Jack Hughes is entering the 2025-26 season with more pressure than ever. He spent the entire offseason in the news cycle despite not doing anything newsworthy. There are three reasons for this. The main reason is that his brother, Quinn Hughes, is eligible for an extension, going into the final year of his current contract. He has not signed an extension with the Minnesota Wild, and many are saying it’s because he’s trying to play with his brother in New Jersey.
The other two reasons are also rumor-related. Hughes scored the Golden Goal for Team USA, and many of his international teammates asked to be traded this summer. At last count, four Team USA gold medalists asked for trades this offseason. Hughes was not one of them, as new GM Sunny Mehta seems to have satisfied Hughes enough to stick it out in New Jersey.
With so much focus on Hughes, his play has received notice as well. For one, Hughes went nuclear to end last season. He had more points than anyone after the Olympics not named Connor McDavid. There was a clear motivation after he returned from Italy.
That momentum has national analysts excited, and the Devils star could be in for a huge season.
In a recent article, The Athletic found long-shot candidates for the NHL's biggest individual awards. Both Dom Luszczyszyn and Sean Gentile of The Athletic identified Hughes as one of the most intriguing bets on the board for the Art Ross Trophy. Luszczyszyn even called Hughes' odds both “the easiest while also being the juiciest.”
The number attached to Hughes is what makes the whole thing particularly interesting. He's sitting at +7000. For a player firming in his prime, that's an enormous number. For those unaware, that means for every $1 bet on Hughes to win the Art Ross, $70 comes back.
Is it even possible for Jack Hughes to win the Art Ross Trophy?
Now, the Art Ross is a big ask. It's the award given to the player who accumulates the most points in the NHL that season. It takes a special season from any player not named McDavid or Nikita Kucherov to overcome those stars for such an award, but injuries do happen, as Hughes is acutely aware.
Hughes hasn't had a 100-point season in his career. He had 99 in 2022-23, which feels like forever ago at this point. That remains his career high due to the injuries he suffered over the past three seasons. That's also why he's giving out such good odds. Between the near guarantee that Kucherov and McDavid will be fighting for this and Hughes never playing an 82-game season, which is now an 84-game season, the oddsmakers are confident Hughes can't do this.
He clearly has the talent, and that's why analysts still believe in him. Is it a good bet? The odds might be too good to pass up.
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