The New Jersey Devils have not had a banner start to 2025. They are 9-10-3 since the calendar flipped. Though they are still in good position to make the postseason, they are not the playoff lock they seemed to be a couple of months ago.
To make matters worse, star center Jack Hughes went down with an upper-body injury — it appeared to be a shoulder — during Sunday’s loss in Vegas.
Still, the Tom Fitzgerald-led front office feels they it has plenty of skill and talent to warrant buying at the deadline. The Hughes injury doesn’t change that.
Here’s what I’m hearing speaking to league sources ahead of the deadline.
• The team still does not have a sense of the severity of Hughes’ injury. He’s gone to Colorado for further evaluation. Hughes had shoulder surgery last April in Vail, Colorado.
As of now, New Jersey is not operating as if it can put Hughes on long-term injured reserve and spend over the salary cap. The team will presumably get more clarity on that before Friday’s deadline.
“We don’t know the full extent of it yet,” coach Sheldon Keefe told Devils team reporter Amanda Stein on Tuesday in Dallas. “We’re expecting an update as a result of some tests that he’s had done, but we don’t have those results quite yet.”
If the timeline will keep Hughes out until after the start of the playoffs, the Devils could place him on LTIR and go over the salary cap by up to $8 million (his cap hit). That’s a less-than-ideal outcome, though. They’d rather have Hughes in the lineup, especially if they continue to slip and are in a fight for a playoff spot.
• The Devils are looking for a center and scoring depth and are open to adding a top-six forward if one is available. They also could look to add a defenseman.
Colleague Pierre LeBrun reported the Devils were looking at centers even before the Hughes injury. As always, demand will be high for pieces up the middle. The New York Islanders’ Brock Nelson, Philadelphia Flyers’ Scott Laughton, Chicago Blackhawks’ Ryan Donato, and Colorado Avalanche’s Casey Mittelstadt are all on Chris Johnston’s latest trade board. One other option, Jake Evans, is no longer available after signing an extension with Montreal.
• Don’t expect a trade involving 2022 No. 2 pick Simon Nemec this deadline. The 21-year-old has had an up-and-down year after a promising rookie season, but New Jersey would need a substantial offer to even consider moving him. Nemec is currently up with the NHL club with Jonas Siegenthaler out but has played most of the season with AHL Utica. He’s averaged only 15:21 in 19 NHL games this season after playing 19:52 as a rookie and appearing on Calder Trophy ballots.
• The Devils helped broker the Boston Bruins’ and Edmonton Oilers’ Trent Frederic trade, retaining $575,000 of his cap hit in exchange for the rights to Shane LaChance, a prospect they like who has 25 points in 32 games for Boston University this year. They don’t believe that added money will limit them salary cap wise. PuckPedia currently projects them to have around $4.5 million in cap space.
(Photo of Jack Hughes: Elsa / Getty Images)
