Devils Announce Luke Hughes Out For 6-8 Weeks With Shoulder Injury

New Jersey Devils fans received some discomforting news on Thursday afternoon. The team announced that up and coming defenseman Luke Hughes suffered a shoulder injury during off-season training and will miss time. Fortunately, it was determined he would not require surgery so his recovery timeline is 6-8 weeks.

Personally, I feel that this means the Devils dodged a major bullet by avoiding surgery. There would have been no telling when we would see Hughes on the ice this season but with a shoulder you'd have to imagine it would sideline him until at least January.

If the timeline is from when the injury occurred, it would line him up at earliest to return for the home opener against the Maple Leafs. But it may be more likely we do not see Hughes until the end of October, possibly the beginning of November. There is going to be plenty of discussion on who will take Hughes' spot on the roster for the first few games of the season.

The Devils should slot in Santeri Hatakka to start out while having Jonathan Kovacevic on standby. Hatakka has already played with a majority of this roster so the chemistry factor favors him. Kovacevic has plenty of upside and potential and it would also not surprise me if he slots in at some point too as we could be looking at as many as 13 games before number 43 hits the ice again.