It finally happened. The New Jersey Devils sat down with Luke Hughes’s camp, mainly agent Pat Brisson, and they got the long-term deal done. It sounds like both sides were looking for movement on different aspects of the contract before signing on the dotted line.
At the end of the negotiating process, Luke Hughes is signed for seven years. That’s huge to avoid the dreaded five-year contract. A seven-year deal allows the Devils to buy out two unrestricted free agency years, as he was scheduled to hit UFA status in 2030. Now, the Devils have him locked up until 2032.
The Devils had a few options in contracts at their disposal to make this work that won’t be available in the new CBA. This is probably the last chance the Devils had to sign an eight-year deal. That’s no longer an option after 2026. They also had a chance to put deferred money into the deal. As of this reporting, the Devils didn’t offer that option.
In fact, the Luke Hughes contract is remarkably straightforward. While most contracts have different price points to find an AAV that makes sense for the salary cap, Hughes’s contract doesn’t work that way.
Let’s take Jack Hughes’s contract as an example. He comes with an $8 million cap hit every season, but he’s going to make $8.5 million in salary this season. To make up for making an extra $1.5 million in the first three years, Hughes accepted $7 million in the last year of his deal.
Dougie Hamilton’s contract is even crazier. His cap hit is $9 million, but his base salary is $1 million this season. How, you ask? Well, he got a $10.55 million signing bonus. In the seventh year of the deal, he’s making a $5.25 million salary.
According to Puck Pedia, Luke Hughes's salary breaks down like this:
Years 1-2: $8 million salary, $1 million bonus
Years 3-7: $9 million salary
That’s it. Luke Hughes is averaging $9 million on his contract, and he’s making $9 million per season. It’s as straightforward a contract as one can give.
The Devils gave Luke Hughes no-trade protection until the final two years of the deal. Then, he gets a 10-team no-trade clause. Ironically, or strategically, that is the first year Jack Hughes isn’t signed with the Devils. Maybe there was a protection in there after all the rumors about Luke Hughes trying to line his contract up with his brother’s.
Where does Luke Hughes's contract rank among fellow defensemen?
Now that the Devils have the deal done, we want to evaluate where this contract ranks. Many of the contracts we compared with Luke Hughes’ production before this process, including Brock Faber (8x$8.5MM) and Jake Sanderson (8x$8MM), were lower than the deal Hughes ended up signing.
When it comes to all NHL players, Luke Hughes is tied for 37th in highest AAV this season. Among those in that conversation are Dougie Hamilton, Jakob Chychrun, and Cale Makar. When it comes to defensemen, Hughes is tied for the 12th-highest salary.
The highest cap hit for a defenseman this season is Erik Karlsson at $11.5 million. Rasmus Dahlin and Drew Doughty are right under him at $11 million. In terms of total cash, Hughes ranks 21st, tied with newly-signed Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov.
Hughes got a huge payday, but the hope is it looks better and better each year. Makar is worth much more than he’s been paid, as was Quinn Hughes when he signed the deal. We’re looking for Luke Hughes to grow into this contract.