The New Jersey Devils have a lot of prospects that are competing in the World Junior Classic tournament right now. The one that is naturally getting the most attention is defenseman Luke Hughes. He is New Jersey’s top prospect and was the fourth overall pick in 2021.
Since being drafted, Hughes has started to really develop into one of the top prospects in the league. He has been truly amazing in a USA sweater and in a University of Michigan Wolverines sweater over the last year or so. It is only going to get better for him as we transition into 2022-23.
Unfortunately, Luke Hughes and his Team USA squad have been eliminated by Team Czech in the quarterfinal. He injured his knee during the game and left for some of it but was out there late trying to get it tied. His turnover on a hurt leg allowed the Czech to seal it with an empty netter.
One of the bright spots in the game was New Jersey Devils prospect Petr Hauser. He scored a very nice bar-down goal to give the Czech the lead for the first time in the game and they never looked back from there. He was New Jersey’s fifth-round pick in 2022.
New Jersey Devils prospect Luke Hughes will not focus on the 2022-23 season.
As for Hughes now, he needs to get his knee back to 100 percent after this weird game. He relies so much on his skating to get the job done that this needs to be addressed as soon as possible. It would be ideal for him t be fully healed by the time Michigan gets going.
If last season was any indication, he is going to go off this season. He was one of the best freshman defensemen in the history of college hockey in 2021-22 and now he is looking to take yet another step this year as a second-year college player.
With the talent that he has, he can make this work. Seeing him go in this tournament isn’t fun but now we know he is going to get his focus now towards the upcoming college season. That will ultimately lead to his NHL debut later in the New Jersey season.
Obviously, there is the brotherly connection to Jack Hughes who is New Jersey’s best player but Luke is also just a really good player himself. We can only imagine how this game vs Czech would have gone if he didn’t miss some of it with the knee problem (and still ailing when he came back).
The rest of the tournament is set to carry on with Canada vs Czech and Sweden vs Finland. The latter is one of the biggest country rivalries in the game so it is sure to be exciting. Hopefully, the Devils’ prospects playing and eliminated return healthy and more developed than before.