Jack Hughes out eight weeks after injury suffered at team dinner: How Devils can fill void left by their star

New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes will miss eight weeks after undergoing finger surgery, the team announced. Hughes cut his finger in a “freak accident” at a Thursday team dinner, according to Sportsnet.

The Devils said Hughes will be re-evaluated in six weeks, and expect him back around the eight-week mark. Unfortunately for the Devils, Hughes is no stranger to extended absences. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, he’s played more than 62 games just once.

Losing Hughes, one of the best players in the league, is a massive blow. However, the loss of Hughes hurts a little extra this year because he looked to be fully healthy for the first time in a while, and his game reflected that. Before the injury, Hughes was on pace for 96 points, which would’ve been the second most of his career.

Thanks in large part to Hughes, New Jersey is off to an excellent start in 2025-26. The Devils lead the Metro Division with a 12-4-1 record, and they have the ingredients for a deep playoff run.

Now, maintaining that division lead will be a much bigger challenge, and it should prompt some kind of move from general manager Tom Fitzgerald.

How the Devils can fill the void left by Hughes

Let’s start by acknowledging — cliché as it may be — that there is no one player who can replace what Hughes brings to the Devils. Having said that, this was a team poised to make a big splash even before Hughes’ injury. Now, Fitzgerald needs to be even more aggressive to make sure his team can keep rolling while Hughes is out.

Without Hughes, the center depth in New Jersey gets notably worse. Having Nico Hischier to slot in on the top line is a nice luxury, but after that the team will lean on Dawson Mercer, Cody Glass and Luke Glendening. Mercer has been good this year, but all of those players may be playing a bigger role than they should.

That being the case, the Devils need to explore all their options down the middle. The top two options that come to mind are Nazem Kadri of the Calgary Flames and Ryan O’Reilly of the Nashville Predators.

Given the Flames’ putrid start to the season, they should start selling sooner rather than later, and Kadri is one of their more appealing assets. The hurdle here might be the money. Kadri is owed $7 million per year through 2028-29. That means Calgary may have to retain some salary, but Kadri still has playmaking ability with 67 points last year, and he should be able to fill in for Hughes on the power play quite nicely.

O’Reilly only has one year left on his contract beyond this one, and he’s at a much more reasonable $4.25 million price point. He’s also been one of the few things that have worked in Nashville so far. The veteran has six goals and seven assists in 19 games, and while he’s not the bona fide No. 1 center he once was, O’Reilly still brings a quality two-way game that would be perfect on New Jersey’s second line.

If Fitzgerald really wanted to swing for the fences, could he call the Vancouver Canucks and ask about Elias Pettersson? Again, that may be a situation where the Canucks have to retain salary, but Pettersson’s value should still be pretty low coming off a 45-point campaign in 2024-25. Pettersson may need a fresh start, and Vancouver might be open to giving him one. Could New Jersey capitalize on that?

The thing to remember is that, barring a disastrous setback, the Devils will get Hughes back in mid-January. If Fitzgerald can pull off a big move now, New Jersey could have the best center depth in the NHL, and that type of advantage usually pays off from April to June.