New Jersey Devils alternate captain Jack Hughes broke Patrik Elias’ 22-year-old club record for most points in a single season with an empty-net goal against the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday evening.
Hughes, 21, picked up his 97th point of the 2022–23 regular season to close out the Devils’ 5–2 win over the Buffalo Sabres at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.
In doing so, Hughes surpassed Elias’ 96-point 2000–01 campaign to etch his own name in the Devils’ all-time record books — and he’s just getting started.
The Devils selected Hughes with the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, and it’s hard to say he hasn’t delivered upon his draft pedigree and then some through the first four seasons of his NHL career.
The Orlando, Fla. product now has 87 goals and 205 points in 243 career games with the Devils and is set to make his Stanley Cup Playoff debut with the club this spring.
New Jersey currently ranks second in the Metropolitan Division with a 51–22–8 record and 110 points through 81 games.
Hughes is under contract with the Devils at an $8M annual cap hit through the end of the 2029–30 season. He signed his eight-year contract extension with the club on November 30, 2021.
Jesper Boqvist, Jonas Siegenthaler, Miles Wood, and Tomas Tatar joined Hughes in scoring for the Devils on Tuesday. But the one big thing Hughes hasn’t yet achieved — that Elias did twice during his Devils tenure — is winning the Stanley Cup.
The Devils will wrap up their 2022–23 regular season with a clash against the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday evening. After that, they’ll enter the 2023 playoffs as either the No. 1 or 2 seed in the Metropolitan Division.
More must-reads: