The New Jersey Devils will be without star defenseman Luke Hughes for at least a little while.
In the second period of Monday’s 2-1 overtime win against the Calgary Flames, Hughes became tied up with a Calgary defender while standing and came away from the collision holding his shoulder and skated off the ice.
He left the Devils’ bench for the rest of the second period and did not re-emerge, missing the remainder of the contest.
Frank Seravalli provided the initial prognosis, posting via X that it’s a separated shoulder for the 22-year-old defenseman.
“Sounds like initial diagnosis was Devils Luke Hughes dislocated his shoulder tonight in Calgary,” Seravalli wrote. “Will await word from Devils postgame and potential timeline as he continues to be evaluated.”
Devils head coach Sheldon Keefe revealed after Monday’s game that Hughes will miss at least the remainder of New Jersey’s road trip.
“He’ll have to get evaluated, but he’s going to miss time for sure,” Keefe said. “We won’t see him for the rest of this road trip.”
Mild separated shoulders can take between two to 12 weeks to heal depending on their severity. In cases that require surgery, the healing process can take up to six months.
The Devils play the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, the Vancouver Canucks on Friday, and the Seattle Kraken on Sunday.
In 48 games so far this season, Hughes has scored five goals and 26 points in an average 23:20 of time on ice.
The Devils signed Hughes to a seven-year, $63 million extension in September, after Hughes missed all of training camp after a contract holdout.
Recently, the Devils have been rotating seven defensemen with Johnathan Kovacevic back in the fold after he fully recovered from offseason knee surgery. Kovacevic and Simon Nemec have taken turns as the odd man out, although that issue may have resolved itself with the Hughes injury.
The Devils are also in the midst of trade rumors, as Dougie Hamilton‘s agent went public with comment after New Jersey healthy scratched the $9 million defenseman.
