The New Jersey Devils are about to get a much clearer read on Luke Hughes.
The 2026-27 season is shaping up as a major checkpoint for the 2021 fourth overall pick, a player the Devils have invested heavily in and expect to keep growing into a cornerstone piece. Hughes is already tied with Dougie Hamilton as the highest-paid defenseman on the roster, and next season he’ll be tied for the highest overall salary on the team as well, before Nico Hischier’s $11.7 million per year extension begins in 2027-28.
That kind of money comes with expectations, and Hughes has already shown why New Jersey believes in him. In 223 NHL games, the younger Hughes brother has posted 23 goals and 105 assists for 128 points. For a defenseman, that’s real production, the kind that jumps off the page and gives a team plenty to build around.
But the offensive side has never been the whole story. The question hanging over Hughes is what happens when the puck isn’t on his stick. His play in his own end still hasn’t reached the level of his offensive game, and that gap has kept him from making the kind of all-around leap the Devils are hoping for.
He’s still only 22, with his age-23 season coming up in September, so there’s plenty of runway left. Even so, this year feels important because it should tell New Jersey what kind of defenseman he’s going to be.
If he keeps piling up points but doesn’t take a real step defensively, that may simply be the player he is in the NHL. If the two-way game comes along and the offense keeps flowing, then he’ll be matching the draft pedigree and the contract.
There’s also the timing of it all. Hughes’ negotiations dragged into training camp last year, and that’s never an ideal way to start a season. This time around, he should be able to arrive without that distraction and focus on hockey alone, on a Devils team that is ready to compete for the playoffs.
In Other News...
Quinn Hughes Just Gave Devils Fans Another Reason To Dream
Quinn Hughes is still under contract for the next NHL season, but his long-term future remains unsettled, and that alone is enough to keep Devils fans watching every offseason breadcrumb. The speculation around him has only grown because he has been spending the summer in New Jersey and New York rather than Minnesota, with training camp about six weeks away and the clock starting to feel a lot louder for everyone involved.
For New Jersey, the intrigue is obvious: a player of Hughes caliber lingering in the region naturally invites dream scenarios, even if nothing official has been announced. The Wild still have time to sort out their end of the business, whether that means a new deal or another path entirely, but the longer this stretches into late summer, the more it starts to feel like one of those situations that could reshape the conversation around both teams before the season even begins. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Just Lost The Trade Target Fans Wanted Most
The Devils were already scanning the market for ways to add more punch up front, and Jason Robertson had been the kind of high-end name that could have changed the conversation. Instead, his new one-year, $12 million deal in Dallas takes him out of the mix and leaves New Jersey looking at a thinner pool of options as it tries to round out a roster that still feels like it needs another difference-maker.
With that door closed, the pressure shifts to the next tier of possibilities and the Devils own lineup puzzle. New Jersey still has a clear need in its top six, and the remaining premium names are not exactly plentiful, which is why the discussion now turns to whether the club can land one more impact forward or has to pivot to a different kind of fit altogether. [Read more 🡒]
Devils Roster Crunch Is Starting To Feel Bigger Than Expected
The Devils offseason has already been busy enough, but the bigger issue now may be what happens when the roster gets crowded. A rough look at the depth chart shows 15 players who either already fill everyday NHL roles or would need waivers to be sent down, which makes the margin for error pretty thin as training camp approaches.
That kind of squeeze is what turns the rest of the summer into more than a simple finishing touch. With the offseason still not necessarily over, every addition or internal push has to fit into a lineup that is already tight, and the next move could say a lot about how the Devils plan to manage the roster without creating a problem somewhere else. [Read more 🡒]