Devils’ Jack Hughes gets breath of fresh air injury update

Although the New Jersey Devils will be without Jack Hughes when they take on the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, it could be the only game the superstar forward misses.

Head coach Sheldon Keefe provided a huge update on the injured American after the morning skate in Canada’s capital city.

“Evaluation yesterday confirmed good news which is that it’s not anything serious,” he told reporters, including team senior producer Sam Kasan. “I think we’ll see him on the ice soon.”

That’s a breath of fresh air for the entire organization, as the 24-year-old has already missed 18 games this season due to a hand injury. Despite the absence, Hughes is third in team scoring with 36 points in 36 games in 2025-26, behind only Jesper Bratt (40 points in 54 games) and Nico Hischier (41 in 54).

Hughes is set to represent Team USA at the Winter Olympics in Milan next month along with brother Quinn; the ice hockey competition begins on Feb. 11.

The Orlando, Florida native sustained the injury during Thursday night’s 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators. He left the contest after playing just three shifts totaling 2:27 of ice time in the first period.

Although he won’t play on Saturday, Hughes could be an option for one or both of New Jersey’s last two tilts before the Olympic break. The Devils will host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday and New York Islanders on Thursday before being out of game action until Feb. 25.

Devils battling for playoff lives ahead of Olympics

It’s been a challenging campaign overall in Newark; the Devils are 28-24-2 and sixth place in a competitive Metropolitan Division. They’ve been better as of late, winning six of 10, but remain seven points out the No. 3 seed in the division, and nine back of the final wild card berth in the Eastern Conference.

Things will be even more difficult without Hughes and potentially Hischier as well; the captain did not participate in the morning skate due to an illness and will be a game-time decision on Saturday.

Despite the ailments, the Devils still believe they can be one of the last eight teams standing in the conference at the end of April.

“We believe with proper structure and process, we’re going to be in every game and give ourselves an opportunity to get points in every game,” Keefe said, per NHL.com’s Mike G. Morreale. “We know we put ourselves in a tough spot here but we’ve shown signs of coming back and getting some very valuable points here in the last while to remain in the fight and the effort [on Thursday] reflected the belief the group has.”

Banking some points over their last three games before the pause is critical to getting the Devils back into a crowded playoff race. The hope is that Hischier will be able to suit up, and Hughes will be join him in the lineup on home ice on Tuesday night.

Puck drops between New Jersey and Ottawa just past 7:00 p.m. ET from the Canadian Tire Centre.

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