New Jersey Devils Fans Get Bad News On Jack Hughes Injury

The New Jersey Devils feared the worst when Jack Hughes raced off the ice against the Seattle Kraken holding his shoulder as if something was seriously wrong. It could be anything from a torn labrum to a broken arm to a broken collarbone. It turns out it was a separated shoulder.

The Devils revealed that last week, but today they revealed a better timeline when we could see Hughes again. The Devils Halloween party that’s been spreading around social media shows Hughes in a sling. That was the first time Devils fans understood that it could be a while until the star Devils forward might see the ice again.

On Friday, it was revealed it will be at least five weeks until the Devils forward can even skate again. He is going to be re-evaluated for that shoulder injury then.

The way the Devils presented the injury sounds like good news. His shoulder is stable one week after the original injury. That’s good news. He still won’t require surgery. That’s also good news. There are no unforeseen issues. That’s amazing! Plus, he is on course with his rehabilitation process. That’s all good news.

The issue is the Devils did not release what their internal timeline was. So, when Devils fans learned we won’t get another update from the Hughes injury for five weeks, that’s very bad news for the team and its push for playoff contention this season. The Devils are 1-2-0 with Hughes out of the lineup. They looked really bad on Tuesday night against the Calgary Flames. Hughes was a driving force for this offense, and it looks disheveled without him.

The worst part about all this is five weeks is not the timeline for the injury. That’s only the timeline for re-evaluation. There are 18 games in the next five weeks. Hughes is guaranteed to miss every single one of them. However, it’s almost impossible that he is going to play immediately after the re-evaluation. That’s not how injuries, and especially shoulder injuries, work. Let’s say Hughes is 100% cleared in five weeks. He still needs conditioning, with a possible stint in Utica to get up to speed. He needs practice with the team to get back the chemistry they lost since he’s been gone. There’s also the possibility that this re-evaluation isn’t to clear him, only to assess his progress.

There’s a chance this is the last time we’ve seen Jack Hughes play hockey in 2021. It was far from a banner year for the Devils or Hughes professionally. It’s good that the injury looks clean because the Devils cannot afford any complications here. The season might be on the line.