New Jersey Devils make the right decision with Luke Hughes despite having no GM

The New Jersey Devils made the right decision. Despite the team parting ways with Tom Fitzgerald this week and making the decision to move forward without an interim GM, there’s someone pulling the strings for the Devils.

With a loss against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, the Devils are officially eliminated from the playoffs. There is nothing to play for over the last few games in the season except pride and opportunity. 

Luke Hughes knows where he needs to be next season. He needs to be ready for training camp and fully healthy. With nothing truly to play for in 2025-26, the Devils are looking towards 2026-27. That means players who have been dealing with injuries should be shut down and fixed as soon as possible.

New Jersey Devils shut down Luke Hughes for the season

Luke Hughes suffered a serious shoulder injury right before the Olympic break, and many thought it would require surgery. Luckily, the Devils and Hughes avoided the worst, and he returned after his brother scored the Golden Goal. 

He played well down the stretch, with nine points in the past 19 games. It was helpful to remove the bad taste that came from the rest of his season. There was clearly added pressure on Hughes after he signed his seven-year contract worth $9 million per season. He also missed part of training camp, and it was a bad start that didn’t get much better until the break.

It’s best to just wash this season completely. Hopefully, this procedure isn’t serious. James Nichols of Sportsnaut revealed it will be a shoulder surgery, but Hughes is expected to be fully ready for next season. 

The Devils need Luke Hughes to be the best version of himself next season. It's possible the team loses both Dougie Hamilton and Simon Nemec this offseason. That would leave Hughes and a bunch of defensive defensemen on the team. We'd expect other moves, but it puts pressure on the youngest Hughes brother to deliver on the offensive end.

We started to see some of the speed and confidence that made him a great prospect at the end of the season. The results will come if he can continue to play like that. Hopefully, the surgery doesn't impact his offseason program so he can start the season ready and raring to go.