NEW YORK — Years from now, when Jack and Quinn Hughes’ NHL careers are over, they may have accumulated any number of individual and team accolades. But they’ll never forget this whirlwind of a week.
With gold medals around their necks, the Hughes brothers have made national television and media appearances that are rarely reserved for hockey players.
They’ve been on ABC’s “Good Morning America” and NBC’s “Today Show” together.
Jack flew to Indianapolis to appear on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show,” and Quinn did “The Steam Room” podcast with “Inside the NBA’s” Ernie Johnson and Charles Barkley.
On Monday night, they wrapped up the weeklong media tour by appearing on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” alongside fellow Olympic gold medalist and U.S. women’s captain Hilary Knight, two days after all three appeared with U.S. women’s gold-medal-game overtime hero Megan Keller on “Saturday Night Live.”
“I mean, ‘Saturday Night Live,’ that’s huge,” the Hugheses’ longtime agent and friend, Pat Brisson, said.
Hockey players are almost trained to deflect attention. But for eight days since winning gold in Milan, the Hughes brothers, at the urging of their NHL teams — Jack’s New Jersey Devils and Quinn’s Minnesota Wild — and the league itself, have leaned into it.
“It was obviously a really fun first couple of days to celebrate with all the boys in Miami and Washington (after winning the gold medal) — all your friends and family, and just get to enjoy the moment,” Jack said an hour before taping “The Tonight Show.” “And then we’ve started playing hockey games. I’ve played three. I think Quinn’s played three. So it’s been busy, just going back and forth between trying to be focused and locked in, but also enjoying this experience.
“The fact that we were on ‘SNL’ and now ‘The Tonight Show,’ these are opportunities that don’t come around often. So for us, we’ve been super excited and thankful and grateful that we’ve been able to do this.”
Gold medalists Quinn Hughes, Megan Keller, Hilary Knight and Jack Hughes appeared on “Saturday Night Live,” hosted by actor Connor Storrie (center). (Photo courtesy of NBC)
On Monday, the Wild, Devils, the NHL, NBC and the Hughes brothers granted The Athletic access to the taping of “The Tonight Show” for a behind-the-scenes look at the conclusion to the Hughes brothers’ exciting week.
Backstage, after arriving from New Jersey, the brothers’ first visit was from the star of the show, Jimmy Fallon. He then surprised Jack and Quinn, as well as Knight, minutes later by returning with Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman.
Jack greeted her with an extended right arm and an ear-to-ear, gap-toothed grin — a now-iconic smile courtesy of a high stick in the Olympic gold-medal game that came not long before he would score the game-winning goal.
Jack Hughes shakes hands with Academy Award-winning actress Nicole Kidman. (Photo courtesy of Todd Owyoung / NBC)
He’s flashed that smile often since the U.S. won gold.
“Jack’s very comfortable in these situations — more than me,” Quinn said, smiling.
Quinn said that was evident in their “SNL” appearance two days earlier.
Quinn showed up at the studio well in advance of the live show, so he got to rehearse and hang out for several hours with Knight and Keller. Jack came in hot, playing at 5 p.m. ET in St. Louis and arriving at 30 Rock 2 hours 59 minutes after the game ended, via private jet, helicopter and car.
“Walking up on stage, I was like, ‘Wow, this is happening. I’ve got to dial it in,’” Jack said.
“Saturday Night Live” creator and producer Lorne Michaels is a big hockey fan. His team is the New York Rangers. His kids often go to Devils games and are big Jack Hughes fans. Michaels is from Toronto and, maybe not so coincidentally, left Toronto in 1967 — the last year the Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup.
He relayed all of this to Brisson and the Hugheses at the “Saturday Night Live” afterparty in the wee hours of Sunday morning, and Brisson joked, “Well, you may have to go back to help the Leafs win another Cup.”
During the show, Michaels treated the Hughes family like royalty.
There’s an area backstage called Lorne’s Station. It’s basically a box where he produces the show and makes decisions. Special guests are invited, and on Saturday, that included NHL president of content and events Steve Mayer, Brisson and wife, Kim, Devils owners David and Allison Blitzer, Jack, Quinn, their parents, Knight and Keller.
