I was just getting inside yesterday when I opened my phone and read:
#NEWS: Jack Hughes is out with a non-hockey, hand injury. He is being evaluated…
After that, I pretty much stopped reading for a moment. Evaluation can mean quite a range of injury timelines, but the next thing I saw made me even more afraid (from The Athletic’s Peter Baugh):
A league source stressed that this was a freak accident. Hughes is still being evaluated.
Because of course, calling it a “freak accident” is sure to make fans avoid thinking the worst. It’s not like nearly half of Devils fans once opened their phones to find out one of their team’s most beloved football players blew half his hand off with fireworks.
Thankfully, though, some of the news began to trickle out early on Jack. A couple hours after Elliotte Friedman shared that the accident happened at a team dinner in Chicago (a dinner where the team happened to take a picture with Frank the Tank, who was at the same restaurant, later on), Kristy Flannery reported that it was not a knife cut that caused the injury, but glass. Glass injuries can be somewhat unpredictable, but they make much more of an impact at the surface level, while a knife can literally take off pieces of fingers. Still, the possibility of a more serious injury that keeps him out until February or later remains.
Like I said, that’s quite a range of possibilities. I imagine that, since it was a glass injury, it may have taken awhile for hospital staff to stop his bleeding so he could be evaluated. I would have a hard time thinking they don’t have a timeline by this morning, though.
What the Devils Did in the Aftermath
In response to the injury, the New Jersey Devils placed Connor Brown on injured reserve to recall Shane LaChance from the AHL. Brown, who has already been out for more than the minimum required time on IR, can be reactivated at any time. LaChance has just one assist in 11 games for the Utica Comets, who have been one of the worst teams in the AHL in Ryan Parent’s first full season as head coach after taking over on an interim basis for the majority of last year. These moves followed Thursday’s placement of Zack MacEwen back on IR, recalling Nathan Legare.
What I Would Like to See Down the Middle
The wild card here is whether Cody Glass is missing time for the Devils. He was seen at team dinner for the Devils, and the team has made no comment on his status after leaving last game with an apparent shoulder injury. In fact, none of the team’s reporters even commented on the fact that the Devils had a short practice in Chicago yesterday, when they could have reported on whether Jack Hughes or Cody Glass were on the ice.
If Cody Glass is in for the Devils, that would make life a lot easier for the Devils, who would be able to use Mercer and Glass as the second and third-line centers. If Glass is not in for the Devils, I would rather see Paul Cotter play third-line center than Juho Lammikko. Why? Cotter played in that role for parts of the second and third periods last night, splitting some time with Luke Glendening, after Glass went down the tunnel a second time. In over five minutes with Noesen on the third line, Cotter had a 77.78 CF% and 87.43 xGF% on Wednesday night, winning two of his three draws.
Paul Cotter as a center is more along the lines of emergency usage rather than a permanent solution to any long-term need, but I think it’s worth considering if Jack’s injury turns out to be a short-term one. He has won 53.9 percent of his 89 draws with the Devils over the last two seasons, and he played center in limited situations for the team last year. If it tames his decisions to go out and throw extra hits, it might make him a better defensive player, anyway.
The Press Conference
The Devils originally told reporters that Sheldon Keefe would be made available to the media at noon today. That was pushed back to 4:45, perhaps in conjunction with the Devils not having a morning skate because of a college basketball game. Assuming that a link for livestreaming this press conference becomes available later today, I will embed it below. If the team does not put it out as a livestream on YouTube or NHL.com, I would be inclined to think it’s news they don’t really want us hearing.
Check back later (I’m hoping around 3:00 or 3:30) to see if there is a livestream link for the press conference. Then, we can all comment on it here, hoping for good news on Jack Hughes and Cody Glass.
5:45 PM Update: Please see the embedded video for Keefe’s conference. The news was not outstanding.
1:20 PM Update: Jack Hughes Out Eight Weeks After Hand Surgery
It ended up being (ostensibly) between the best and worst-case scenarios.
Jack Hughes is rather irreplaceable in the lineup, and I am not sure the Devils will actually be able to make any additions to alleviate his absence due to the new LTIR rules in place this season. Since this is a medium-term injury (he will miss around 27 games, if eight weeks ends up being the right timeline), the Devils would be hard-pressed to fit any additional players under the cap ceiling once Jack is returned from his injury.
The good news is that Jack seems to have avoided any career-altering injury. This was the expectation of the previously quoted Dr. Grewal, who posted on Twitter that an injury caused by glass would be incredibly unlikely to cause that extensive damage. The Devils will still have to make it work in the meantime, though, and we will see what this team is really made of.