The Devils dropped their 2026-27 schedule release video on Thursday. And it featured Jack Hughes. Well, not the Jack Hughes, but a high school hockey player that has the same name as the Devils and Team USA superstar.<\/p>\n
The youthful Hughes is a high\u00a0school\u00a0goalie\u00a0going into his sophomore year\u00a0at\u00a0Verona-Glen Ridge\u00a0and wears the number \u2026\u00a0you guessed it: 86.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Devils have been the team Hughes has been a fan of since he can remember, and he got a once-in-a-lifetime\u00a0experience\u00a0being\u00a0part of the schedule release video.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI’m so happy to be such a part of this great organization,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, I’ve looked up to the members of this team, the goalies in particular, but also Jack Hughes, since I can remember, so it’s just awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hughes connection to Jack (or is it the other way around?) goes back to the day that the 2019 NHL Draft.<\/p>\n
The young Hughes attended the Devils\u2019\u00a0draft party in 2019 when the elder Hughes was drafted first overall.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time I played\u00a0(for the) Nutley Clifton Horse\u00a0Pirates, so I was wearing my Nutley Clifton\u00a0Horse\u00a0Pirates\u00a0\u2018J Hughes\u2019\u00a0jersey,\u201d he recalled. \u201cAnd I think the amount of people that went up to me and said,\u00a0\u2018nice jersey,\u2019 I think that’s really what made it just surreal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Like\u00a0the Devils\u2019\u00a0Jack Hughes,\u00a0the high school edition\u00a0Hughes\u00a0also\u00a0loves the spotlight. This is why their similarities part ways a bit as he chose his position of goalie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love performing in big moments,\u201d he said,\u00a0\u201cI’d like to try and be that guy if I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
Verona-Glen Ridge\u2019s Hughes does not shy away\u00a0from the name on the back\u00a0of his jersey. And thanks to that name, he became the newest Devils\u2019 breakout star. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Just like, well, Jack Hughes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Devils dropped their 2026-27 schedule release video on Thursday. And it featured Jack Hughes. Well, not the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":804672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,575,85],"class_list":["post-804671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=804671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/804671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/804672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=804671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=804671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=804671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}