New Jersey Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald has laid it all out there and spelled it all out for everyone to know: Luke Hughes isn't going anywhere. Actually, he's here to stay in New Jersey for the long haul.
Hughes, 21, is a pending restricted free agent ineligible to receive offer sheets from other teams. The Devils have full control of his immediate playing future (as if he'd willingly leave older brother Jack Hughes to play elsewhere).
How much Hughes makes on his next contract, and how long the contract is, are points of contention among Devils fans. And while Fitzgerald didn't dive into specifics, he did declare that a contract with Hughes is getting done. It's a matter of when, not if.
"We've only got so much cap space, and we've got to figure out strategically how we can better our team on trades, the market, and what cap space we have available while also thinking what we can allocate towards a great young player," Fitzgerald said of Hughes to Mike Morreale of NHL.com. "Both parties are in agreement. We're going to get this done.
""We're trying to figure out where some of the holes are in our group and how do we fill those holes with the funds we have and who's available via trade or unrestricted free agency. I'd say the back end is probably the safest place where we feel very comfortable.""Tom Fitzgerald, Devils President and GM
Fitzgerald and the Devils know that upgrades are required at the forward position. The team has $12 million in cap space to sign Hughes and potentially retain other important free agents, like Brian Dumoulin, Cody Glass, and Jake Allen.
Hughes will take up most of that $12 million, as Evolving-Hockey currently predicts his next contract to be a six-year deal worth $7.524 million annually. If Fitzgerald and Co. can stretch the term to eight years, Evolving-Hockey increases the annual cap hit to a whopping $9.4 million.
The Devils can pay Hughes virtually any count of money and fans will be fine with that, as they should be. But as for the rest of the roster? The more creative Fitzgerald can get, the less stressful his summer will be as he heads into a crucial year for both himself and the Devils franchise.