With the initial wave of free agency behind them, New Jersey Devils’ general manager Tom Fitzgerald is now making an extension with restricted free agent defenseman Luke Hughes his top priority, per team reporter Amanda Stein.
While the Devils have made a flurry of signings over the last 48 hours (headlined by re-signing goalie Jake Allen, and adding forwards Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov), and acquired the signing rights to RFA forward Thomas Bordeleau from the Sharks in exchange for Shane Bowers, Fitzgerald made it clear that his attention now shifts to Hughes. When asked if progress has been made on extension talks with his young defender, Fitzgerald stated, “No. But that’s my number one priority now.” When later asked if the club was still in the market for additional forward support, Fitzgerald doubled down by stating, “My number one priority now is signing Luke Hughes.”
This echoes Fitzgerald’s previous statements regarding his outlook for the offseason. At the beginning of June, Fitzgerald sat down with NHL.com’s Mike Morreale to discuss the team’s priorities heading into the offseason and acknowledged then how important it was for the team to extend Hughes.
He said at the time: “We’re just trying to figure out what’s best for Luke and for us and how do we make our team better with the funds that we have available… Both parties are in agreement… We’re going to get this done.”
Hughes skated in 71 games last season, posting seven goals and 44 points. He was injured in Game 1 of the team’s first-round matchup against the Hurricanes and underwent shoulder surgery in May. Fitzgerald noted today that Hughes’ recovery is progressing well and that he is expected to be ready for the start of the regular season.
Hughes is projected to sign a long-term deal with a price tag north of $9MM by CapWages. The Devils currently have just north of $6MM in cap space (per PuckPedia), so even if Hughes signs for under that projection, Fitzgerald will likely have to make some moves to fit the extension into the fold.
The Devils priority should be improving their bottom six forward group.
What do you think the Brown and Dadanovs signings were?
That presupposes Sparky was thinking.
He said “should be” as if they werent already in the process of doing that
I gotta say locking-up Hughes is more important than guys playing 10 to 13 minutes a night
Brown is very pedestrian, And Dadonov is really old! And then there is Glass, Palat, Paul Cotter, And recently acquired, Thomas Bordeleau. Ouch!
Wait until you learn about the salary cap
Wait until you see next season’s version of the Devils.
That Palat contract continues to age like milk.
It looks like the Luke Hughes projection on CapWages is “north of” $8 million, not 9: $8,386,810 over 6 years. They’ll still need to make a move to be cap compliant (anyone want Palat?) but that seems more in line for a 21 year old, even one as talented as Hughes.
I do like the Devils roster on paper. They just seem to find a way to be less than the sum of their parts.
I agree with you there. Huge Devils fan and they seem to continually underachieve.
So he’s trying to quell the “Luke to Vancouver” rumours then?
There won’t be any Hughes reunion in Vancouver, If it happens, It will be in Newark, There are currently three teams nobody wants to play for, Vancouver, Buffalo, And Toronto.
Sign this man