Devils Extend Jack Hughes

    The New Jersey Devils may have lost their game to the visiting San Jose Sharks Tuesday night in a 5-2 defeat that saw the Devils play an absolutely terrible second period but the Devils did have two pieces of good news- both involving Jack Hughes.

The short-term good news was the return to the lineup for Hughes, who was injured in the second game of the season and missed the next seventeen games.

Hughes failed to score a point against San Jose in seventeen and a half minutes of ice time, but there is some rust that will need to be shaven off before returning to peak form but the even bigger news would come from the podium not on the ice as the Devils announced before the game that the franchise signed Hughes to an eight-year contract extension worth sixty-four million dollars.

Hughes was the first overall selection of the 2019 draft by New Jersey and scored eleven goals with twenty assists in fifty-six games last season and scored two goals with an assist in his first two games before his injury.

Give the Devils credit for locking up Hughes before he could possibly reach the point of a stalemate down the road which almost always causes hard feelings from the player and treating the player that they want to build around a fair deal.

And give some kudos to Jack Hughes, who realizes that in a few years that he will be able to play with his brother (2021first rounder Luke) and that is an opportunity that few brothers are able to do at all, let alone when the brothers are at their peak as players, and took fewer dollars in return for a long-term commitment to the franchise and a secure contract.

Here's my dilemma on the deal.

Hughes is certainly talented and he certainly has the chance to be an impact player along with being the face of the franchise with his playmaking skills.

At only 20 years old, Hughes is signed until he turns 29, so should Hughes live up to his potential, this contract could be a long-term bargain.

However, Hughes has struggled with injuries in his short career, has a very slight frame (5'11 175 pounds) which could make him more vulnerable to hits and injuries. and despite showing some flashes of elite performance potential, there is some risk involved with an eight-year extension based on the current body of work for Hughes.

This contract is completely on the projection that Jack Hughes will develop into a number one center and while if the Devils are correct about Hughes, this contract will be a bargain by the final years of the contract.

However, it's not without risk, and should Hughes not reach that level for whatever reason then the deal could be an overpay depending on how much production that Hughes is able to bring to the Devils.

I would consider the extension a high reward/moderate risk contract for the Devils and at long as one realizes the risk that the team is taking, which seems to me based on Hughes not being injury-prone, I'm okay with the extension especially with the upside of Hughes becoming a star and not paying him a cap clogging price.