Extending Luke Hughes Is the Top Priority For the New Jersey Devils

Now that free agency has opened and moves have been made, New Jersey Devils General Manager Tom Fitzgerald has said that the club’s new top priority is extending restricted free agent Luke Hughes. To get a sense of how much Fitzgerald wants to get this done, he was asked if there was any chance that the Devils would go back to the market, and he said, “My number one priority right now is Luke Hughes.” 

Hughes Is a Guy You Want To Lock Up 

Luke Hughes is coming off back-to-back 40-point seasons and back-to-back seasons where he averaged 21 minutes of time on ice. There is so much potential with this player since he’s 21 years old and he’s already put up multiple 40-point seasons. Hughes isn’t even close to his prime yet, so it’s possible that he could be a future 60-70 point scorer in the league and be an annual Norris Trophy candidate. 

With the NHL salary cap going up as much as it’s projected to in the next few seasons, the Devils need to get him locked up while they can. Luke Hughes is the type of defenseman who looks a great deal like Evan Bouchard of Edmonton. He just signed a four-year contract extension worth $ 10.5 million per year. If Hughes puts up another season like he has the last two seasons or breaks out, he could fetch a deal similar to Bouchard’s, which would be a very rich contract. 

Evan Bouchard and Luke Hughes Are Similar 

Mentioning Bouchard and Hughes together makes sense. They’re pretty similar players, granted, Bouchard has had more success in the league than Hughes has. The question is, would the Devils want a long-term deal with Hughes at a lower average annual value, or a shorter-term deal with a higher average annual value like Bouchard’s deal? Either way, the Devils should get this done.