{"id":106247,"date":"2025-08-29T20:57:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T20:57:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/106247\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T20:57:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T20:57:06","slug":"devils-luke-hughes-at-an-impasse-regarding-contract-length","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/106247\/","title":{"rendered":"Devils, Luke Hughes At An Impasse Regarding Contract Length"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aside from Mason McTavish<\/a> of the Anaheim Ducks, defenseman Luke Hughes<\/a> of the New Jersey Devils is objectively the highest-profile restricted free agent remaining from this summer\u2019s class. Unfortunately, according to Ryan Novozinsky of NJ.com<\/a>, Hughes is expected to remain an RFA unless heavy concessions are made on either side regarding the length of his next contract.<\/p>\n

According to Novozinsky\u2019s report, the Devils are focusing on either a two-year bridge deal or a longer-term eight-year extension for Hughes, while the defenseman is requesting a five-year contract. A five-year contract would walk Hughes into unrestricted free agency after the 2029-30 season, the same time that his brother, Jack Hughes<\/a>, would also become a UFA.<\/p>\n

That would only escalate the speculation this offseason regarding the brothers\u2019 desire to play together at some point during their NHL careers. Still, the eldest brother, Quinn Hughes<\/a>, would have already signed an extension with the Vancouver Canucks, or joined a different organization via free agency by that time.<\/p>\n

Regardless of the contract length, New Jersey has some work to do regarding Hughes\u2019 eventual salary. If the Devils acquiesce to Hughes\u2019 contract length demands, it\u2019s unrealistic to assume he would sign for a $6MM AAV, which would be the maximum salary the Devils could afford at the time being. Theoretically speaking, New Jersey can exceed the upper limit of the salary cap by 10% over the summer months, but it would only kick the can down the road to the start of the regular season.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s likely why the Devils are prioritizing a shorter-term bridge deal for Hughes, which will likely become the eventual compromise between the two sides. Hughes could pursue a three-year deal in a few years, aligning his request to become an unrestricted free agent with Jack\u2019s timeframe. New Jersey would certainly like to keep both players in the Garden State throughout their careers, but their negotiating power will be significantly restricted once Luke becomes eligible for arbitration.<\/p>\n

At any rate, the clock is ticking for both sides. Training camp is only a few weeks away, and this isn\u2019t something that either side will want to drag into the regular season. Ultimately, one side will have to become flexible so that Hughes can start the year on time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aside from Mason McTavish of the Anaheim Ducks, defenseman Luke Hughes of the New Jersey Devils is objectively…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,31685,749,4247,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-106247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-luke-hughes","11":"tag-new-jersey-devils","12":"tag-newsstand","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}