Metropolitan Notes: Hughes, Svechnikov, Pelech, Pulock

Devils center Jack Hughes practiced with the team in a non-contact jersey Monday, Amanda Stein of the team’s official site reports. Subsequently, head coach Lindy Ruff informed reporters that Hughes’ status had been upgraded to day-to-day, and he could return during the Devils’ three games this week.

Hughes was a part of Thursday’s festivities at All-Star Weekend in Toronto but could not play in the event due to his upper-body injury, which has kept him out since Jan. 5 against the Blackhawks. The 22-year-old is on injured reserve, but the Devils have an open roster spot and won’t need to make a corresponding transaction in order to activate him.

Separate injuries have limited Hughes to 32 games this season, but he’s managed to churn out a career-best 1.41 points-per-game pace and still sits second on the team in scoring with 45 points. He leads Devils forwards in average ice time (20:30) and has a career-high Corsi share of 58% at even strength.

Other updates from the Metropolitan Division to kick off the week:

• Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov was not a full participant in practice today and likely remains out for Tuesday’s game against the Canucks, per Cory Lavalette of the North State Journal. Svechnikov missed the last four games before the All-Star break with an upper-body injury, his third multi-game absence of the season. He’s been electric when healthy, cracking the point-per-game plateau for the first time in his career with 11 goals and 19 assists in 29 games. The 2018 second-overall pick has missed 19 games this season due to multiple upper-body injuries, an illness, and continued recovery from knee surgery that ended his 2022-23 campaign last March.
• The Islanders could be getting a pair of important blue-liners back tonight against the Maple Leafs as both Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock will be game-time decisions, head coach Patrick Roy told Newsday’s Andrew Gross. Pelech missed the final game before the All-Star break with an upper-body injury after he was on the receiving end of an elbow to the head from Canadiens winger Brendan Gallagher on Jan. 25 that earned him a five-game suspension. Pulock, meanwhile, was activated from injured reserve over the weekend and missed nearly two months with a lower-body injury sustained Dec. 7 against the Blue Jackets. The Islanders’ longtime number-one pairing has been downgraded in minutes this season thanks to the two-way emergence of both Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov, who are both averaging over 22 minutes per game and have quietly been one of the league’s better pairings.