Devils get some terrible injury news on Luke Hughes
This team cannot afford to take steps backwards this season.
The New Jersey Devils announced that defenseman Luke Hughes suffered a shoulder injury during training and will be unavailable for the team's training camp and exhibition schedule. Even more importantly, he's liable to miss the first month or six weeks of the team's regular season schedule.
From the Devils:
The 21 year old blue liner had an incredible rookie campaign with the Devils last season, scoring nine goals and 47 points in 82 games last season. He made an immediate impact on the team and emerged as the Devils' most reliable blue liner as the season wore on. In other words, this is a HUGE blow to a Devils team that can't afford to take any steps backwards in 2024-25. After a wasted season in 2023-24, the Devils have made some serious changes in order to get back into the Stanley Cup Playoffs and now Hughes' injury could put all that into jeopardy.
The Devils hired former Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe and acquired former Calgary Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom, all in an effort to shore up their deficiencies. Now with Hughes out of the lineup though there's a glaring hole on their back end. Can they keep things together well enough in the 6-8 weeks of time that Hughes is out of the lineup?
