The New Jersey Devils were dealt another injury blow in the early goings of the season. Jack Hughes will be the 13th player to miss a game as he was injured in a fluke accident at a team dinner. Hughes led the Devils in points up until now, starting off the season hot with 20 points in the team's first 17 games.
But now, Hughes will miss at least eight weeks after getting surgery on his hand. The team says eight weeks; however, with their track record, it could be more. Hughes will once again miss a good chunk of a season in his young career. Hughes is currently in his seventh NHL season, but he has only stayed healthy twice.
In his rookie season in the league, he missed a total of eight games. He actually played all 56 games of the 2020-21 season. Both of those years were shortened seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In his third year, he missed 33 games due to a shoulder injury. His fifth and sixth season he missed a combined 40 games due to once again, his shoulder.
His one and only NHL season where he played almost a traditional full season was 2022-23, where he played 78 out of a possible 82. He finished with 99 points.
The fluke accident that happened on Thursday was exactly that. A fluke accident. This should in no way add to the "injury-prone" narrative to his legacy. In the same breath, 10 years from now, when people look at his stats for the first seven years of his career, they will see a third straight season where he could not stay healthy. In 10 years, people looking at his stats may not look at the context of the injury and only see the numbers in front of them.
As a constant in the lineup, Hughes is just not dependable enough to be there every night. Something that could affect him in the long term when it ever comes down to in-season awards. On top of that, this is the first time in 12 years that NHL players are allowed in the Olympic Games.
Will Hughes be healthy enough to participate? Given the recovery window the Devils gave, Hughes should be cleared to participate for Team USA. He was not named as one of the first players named to their respective countries, but Hughes is a relative shoe-in to represent his home country if he's healthy.
In the event Hughes has a set back or the initial timeline is off, Hughes could miss an opportunity to win a medal. When it comes to the end of careers, accolades are something that are at the forefront. Being consistently hurt, fluke accident or reoccurring shoulder injury, you can't win when you are in the press box.
Not to be overly negative, no one knows what will happen after these Olympic Games. Could Gary Bettman or his successor pull the plug on another Olympic involving NHL players? This very well could be the one and only opportunity for Hughes to win a medal. Bill Daly has said they have "every intention" to send players in 2030. A lot can happen in four years.
Jack Hughes's legacy could take a hit from this latest injury
On the brighter side of things, Hughes should be back well before the start of the NHL Playoffs. Hughes should be healthy enough and back into the swing of things to be entering the playoffs in his groove. The Devils need to make the playoffs, however. With the team's hot start, it is easier for the Devils to suffer all of their injuries at the beginning of the year and get healthy at a time when other teams are losing their players to injury.
Still, we have to look at the facts. Going into the season, just about every national analyst said that Jack Hughes would be great "if he stayed healthy." His fault or not, he didn't stay healthy, so the narrative remains.
At the end of the day, the Devils should have their superstar back to compete for the Stanley Cup. If Hughes has to miss the Olympics but is prepared to lift the Cup over his head in June, that should be a trade that he would be willing to make. He needs to do something great when the lights are the brightest to get people talking about that instead of his injury history.