Much of the conversation around the New Jersey Devils this offseason is surrounding the health of Jack Hughes. The team’s star center saw his season end early two years in a row due to shoulder surgery. Both seasons, Hughes was on pace to get around 90-100 points. It wouldn’t be anywhere near the league lead, and he wasn’t expected to be in the MVP race, but a lack of injuries would put Hughes higher in the conversation for best centers in the game.
Recently, the Devils star was ranked 11th on NHL Network’s list of top centers in the league, behind the likes of Nick Suzuki and Mark Scheifele. It was eye opening for Devils fans, seeing that the injuries to Hughes has the national media dropping them in terms of expected impact. The Devils are supposed to have two elite centers, but according to this list, they don’t even have one top-10 center.
With that in mind, we want to identify what Hughes could become if literally everything goes right. What does Hughes’s true ceiling look like, and could he become the best player in the NHL, at least at his position?
Right now, the best player in the NHL is Connor McDavid. Most don’t argue that fact. McDavid has at least 100 points in each of his last five seasons. Three seasons ago, he had 153 points. Nobody expected that to be possible.
What is Jack Hughes's ceiling?
As of now, Hughes hasn’t hit 100 points, but he did get a franchise record 99 in 2022-23. He was on pace to break 90 points again in each of the last two seasons, but he wasn’t expected to get to 100 even if he stayed healthy.
Hughes is an insane player, but he’s not McDavid. If everything goes right and he becomes better than he already is, we still have a ceiling of about 125 points for Hughes. He definitely can reach 40-45 goals scored, and he can put up 70-80 apples. If the Devils find him the right winger to pair with Jesper Bratt, it could unlock the best version of Hughes.
Also, adding his brother Quinn Hughes to the team would add even more offense to the team. He could become a 120-point forward, even if he doesn’t do it on a consistent basis (because who could). We can see Hughes getting to a top-three center in this league, especially if he keeps playing the level of defense we’ve seen possible in the Sheldon Keefe system.
However, that’s his ceiling. McDavid is on another planet. And that’s okay! It’s perfectly fine for Hughes to hit his ceiling and it falls just shy of the best of the best. If he can be a consistent 100-point player that stays healthy for the playoffs, that’s more than enough. He’d probably even win an MVP before his career his over.