Wednesday was the NHL Player Media Tour, with notable players speaking to members of the media in Las Vegas ahead of the start of the 2026-27 season.
As expected, New Jersey Devils' superstar Jack Hughes was peppered with questions pertaining to his brother, Quinn, who was expected to have signed a contract extension this summer without that having come to fruition quite yet. Unsurprisingly, whatever words he said were taken to heart rather than the typical nothing-burger NHL media-trained answers they were.
The fact is, everything Jack Hughes said could have been interpreted positively by either team and fanbase. Let's go through the "big" quotes.
Matt Larkin of Daily Faceoff asked Jack if there was a sense of envy when thinking about the Tkachuk brothers, with Brady joining his brother Matthew in Florida this off-season. Jack responded with the following:
"No, not at all, because there's so much that goes into play, right? Brady's making $8.1 [million]. I mean, that's a much easier contract to move. Me and Luke (Hughes) are playing together. Matthew and Brady are now playing together. It's much easier for two brothers to play together than three. And then on top of that, Quinn is one of the best players in the league and has a huge deal that's going to be coming. Yeah, I'm happy for Matthew and Brady because I know how much fun they'll have because I get to do that with Luke, and I'm excited for them."Jack Hughes
Both sides of the spectrum cherry-pick micro-quotes from Jack's words. Minnesota Wild fans are convinced that Quinn is staying because Jack said it was "easier for two brothers to play together than three" and that his eldest brother has a big payday coming. Devils fans are convinced that Quinn is leaving because Jack was focused on talking about how happy he is playing with his brothers.
Subsequent quotes have similarly polar-opposite takeaways, like the following, which Jack said after Dan Rosen of NHL.com asked if their experience in Milan made them want to play together even more:
"Yeah, I think that, you know, we've always wanted to play with each other. Winning in Milan was an unbelievable feat that we could do together, but I don't think he's going to sacrifice what's best for him for us to play together. I mean, we'll see. We'll see what he does."Jack Hughes
It's clear Jack Hughes is steering clear of the Quinn Hughes narrative
Again, the dichotomy between the two fanbases was completely predictable. Devils fans again rightfully focus on how much they seemingly want to play together. Wild fans rightfully focus on the "what's best for him" part of the quote as a means to narrate that it juxtaposes Jack's words at the beginning of the quote.
The truth? No one knows what's going to happen. There are many convincing reasons to think that Quinn Hughes is going to come to New Jersey. There are many convincing reasons to think that he's going to stay in Minnesota. There are many convincing reasons to think that he doesn't really know what he's going to do even now.
The only one who perhaps knows what's going to happen is Quinn himself, and even then, perhaps he doesn't.
Add us as a preferred source on Google