The New Jersey Devils and Luke Hughes have agreed to a new contract according to a new report from Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. He reports that the Devils are giving Hughes a seven-year deal worth $9 million per season.
Luke Hughes has been going through a long and arduous process to get this contract done. He's missed more than two weeks of training camp and most of the preseason, but Hughes missed all of the preseason and training camp last year due to a shoulder injury. He should be able to bounce back and jump right into the lineup.
Luke Hughes and NJ are closing in on a 7x$9M extension
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 1, 2025
The $9 million is significant because it puts the Devils in a bind. They will obviously have to work through the salary cap situation to make this work. As of this writing, no trade is on the table, which puts the Devils about $3 million over the salary cap. They can put Johnny Kovacevic on LTIR to save about $3.85 million until he returns, which won't come until at least January. This gives Tom Fitzgerad time to work out the budget.
The reality is that Luke Hughes is already an incredible offensive defenseman who got a lot better defensively last season. He had seven goals and 37 assists in 71 games last season. On top of that, he went nuclear to end the season when the Devils were desperately holding onto a playoff spot. He had 22 points in the final 22 games of the season.
We don't have to tell you what a point-per-game defenseman is worth in today's NHL. It's really just Erik Karlsson, and he's has the highest salary in the league at his position.
Luke Hughes signs a deal for seven years, $9 million AAV
What's most important here is the years. It's disappointing the Devils weren't able to get him signed to eight years, especially at this number, but seven years is not bad at all. This means Luke Hughes's deal lasts for two more years after Jack Hughes's deal ends, and it makes it much more likely that Quinn Hughes is eventually New Jersey bound.
Don't get upset at the number. We've been predicting that Luke Hughes would get $9 million for about a year. The salary cap is rising, and teams are paying for future production. Is it higher than we and the Devils would have liked? Sure, but it avoids the nuclear option of a five-year deal.
Hughes is going to join the Devils in training camp on Thursday, which gives him a full week to ramp up before the Devils open the season in Carolina. We'd expect that to be plenty of time to get ready for the start of the season.