NEWARK, N.J. — New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes has an upper-body injury and is considered week-to-week.
Coach Lindy Ruff gave the injury update after the Devils morning skate ahead of their home game Thursday night against the Seattle Kraken. Hughes left practice early Wednesday.
“He’s a young guy — that’s going to help with it,” Ruff said. “I think it’s going to be on the shorter end.”
The 21-year-old Hughes represented New Jersey at NHL All-Star Weekend and is the biggest reason the the team contending and in a playoff spot for the first time in several seasons. He ranks third in the league in goals with 35 and ninth in points with 67, which is 16 more than the next-closest Devils player.
New Jersey is in second in the Metropolitan Division, behind the first-place Carolina Hurricanes and just ahead of the rival New York Rangers. If Hughes is out even two weeks, it would mean he misses eight games.
