The New Jersey Devils aren’t trading Jack Hughes. Let’s just get that part out of the way. There’s no world where Sunny Mehta would commit career suicide just a few months into his dream job, leading his childhood team to glory. Hughes is the team’s star. He is a player that is even better when the lights shine brightest, as he proved both in the Olympics and against the New York Rangers in their 2023 playoff series. Nothing can get Hughes out of Jersey and there is no evidence he wants out of the second best place to live in America (and there are no NHL teams in Idaho).
The trade proposals for Jack Hughes to Minnesota are honestly hilarious. Especially when certain writers call it a “haul,” but fail to add Matthew Boldy to the deal. Any Hughes deal would include Boldy or the Devils would go elsewhere. And they can’ Hughes has four years left on his contract, and he only has a 10-team no-trade clause.
So, since the Wild have no leg to stand on, let’s take a look at five teams that could easily beat the Wild’s price.
1. Montreal Canadiens
Many might say that Jack Hughes would never go to Canada, but why not? He’s American, but he grew up in Toronto because his dad worked for the Toronto Maple Leafs. He’s well aware of the Canadiens, and one of his best friends plays there. The Canadiens have been desperate to add a second-line center behind Nick Suzuki. With how Kent Hughes (no relation) built the rest of the roster, Hughes would be the person to push them over the top to make them a championship contender.
It would cost them. The ask is going to be extreme, but the Canadiens can afford extreme. They can lose Ivan Demidov and Michael Hage and still have the makings of a dynasty. They’d obviously try to move other pieces, but the Devils could really demand a superstar package for a guy with the ceiling Hughes has.
The Canadiens also have plenty of picks and other prospects to offer, along with really decent NHL players like Alex Newhook or Kaiden Guhle. The interesting direction would be Jakub Dobes. With Jacob Fowler on the roster, they could afford to move their starting goalie for a superstar center. Montreal would crush the Wild’s offer to the Devils.
2. Philadelphia Flyers
No Devils fan wants to hear that Jack Hughes is heading across the Delaware River, but there’s something intriguing about matching him with Quinn Hughes’s old coach in Rick Tocchet. Heck, this might get Quinn to move as well. In reality (where none of this speculation lies), the Flyers have the types of pieces that would intrigue the Devils, and Hughes gives them what the Flyers lost when they failed to sign Leo Carlsson to an offer sheet.
Yes, we’re going to repeat ourselves. It’s going to cost the Flyers huge. The package starts with Porter Martone and probably includes Matvei Michkov. Adding those two future stars feels like a really good start to stay competitive now and avoiding a total teardown right after signing Nico Hischier to an extension.
Adding a first-round pick or two since the Flyers don’t seem to mind moving those can get the deal done. Then, the Devils can send a massive package to the Detroit Red Wings for Dylan Larkin, and now they are sitting here with an insane lineup:
Meier-Hischier-Mantha
Martone-Larkin-Bratt
Gristyuk-Glass-Michkov
Noesen/Boqvist-Rodrigues-Brown
3. San Jose Sharks
Imagine Macklin Celebrini and Jack Hughes down the middle for the next few years as both grow into their superstar primes? We bet Sharks fans would love to see that. The Devils would need to grab something from every position to make it work. They’d probably add Nico Daws to the trade and swap him for Yaroslav Askarov to start, but that’s not nearly the end.
The biggest piece of the deal is Michael Misa, who is slating to be the Sharks’ second-line center this season. The former second-overall pick is primed to be a superstar in this league. While Hughes might want to play alongside Tyler Toffoli again, the Devils might want the scoring forward who can finish with the best of them on their roster.
There would be some other pieces to finish the deal off, but this would be an intriguing deal, to say the least. After acquiring guys like Jacob Trouba and Darnell Nurse this offseason, the Sharks made it clear they want to take the next step. While those players are indeed defensemen, Hughes is actually a game-changer for them. It puts Hughes in another top 1-2 punch for the next era of his career.
4. Dallas Stars
Oh how sweet would it be to send Hughes to Dallas to send it in the face of the Minnesota fans? Well, not at all, because we would be losing Jack Hughes. We can’t reiterate enough how little we want any of these trades to happen, but the Stars are an intriguing option because they would be looking to upgrade at center, not just add one. They could send the Devils Roope Hintz in the Hughes trade, or maybe the blow the doors off and start the deal with Wyatt Johnston. Either way, it’s a great start.
Maybe the Stars just send the Devils Hintz and Jason Robertson to get that saga over with. It’s getting the Devils a quality center and a star in exchange for a superstar. There are many teams who have done much worse trading their star for a package.
The Stars are in the contention window, and with the tax status of Texas, this trade would give Hughes a nice little raise on the best contract in the sport. It’s hard to say this makes the Devils contenders or keeps them from completely tanking, and a Robertson extension makes this even more complicated. The talent is there, but it brings complications to Mehta’s doorstep.
5. Anaheim Ducks
There are a bunch of teams that could beat the Wild’s offer if they are unwilling to part with Matthew Boldy, but an intriguing option is the Anaheim Ducks. With Carlsson making $18 million per season, would they be willing to give up their other young superstar in an effort to get a contract that’s much more palatable? Yes, we’re talking about a Hughes-for-Cutter-Gauthier swap. This would rock the foundation of the NHL, and it would make August interesting, for sure.
It would give the Devils a star who hasn’t hit his ceiling yet, and it would give the Ducks the kind of punch needed to compete every year in the Pacific Division. Most would say the Ducks need to add more to make the deal fair. The contracts alone make that true. A prospect like Roger McQueen should help balance the scales, along with a roster player to give the Devils a scoring punch.
We don’t really love any of these trades because it means getting rid of Jack Hughes, but we like them a helluva lot more than trading him for a package around Charlie Stramel or whatever the Wild think they can offer at this point. Hughes is one of the most valuable assets in the NHL. Let’s act like it in our trade decorum, shall we?
Add us as a preferred source on Google