Luke Hughes Out Six To Eight Weeks With Shoulder Injury

Devils defenseman Luke Hughes is expected to miss training camp, preseason, and the start of the regular season after injuring his left shoulder while training earlier this month.

According to an announcement from the team, he’ll miss between six and eight weeks. That puts his season debut for New Jersey sometime during late October or early November.

It’s a tough break for both the Devils and the 21-year-old, who’s a pending restricted free agent entering the final season of his entry-level contract. He’s eligible to sign an extension at any time, and it’ll likely be a costly one after he led New Jersey defenders in scoring last season with 47 points (9 G, 38 A) in 82 games and finished third in Calder Trophy voting, losing out on Rookie of the Year honors to Connor Bedard and finishing well short of Wild counterpart Brock Faber for second place.

The fourth overall pick in the 2021 draft, Hughes is well on his way to joining his brother Jack as a core piece in the Garden State for years to come. The New Hampshire native has some work to do defensively before he’s a proper top-pairing option, finishing third-worst on the team with a -25 rating, but his 55% shot attempt share and 52.3 expected goals share at even strength were decent in sheltered offensive usage. Before turning pro with the Devils to close the 2022-23 campaign, Hughes’ 48 points in 39 games from the University of Michigan blue line helped them to a second straight Big 10 championship.

The left-shot defender is slated for second-pairing duties when healthy, allowing a more stay-at-home partner to complement a healthy Dougie Hamilton on the team’s top pairing. That spot will be up for grabs in training camp now, though, at least for the first few weeks of the campaign. New head coach Sheldon Keefe has plenty of options, but the most likely is a shutdown duo of free agent additions, Brenden Dillon and Brett Pesce, backing up Hamilton and his partner.

If Hughes doesn’t miss enough time to be eligible for long-term injured reserve, that could create complications for a Devils team that will likely be capped out after coming to an agreement with RFA forward Dawson Mercer. Putting Hughes on standard IR compared to LTIR could result in New Jersey not carrying an extra defenseman until he returns to health. His injury should provide plenty of opportunity early on for Johnathan Kovacevic, who was projected to start the year as the Devils’ No. 7 defender after being acquired from the Canadiens in June.