New Jersey Devils: Let Luke Hughes NHL Draft Excitement Begin

The New Jersey Devils were awarded the fourth-overall pick in the NHL Draft on Wednesday night. It is the exact spot they went into the draft lottery with, so this isn’t a bad situation to be in right now. The 2021 NHL Draft is a strange one, and there isn’t a real franchise-changing player on the board. There are some really, really good prospects in this draft. One of them is Michigan commit Luke Hughes.

He is the brother of Jack Hughes, the Devils, franchise center who showed superstar tendencies last season. It’s clear the Devils have something good in the middle Hughes brother. Now, they will wait to see if they have a chance to take the youngest brother. The oldest brother Quinn will see if he can figure out his contract situation in Vancouver.

The New Jersey Devils are primed to take Jack Hughes’ brother Luke.

Pairing the Hughes brothers is what this NHL Draft is all about now. It’s all Devils fans will talk about from now until July 23rd, it’s going to be Devils fans riding the Hughes train until it derails.

The fact is, the Devils have a good chance to take Luke Hughes. It seems almost obvious that the Buffalo Sabres should take Matthew Beniers with the first-overall pick. The Michigan Wolverines’ center was very good this season, and the Sabres are likely going to lose Jack Eichel. Beniers could end up being the best player in the draft, so it’s not like they are reaching here.

Then, it seems too obvious that the Seattle Kraken would take Owen Power. He is the player most analysts have first overall. It seems like he’s the “obvious” pick of the defensemen. In truth, Power, Hughes, Simon Edvinsson, and Brandt Clarke are percentage points from each other. It all depends on what teams are looking for. The Kraken will get a bunch of interesting defenders in the expansion draft, but they’ll need a franchise cornerstone. It helps that Power might be able to play this season.

So, that leaves Anaheim. The Ducks are the only team between the Devils and Luke Hughes in this scenario. What do the Ducks need? They took Jamie Drysdale in the draft last year, and he looked really good splitting time between the NHL and AHL this season. Maybe the Ducks fall in love with Dylan Guenther or William Eklund since they could use some more talent in the forward group.

That would give Luke Hughes on a silver platter to the Devils. They might consider Clarke, whose brother Graeme Clarke is also expected to make a major impact in the future. However, putting the Hughes brothers together makes too much sense. The Devils season was terrible, and there’s not a ton to look forward to this offseason, but after avoiding the worst-case scenario, the Devils are now in line to take Luke Hughes in the NHL Draft.