Jack Hughes has been placed on the New Jersey Devils' injured list since the forward sustained a hand injury off-ice.
The former star of the week has entered another shortened season.
The forward sustained the injury—affecting his pinkie with glass—during a team dinner in Chicago.
After successful surgery, Hughes is expected to be re-evaluated in six weeks to assess his recovery and potential return to play.
New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) on X
The New Jersey Devils have provided the following medical update:
“New Jersey Devils C Jack Hughes underwent successful surgery on his finger.
The procedure was performed by Dr. Robert Hotchkiss at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
The expected return to play
The 24-year-old was off to a hot start; he had ten goals and 20 points in 17 games.
Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman was one of the first reporters to report the accident. He then further explained his perspective on the Saturday Headlines segment of Hockey Night in Canada.
"When I first started looking into this Friday morning, I think the Devils and Hughes and Team USA really consider this outcome fortunate," Friedman said. "But when I first heard about it on Friday morning, I think there were people that were worried he would definitely miss the Olympics. The fact that this was the diagnosis we got, reevaluated after six weeks, I think everybody involved here would consider that a victory.”
Hughes is expected to miss eight weeks but will be re-evaluated in six weeks.
In the meantime, captain Nico Hischier addressed the team's mentality with The Hockey News’ Kristy Flannery after practice on Monday.
“You’ve got to now just dig in for it,” Hischier said during practice Monday. “Obviously, he’s a game-changer type of guy that can decide games for us. We’ve still got enough skill in here, but we’ve got to be even more glued together, stick together and keep working on our process that we believe can have us being a successful hockey team.”
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