Disappointing news out of New Jersey, as their superstar centre, Jack Hughes, is out for the year with an injury. It was announced earlier today that Hughes would miss tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs with an upper-body injury. More recently, the New Jersey Devils organization made the announcement that indeed Hughes will be shutdown for the remainder of the 2023-24 campaign. Furthermore, Hughes will need surgery to repair his injury. It is expected that he will make a full recovery in time for 2024 training camp in this coming September.
Asked if Jack Hughes’ injury may keep him out “long term” IHC Travis Green says “we’ll see”. #NJDevils have 4 games left this regular season. https://t.co/jqR0W3jKAL
— Amanda Stein (@amandacstein) April 9, 2024
The New Jersey Devils Centre Jack Hughes Is Out for the Season with a Shoulder Injury
This puts an end to a rough season for Hughes and his entire team as well. Hughes had an injury earlier in the season, and as a result only played 62 games so far this year before this decision to put an early end to his season.
What Does this Mean for Hughes and his Devil Teammates
In terms of individual accolades, the games Hughes did play were productive ones. His 74 points in 62 games was good for a 1.19 PPG standing. Moreover, last year it was 1.27 and the year previous was 1.14. Needless to say, Hughes established as a consistent, elite scorer in the league. His dynamic stickhandling and game breaking abilities are among the best in the world. Looks like Hughes will have to wait one more year to try to eclipse the 100-point mark. Last year he landed at 99, and this year he might’ve been close, but would’ve needed all 82 games to do so.
As we mentioned, it has been disappointing for Hughes and the Devils. The Devils have had poor goaltending for most of the year, and also, missing Dougie Hamilton likely hurt them too. In any sense, coming into 2024-25, they will look to re-insert themselves as a playoff team. Having Hughes play a big year next year, will go a long way in helping to achieve that task.
Main photo: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
