The average ticket price to see Hughers and Kakko play was more than Giants and Jets games this weekgetty images
The first regular season meeting between Devils C Jack Hughes and Rangers RW Kaapo Kakko, the No. 1 and 2 overall picks in June, was "big enough for NBCSN to televise it nationally" and for the matchup to "turn into the second-most expensive ticket in the NHL this week on the resale market," according to Neil Best of NEWSDAY. NBCSN promoted Thursday's game with an ad that read, in all caps: “THE FIRST OF MANY: KAAPO KAKKO VS. JACK HUGHES.” The NHL itself beforehand tweeted out "some hype, posting, 'The matchup you’ve all been waiting for!'" TickPick said that the average purchase price of $142.03 (as of Wednesday) was "more than the average for this week’s Cardinals-Giants and Patriots-Jets games at MetLife Stadium." None of these things "are normal for a game in Newark in mid-October." The Devils won 5-2 (NEWSDAY, 10/18).
GIVE IT TIME: In N.Y., Brett Cyrgalis writes though Hughes and Kakko "might revive the Hudson River Rivalry someday soon," it is "just not right now" (N.Y. POST, 10/18). SI.com's Dan Falkenheim writes there is "one word that doesn’t suit the Hudson River Rivalry well: patience." However, there will be "at least a few more years’ worth of Rangers-Devils scraps before the two 18-year-olds can answer who was deserving of the first pick" (SI.com, 10/18).
