New Jersey Devils fans are holding their breath until they get an update on Jack Hughes’ injury. While we still don’t know exactly what’s wrong with the team’s star, what we do know is positive.
It was a scary situation when Jack Hughes went down with an injury. We didn’t get an update from New Jersey Devils head coach Lindy Ruff after the game, but league reporters like Elliotte Freidman were on the case. He found out about his Saturday evaluation not too long after the Devils-Blues game ended. Today, he’s the man releasing information on Hughes’s injury.
No official update on Jack Hughes, but word is that, thankfully, a worst-case scenario has been avoided. Will miss some time, but not as bad as it could have been.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) November 5, 2023
Obviously, this is a positive update. It’s upsetting that he is going to miss any time, but the fact that he avoided the worst-case scenario shows he will likely be back before the end of the month. This is obvious speculation, but anything more than a month out of the lineup is hard to call less than a worst-case scenario.
Hughes hit the boards hard, but it didn’t seem like a devastating injury. It would have been devastating to learn that is how he got knocked out. It seemed more like lost footing than anything.
The Devils need to figure out who will step up in Hughes’s absence. They are already without Nico Hischier, so that’s 179 points of offense from last season that’s now out of the lineup. We still don’t know Hischier’s timeline or even his injury other than the fact that it’s impacting his upper body. He won’t be on this trip, meaning he’s missing at least two more games.
Hughes is likely in the same scenario. He won’t be playing against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday, and it’s likely the Devils will play it safe with this injury. Whether it’s a shoulder injury or a head injury, the Devils look at the bigger picture. They’ve done that with Hughes since he joined the league. He’s missed more time than he needs because they want him healthy for the most important games. That is what is going to happen here.
Still, if he’s not back by American Thanksgiving, we’ll be surprised. Hopefully, Hughes is back in two weeks when the Devils take on the New York Rangers for the first time on November 18th.