Luke Hughes and the New Jersey Devils: The Countdown to a Game-Changing Deal Begins

There’s a swirling buzz in the air surrounding Luke Hughes and his contract status with the New Jersey Devils — and trust me, it’s not as tangled as it seems. Recently, Jeff Marek chimed in during the Empty Netters podcast with Dan and Chris Powers about this very topic, shedding some light on what’s really holding up the deal. It’s one of those classic NHL dramas: top young defenseman, a savvy negotiation team that includes family ties, and a cap situation that’s tighter than ever. But here’s the kicker — despite the back-and-forth, don’t bet against this signing happening before the season kicks off. The Devils might be juggling more puzzle pieces than we realize, but when it comes to locking in Hughes, the stars are aligning… it’s just a matter of time. LEARN MORE

Luke Hughes re-signing with the New Jersey Devils will get done eventually

Empty Netters: Jeff Marek was on the Empty Netters show with Dan and Chris Powers and was asked about New Jersey Devils restricted free agent Luke Hughes, and what is going on with him.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

Dan Powers: “So let’s start it off with probably the biggest hot button one, Luke Hughes, restricted free agent, New Jersey Devils. Tell us why this guy does not have a contract.”

Marek: “First of all, are we going to make the obvious, Vancouver should offer sheet him joke?”

Dan: “Yes please, Marek. I want to get into this. Like, there a few of these guys, I am, I am blown away that offer sheets haven’t been tossed out.”

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Marek: “Yeah. I mean, listen, I think that one, I think that is one that gets done. First of all, this is sort of all under the umbrella of, I think players understand now, and teams. I mean, listen, we just saw this with the, with the Boston Bruins. Like, it does nobody any good if a player misses time?”

Chris: “Oh, such a fact.”

Marek: “Whatsoever, especially, especially young players.”

Dan: “Absolutely.”

Marek: “No one’s, no one’s (Sergei) Fedorov, who misses half a season, get an offer sheet, gets matched, and he comes back and he’s the best player. Like that doesn’t happen. Yeah, you’re not, you’re not that, you’re not that, you’re not that guy. Like the pace of the game right now is it’s just too fast. It doesn’t do any player any good.

Look, Devils are down a defenenan. I know Jonathan Kovacevich is a right side and look, Hughes is left side. But still nonetheless. And this is a massive year for the . It is a very veteran group of negotiators at CAA, and his father is a big part of it. And this whole thing is sort of being built in a lot of ways around that family. I don’t think for one second that this one, that this one doesn’t get done.

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Really, I mean, the big question for me on defense is, who’s going, is it going to be (Simon) Nemic or is it going to be (Sean) Casey as the next, you know, young guy that, that pops in the blue line?

But I tend to think that, and this might just be true for a lot of these, RFA, maybe Marco Rossi, maybe not so much, but we’ll see (Rossi signed a three-year bridge deal after the Podcast aired). I think. I think this one, I think this one gets done before, before training camp. I think that there’s two, two veterans, two wise on both sides.

That I mean, right now, the one thing we do need to remind, remind ourselves to, and I think this comes into play probably with someone like Luke Evangelista there, this is the last year you can sign eight-year deals, right?”

…

Dan: “Yeah, if we look at the Devils, I think the thing people aren’t talking about is they literally can’t afford Luke right now on a long-term.”

Chris: “Yeah, right.”

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Dan: “I mean, Luke Hughes has eight by $8.5 (million), 8 by $9.5 (million), this, this deal that we’re seeing everyone sign. We see Sanderson sign it. We seen (Brock) Faber sign these types of deals. (Charlie) McAvoy’s deal, like that is the standard for this type of defenseman.

And I think that’s what his camp and himself think he is. They have $6.1 million cap space, and they don’t have a lot of guys coming off the cap next year. So the Devils are also staring down the barrel of, they need to make a trade. So, yeah, I’m sure they’re like, hey, you know, sign a five, two-year by five, but even that he if I’m Lucas Hughes, I’m like, ‘Get *ucked. No chance I’m signing that. Are you crazy?’”

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