New Jersey Devils Top Prospect Luke Hughes Takes Home A Bronze Medal

The New Jersey Devils always have a lot of players playing in the World Junior Championships but this year was a bit more fun because they had two team captains playing on good teams and they just so happen to be their top two prospects.

One of them is Luke Hughes, New Jersey’s first-round pick (fourth overall) in 2021. He is a defenseman that is currently playing at the University of Michigan. Now, he is a bronze medalist at the World Juniors, which is something to be incredibly proud of.

Team USA looked like they were going to destroy Canada in the first two minutes of their semi-final game on Wednesday night when they went up 2-0.  Connor Bedard scored to get Canada on the board and the Canadians went from there to win 6-2.

Then, on Thursday, Team USA had to settle for a Bronze Medal game against Sweden which lost to Team Czechia in the other semi-final game on Wednesday.

New Jersey Devils prospect Luke Hughes and Team USA are Bronze Medalists.

This Bronze Medal game was absolutely wild. There was a total of 15 goals scored in the game. Team USA had a 7-6 lead, but Sweden tied it with less than 30 seconds left. Overtime was needed to end this crazy game.

Of course, Team USA won the game in overtime thanks to a goal scored by Chaz Lucius (his third of the game for the hat trick) who has had an outstanding tournament. He came up big in this one, as he was the hero in overtime.

Hughes scored a goal in this one and it was a big one. Team USA was down 6-5 in the third, and he tied the game there. That was a big step for Team USA in getting the win here.

He has been big like this all tournament long which is why he was named to be one of the top three players for Team USA in the whole event. He is going to be an impact pro player in the not-so-distant future. That much is obvious.

Now that Hughes is done playing for his country, he heads back to the University of Michigan where he will finish the NCAA season with the Wolverines. Once they are eliminated or win the Frozen Four, you can bet that he will finally sign his first pro contract with the New Jersey Devils.

Whether or not he gets into a few games this year remains to be seen, but it is certainly possible. Joining his brother Jack Hughes in time for the playoffs could end up being must-see TV.

He should be proud of this tournament. Team USA wasn’t as dominant offensively this year in terms of their forwards, but they played very well for most of the event. It was good to see a Devils prospect be the captain for a year. Hopefully, they all end up having very nice NHL careers.