Saturday: The Devils announced that Hughes won’t play against Ottawa and that he’s officially listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Friday: The New Jersey Devils will once again move forward without a star forward. Jack Hughes is back on the shelf after leaving Thursday’s win over the Nashville Predators early. Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe said that the team has no update on Hughes’ injury, other than to mention that he will undergo further testing, per team reporter Amanda Stein. Hughes is not expected to travel with the team to Saturday’s game in Ottawa. The Devils return for a two-game homestand at the start of next week, before the NHL enters its three-week break for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Despite the poor timing, Hughes’ availability for the Olympics is not believed to be in doubt, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. Hughes will undoubtedly be a focal piece of the Team USA roster, if healthy. The 24-year-old captained the U.S. National Team Development Program prior to his first-overall selection in 2019, but hasn’t had many chances to appear with USA since then, due to injury and playoff appearances. Hughes recorded one assist in four games at the 2025 4-Nations Face-Off – his first appearance with the country’s men’s team since making the NHL.
Hughes has remained an electric piece of New Jersey’s offense when he’s on the ice. He has scored 36 points in 36 games this season, making him the only Devil still scoring at a point-per-game pace. Hughes has met that scoring mark in each of the last five seasons. He scored 56 points in 49 games of the 2021-22 season, then set a franchise record with 99 points in 78 games of the 2022-23 campaign. Those performances served as his breakout years – but routine injury has kept the star forward from becoming the first Devil to break the century scoring mark.
Hughes has averaged 39 goals and 96 points per 82 games played over the last five seasons. He has also averaged 25 missed games per season in that span. Injury has been a recurring challenge for the dynamo scorer, whether short-term or long-term, or brought on by freak accident. Hughes falling out of the lineup once again will force another shakeup of New Jersey’s offense.
The Devils elevated Timo Meier to play next to Dawson Mercer and Jesper Bratt following Hughes’ exit on Thursday; while demoting Evgenii Dadonov to a line with Connor Brown and Paul Cotter. Those lines should stick through Saturday’s game against Ottawa, while Nico Hischier and Arseny Gritsyuk are flanked by Lenni Hameenaho or Maxim Tsyplakov. The Devils will certainly hope these adjustments are only temporary, and that Hughes’ further testing confirms what is believed to be a short-term injury.
Maybe he’s not the cornerstone center you want on your team?
Guy is made of glass (ironic)
Him and his brothers
Quinn is pretty reliable to be fair
I know, I’m just bummed out. Hope they don’t become injury prone.
Watching Hughes play and it’s clear that his hand is not 100%. Stickhandling and puck control is below what you’re used to seeing from him.
but nhl still allows un healthy processed food products like dr pepper etc to be advertised on their rinks , brain washing kids like hughes growing up into consuming the trash thats making them fragile ! THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM !!!!
Have a coke a smile!
this is more important than nhl . this society has become fragile/soft because of a terrible diet , and these young guys like hughes are injury prone because of it . heres a quick read on the reason why , you dont have slightest idea on how un-nutricious your diet is ! link to tumblr.com
This is so sad. Posting some tumblr bs as if it is actual science. Try to actually read different viewpoints and studies before posting this kind of crap. You must be one of those war on protein Kennedy butt kissers. Embarrassing for you Mr Trump.
Jack Hughes is injury prone. He hasn’t played a full 82 game season in his entire NHL career. Prior to this year, he only played 62 games each of the last 2 seasons. Unfortunately for New Jersey, it appears he isn’t a franchise piece for the team if he can’t stay healthy.
Hasn’t the lightning made it their business to have extreme success by having scary consistency in injured players for years now?
No, I wouldn’t say that but in various seasons they’ve been consistently good despite top players getting injured like this season (when the whole team hasn’t played together once yet) or during their championship runs, ironically.
Part of Tampa’s constant consistency is them having this uncanny knack for developing under-the-radar talent. Their track record in that department is quite impressive.
Hughes hurt again? You don’t say. The plan to have the Hughes trio didn’t pan out, and I think it’s seriously time to consider shopping him. Maybe Minnesota can make a deal!
Jack the glass man. Seriously trade this dude and move on. Can’t play 1 full season. Can’t win without him. Move the fck on! Get a real #1 and build around him. Not some ameriKaren puss or euro puss
Now that is a master class on tossing a tantrum! Lighten up, it’s only hockey.
Jack Hughes is more fragile than a woke College student