The New Jersey Devils and Quinn Hughes have been tied to each other for years after the former drafted his brother Jack Hughes number-one overall. Due to a litany of issues, the three Hughes brothers won’t be playing together any time soon.
The Hughes brothers are three of the most talented young players in the NHL. Quinn Hughes is the oldest, joining the Vancouver Canucks in the 2018 NHL Draft. Since then, the Canucks fanbase has been hoping and praying they could find a way to repeat the success of the Sedin Twins by pairing Jack Hughes with his brother. Then, the New Jersey Devils won the number-one overall pick in 2019 and took the product of the USNDTP.
It’s been four years since that draft, and both fanbases have traded their share of Quinn Hughes and Jack Hughes trade scenarios. We’ve done our part. How can you blame us? The content is right there, and it’s always fun to make Canucks fans mad.
However, it’s time to call a spade a spade. There is no scenario where Quinn Hughes comes to New Jersey. Even if the Canucks do a full rebuild, they will do whatever they can to hold onto Hughes and Elias Pettersson. They are both very young (Hughes is 23 years old). However, the difference between the two is Hughes is signed long term.
Hughes has four more years left on his deal, paying him $7.85 million per year. It’s not like that’s a crippling contract when the player is a superstar. He just hit career highs in points (76). Hughes was fourth in the league in average time on ice, spending more than 25 minutes per game taking shifts. What’s most impressive is his +/-. We hate +/-, as do most statisticians, but it makes a point here. He was +15 on a team that had a -22 goal differential.
Let’s say the Canucks bottom out and want to trade Quinn Hughes. The Devils couldn’t make it work if they wanted to. Hughes contract would ruin the Devils. Unless they say goodbye to one of Timo Meier or Jesper Bratt, there’s no fitting Hughes under the cap. Let’s say they get crazy and do that, this would put too much onus on the defense to dominate every night.
This would put the Devils defense at $26 million before signing Kevin Bahl. It might not hurt too bad while Luke Hughes is playing under an entry-level contract, but it will eventually cause the Devils to make hard decisions on players they don’t want to lose.
It’s just reality at this point. The Devils cannot afford to pay that kind of contract for another defenseman. They honestly shouldn’t make that move. Adding a superstar should be at the wing if they are losing Bratt. Adding another defenseman while losing a winger puts the Devils in a bad spot on offense. They can’t be all centers.
The dream was fun while it lasted, but it’s time to put the Quinn Hughes “rumors” to bed. The Hughes trio might get together when the eldest brother becomes a free agent, but that’s happening in 2027. So, we just all have to be patient until then.