The Luke Hughes extension has been a topic of discourse in New Jersey land with the RFA due a new deal. Speculation has surrounded over what kind of deal this will look like and how long Luke extends his stay in Jersey.
Everything Luke Hughes has said has indicated his love playing for the Devils, especially with his brother Jack. There has been little worry in New Jersey about getting a deal done but the amount and term at this stage of his young career is a tricky one.
The 21 year old defenseman recorded 7 goals and 37 assists for 44 points in 71 games during his second full time season in the NHL last year. These totals were very similar to his rookie year production, in which he amassed 9 goals and 38 assists for 47 points in 82 games showing his consistency through 2 years in the league so far.
There has been the question at hand as to whether Luke Hughes would take a short term bridge deal for now in order to max out in his next contract extension when he has truly broke out into the elite defenseman he is on the path to becoming.
According to Luke Fox, he does not expect that to be the case. Fox expects Hughes to take a long term deal in New Jersey, somewhere in the 7 year range.
The Devils currently have a little over $6 million in cap space to work with. We’ll see which direction the team and player goes here but it seems like a matter of when not if a deal gets done soon.
