton as a prime example of timing mattering.
“A player like Dougie Hamilton… who’s a $9 million cap hit and has a huge signing bonus on July 1 of next year—after that, he becomes, I believe, like a $4 or $5 million cash liability on a $9 million hit. So July 2, 2026, if Dougie is open to being moved… there’ll be a lot more appetite from other clubs to take on an asset like that than there would be today.”
Werier’s advice to frustrated Devils fans: the core is championship-caliber, and the offseason—especially summer 2026—could unlock the flexibility needed to complete the puzzle, just as strategic patience did for the Panthers.
