Luke Hughes and the Devils have remained in contract talks throughout the offseason, a luxury they have thanks to the star defender carrying 10.2(c) status that makes him ineligible for an offer sheet. While they remain without a pact, they’re at least aligned on the length of a contract. Sportsnet’s Luke Fox said on yesterday’s Halford & Brough In The Morning radio show on Sportsnet 650 that both sides have focused on a long-term deal, likely a seven-year contract.
That’s in line with the approach New Jersey has taken with their other young stars. They gave forward fixtures Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes seven and eight-year deals, respectively, upon expiry of their entry-level contracts. The younger Hughes, now in the same position, should easily be able to command more than Jack’s $8MM AAV if the Devils are willing to go there.
Evidently, they aren’t. The only two players making more than Jack Hughes on the Devils’ roster were external additions – UFA splash Dougie Hamilton (who was signed before Jack signed his extension) and winger Timo Meier, who was extended shortly after New Jersey paid a steep price to acquire him from the Sharks. There’s also the matter of the Devils’ cap space. They only have $6.1MM to spend, per PuckPedia, although that figure is artificially low. That assumes a full 23-player roster – i.e., they’d naturally open up a bit of space by clearing a spot for Luke – and no LTIR placement for defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic ($4MM cap hit) out of the gate. He had knee surgery in May and won’t be ready for camp.
The Devils thus likely have the short-term flexibility to sign Luke to a long-term deal in that $8MM range, but clearing space once Kovacevic is ready to return might be an issue. There are a few risks with going long-term with Hughes now – for one, he’s still so young that a seven-year deal would make him a UFA at his expected peak following his age-28 season, but those are risks both sides appear comfortable taking. The remainder of their talks, as such, will be purely centered around annual compensation.
There are some candidates for cap-clearing moves, which have already been speculated about at length this summer. Hamilton’s $9MM AAV likely exceeds his market value at this stage of his career, while winger Ondrej Palat’s $6MM price tag is a significant drag after scoring just 28 points in 77 games last season. With both boasting no-movement clauses, though, moving on from either of them is no guarantee.
There are still weeks left of runway for the Devils and Hughes to continue ironing out a deal before camp. Obviously, being same-minded on the rough structure and length of the deal is one fewer hurdle they have to jump over before a deal gets registered.
Then there’s the elephant in the room – also why it was a point of discussion on Vancouver radio – on how they can fit Quinn Hughes under the cap in the following year.
Lukes contract is gonna be more than Jack’s AAV. Jack shouldn’t mind.
He really won’t mind especially when Quinn Hughes ends up in Jersey via Trade or when he’s a Free Agent, as long as they got the brothers together he won’t mind at all, I just wish they played for the Hawks
Quinn Hughes to NJ
Bowen Byram, Dawson Mercer, NJ 2026 1st and Casey Semus to Van
Simon Nemec, Van’s 2026 2nd, and Paul Cotter To Buffalo
Instead of Violence you chose to wake up today and take heavy drugs
You’re better off with;
To VAN: Nemec, Casey, Mercer, 1st
To NJ: Q Hughes
Why make it a complicated 3-way trade?
Nemec and Casey are RD, Byram is a LD playing the RS in Buffalo. Van needs a very good LD to replace Quinn.
Lolololol so who is on our fourth line and first D up when an injury happens? Or is Quinn so good he can play d, wing and c on the same line all at once?
At least find a trade that is literally plausible, even if outlandish.
If you’re getting a top 3 D in the league, you can’t be sweating about giving up depth pieces.
You are missing the point. We literally would be able to ice a team as we’d lose so many players in the trade.
You’re missing the point; It’s forum trade talk nonsense.
Fair enough. Mcdavid and Draisaitl for a 7th with 50% retained. Throw in Palat for the cap balance.
Violence is my favorite color.
They’ll only have to eat that Palat contract through next year
Maybe Palat will go to Detroit if they eat salary and expect very little in return. Detroit could use some toughness.
Palat at half salary and Nemec for Berggren and Holl (retain 1M)
Never in a million years. Where do you get your market rates for 2OA picks? Would you trade Jack Eichel in a salary dump? Michael Misa to get rid of some salary? Just mental. It’d take palat plus a second rounder, not a second overall.
Gotcha!
Unless one counts you periodically tripping yourself into the posting end boards, you have really never gotten anyone.
“Hey Luke, I have a bridge (deal) to sell you…”
The Devils will get all 3 of the Hughes Brothers and it will ruin the team that they have today which is trending up. I just can’t see how they are going to compete for the cup if they have 35 million per year in Hughes’.
The Hamilton signing didn’t make much sense at the time and it’s likely going to put them in a bind short term.
I actually liked the Palat signing at the time. He hasn’t lived up to it but he was playing with Point, Kucherov, and Stamkos in Tampa. He wasn’t going to put up anything close to what he was in Tampa. Still does a lot of things that don’t show up on the score sheet.
Hamilton makes more sense of the two to move out though. They have D depth in Nemec and Casey. Palat is a sunk cost but they’re probably worse off buying him out and then paying another replacement level player.
Andreas Johnsson – bum
Shakir Mukhamadullin NHL player: top 6 D?
Fabian Zetterlund – NHL player – traded to OTT
Nikita Okhotyuk AHL D – playing in russia now
2023 conditional 1st round pick in the 20s?
conditional 2024 2nd round pick
2024 7th Round
That’s a steep price for a top 6 power forward?
Even at mieres reduced production I don’t at all feel bad about the deal, I feel WAY WAY WAY WORSE about the palat deal.
But ok?
Dougie Hamilton, The player that everybody wants, That nobody wants.