The New Jersey Devils are already playing without center Nico Hischier, but now they might be without Jack Hughes, too.
The New Jersey Devils are currently in the middle of their four-game road trip. They’ve been playing shorthanded, with Nico Hischier missing the entire trip after suffering an upper-body injury. It’s fine since they have the best player in the NHL still playing well. Jack Hughes recorded a league-high 20th point on Thursday night against the Minnesota Wild.
That was true until the first period on Friday night against the St. Louis Blues. Jack Hughes tried to split two defenders, and it ended with him going shoulder first into the boards behind the net.
Jack Hughes has gone down the Devils tunnel after this play earlier in the first pic.twitter.com/EIj973Jkgy
— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) November 4, 2023
Hughes played a 59-second shift after this situation. It kept many Devils fans hoping for the best, but what comes next has us all holding our breath.
Jack Hughes to the #NJDevils tunnel...
— Ryan Novozinsky (@ryannovo62) November 4, 2023
Anytime you see a star player going down the tunnel, it’s almost never good news. Seeing the star player going down the tunnel is absolutely anxiety producing. Hughes has been the reason the Devils are winning games to start the season. Without Hughes in the lineup, it will be much, much harder to win games. Without Hughes and Hischier, the Devils are no longer a scary team.
Right now, the Devils might have to go with some combination of Erik Haula, Michael McLeod, and Dawson Mercer at center. Mercer has had a rough start and Haula is better as a third liner. McLeod looked good replacing Hischier, but it’s a much bigger ask to replace the NHL points leader.
This is the least ideal situation possible. We will continue to update this article as the game and news continues to come in.
Update
Lindy Ruff says that Jack Hughes will be evaluated on Saturday. That was the only update we got from the head coach. He’s officially dealing with an upper-body injury, which anyone could have guessed from watching the video.