The New Jersey Devils are just having a terrible season. We’d call it the season from hell, but there have been too many of those lately to keep repeating ourselves. The luck hasn’t turned around, and despite a few victories, Devils fans are still forced to come out of this with a bad taste in their mouths. Heck, they’ve won four of the last five, but they are still four points out of a playoff spot, and it looks like they are going to have to play without one of their $9 million defensemen.
However, it’s not the one we all thought. After weeks of Dougie Hamilton rumors, it appears he can’t be moved. Luke Hughes is going to miss time. How much time? Well, that is up in the air.
A new report from ESPN's Emily Kaplan says Hughes will avoid the worst-case scenario. At least, for now.
After consulting with doctors, Luke Hughes will not get surgery for now and instead rehab his upper body injury.
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) January 22, 2026
The Devils placed Hughes on LTIR today; he’s expected to be sidelined through the Olympic break then TBD.
Many of us feared for the worst. Hughes has a history of shoulder injuries, having undergone surgery the past two offseasons. He’s missed weeks for shoulder injuries. He also follows his brother, Jack Hughes, who has ended multiple seasons with shoulder injuries.
Luke Hughes has a chance to come back from his shoulder injury
The reports coming out of Calgary on Monday were that Hughes was consulting with his doctor in Colorado, which we assume is Dr. Peter Millett. He’s worked on both Hughes brothers. Hearing that, after consultation with him, that Hughes is going to try rehab instead of surgery is a good sign. It’s likely that Hughes will need another offseason surgery no matter what, just based on the situation, but it appears he’s going to try to work through the injury and make it back for the stretch run.
It’s possible this ends in what we all expected at first, which is a season-ending injury. However, just getting the option to have him back changes things.
For one, they can’t put him on season-ending LTIR. That means the Devils can only make $3.8 million available from Hughes’s injury. If he is going to miss the season, the Devils would have another $9 million to play with.
We’ll see what happens, but this is undoubtedly a good initial prognosis. Hughes was finally playing up to his new contract. He was playing his best hockey of the season, with a lack of mistakes and impactful offense. Hopefully, that's the player who eventually returns from injury.