New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes is once again in the spotlight surrounding his gold medal win with the United States men's ice hockey team. On Tuesday, in an interview with ESPN, Hughes voiced his displeasure of the Hockey Hall of Fame having possession his overtime-winning goal puck from the gold medal game on display, honoring the 2026 Winter Olympics. Hughes feels that he should have possession of the puck, saying that he wanted to give it to his father.
The Hockey Hall of Fame officially responded to Hughes' request, and he's not going to like the answer.
Hockey Hall of Fame vice president of the Resource Center and Curator for the Hockey Hall of Fame Philip Pritchard responded to ESPN regarding Hughes' request and bluntly stated, "unfortunately, in the easiest words, it was never Jack's puck to own."
Hockey Hall of Fame refuses to give Golden Goal puck to Jack Hughes
"It's been donated to us now. For every artifact that's been donated, we have a paper trail and signed paperwork of where it's come from," said Pritchard.
ESPN reporter Greg Wyshynski writes in the article that in the NHL, the player is allowed to keep the milestone puck or hockey equipment. The Hockey Hall of Fame will usually put in a request for the item to put on display.
But the Olympics jointly run by the International Olympic Committee and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Pritchard tells ESPN that the IIHF "has been responsible for collecting, authenticating and preserving items from the Olympics and world championship tournaments since 1998." In this case, the IIHF receives the item from an on-ice official before anyone else does. From there, it is donated to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Additionally, Pritchard said that there are legal factors into this, as the Hockey Hall of Fame is a registered nonprofit organization in Canada and the puck is a "donation." Pritchard said of the golden goal puck, "we've insured it, we've preserved it, we conserved everything." Pritchard said that they have been asked by players and their families over the years to have items returned. But the Hockey Hall of Fame is focused on preserving hockey history.
"We try to take the emotion out of it. We're here to preserve a game that Jack's lucky enough to play or we're lucky enough to work in," Pritchard told ESPN. "That's why the Hockey Hall of Fame museum exists as an institution: We're preserving the game of the past, present and the future."
Hughes had called not having possession of the golden goal puck "bulls***." But Hughes admitted that he never reached out to the Hockey Hall of Fame to request the puck during his interview with ESPN.
Based on Pritchard's comments to ESPN, Hughes will not be receiving the puck from the Hockey Hall of Fame.