“We’re in a moment,” Mayer said. “After the gold medal game, and I give (NHL executive) Nirva (Milord) credit because she has great relationships at ‘Saturday Night Live,’ but ‘SNL’ immediately wanted NHLers to be part of their first show out of the Olympics. It started with Jack, and then it became Jack and Quinn, and then it became a matter of logistics. Quinn’s in (Utah) the day before the show. Jack’s got a 5 o’clock game the day of the show. How can we get him there on time? Is it OK if he misses rehearsal? I mean, this is live television.
“But CAA was amazing with all the logistics. And then, to add Hilary and Megan to the opening monologue was the suggestion from ‘Saturday Night Live.’ It was met with, of course, a billion percent the second it was suggested. I think Lorne had it in his mind exactly what took place.”
On the “SNL” set, from left: Allison Blitzer, Luke Hughes, Kim Brisson, Ellen Hughes, Pat Brisson, Lorne Michaels, Jim Hughes, David Blitzer, Quinn Hughes, Steve Mayer and Jack Hughes. (Photo courtesy of Pat Brisson)
The Hugheses said SNL’s studio is truly old school, and you can feel it. The cameras. The lights. The smell. The show starts at 11:30 p.m., but there’s so much life and so many people running around, it feels like it’s 6 p.m.
There’s something special about that famous, smaller-than-you’d expect studio. It’s like walking into an old hockey rink and inhaling deeply. The history is unmistakable.
“Vintage,” Quinn said.
“Theatrical,” Brisson said.
“Vibrant,” Jack said.
What Jack loved most was getting to know Michaels, who, despite there being 400 people and several celebrities at the afterparty at Mermaid Oyster Bar, largely hung out with Jack, Quinn and younger brother Luke, a Devils defenseman, and their family.
“Lorne’s such a legend,” Jack said. “So to have the chance to talk with him, and just hear some of the stories he has, he’s truly unbelievable. So that was probably the highlight of my whole ‘SNL’ experience, was just being able to listen to him and get to talk to him. He’s just so incredible, and I just had a blast getting to know him.”
Quinn’s Wild and U.S. general manager Bill Guerin, for one, was jealous.
“I told (Quinn) he crushed my dreams, because (SNL’s) always been like my show,” Guerin said. “I grew up, I had a Sunday paper route, and my sister had one, too. We had to get up really early to get them delivered. So we couldn’t stay up and watch ‘Saturday Night Live,’ but we’d put a VCR tape, a blank one, in, record it and then watch it after we did our paper routes.
“I’d watch it every day through the week, so I’d memorize all the skits. Like Eddie Murphy as Gumby, just like the classic stuff. So I told him he crushed my dreams. ‘Saturday Night Live’ has got an incredible history of not just the actors, but the music side of it, too. My God, the people that have been on that stage over the 50-plus years it’s been around are pretty remarkable. So for a Minnesota Wild player to be up there and to have four Olympic hockey players up there is pretty incredible.”
Brisson, too, loves that the NHL is taking advantage of the Olympic exposure.
“They’re hitting it while the iron is hot, and this is doing a lot for the league, for Jack and Quinn, for their brand,” Brisson said. “For Quinn to score an overtime goal, for Jack to score the ‘Golden Goal,’ it’s almost like the gold medal was scripted, like it was written by Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer or something.
“I think it’s extremely impactful for our game’s exposure. I can’t count how many people have come up to me that aren’t really hockey fans, and they’re so intrigued with the gold medal, and now they want to start following the NHL or following the Jack Hughes story, the Quinn Hughes story. Fans want to know the behind-the-scenes stories. They want to know the upbringing and whys and all that. And that’s what’s been the biggest issue with our game. Players are playing with a helmet and visor, and they want to see the personality.”
Jimmy Fallon, Luke Hughes, Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes and Nicole Kidman pose for a photo. (Photo courtesy of Todd Owyoung / NBC)
That’s why Guerin encouraged Quinn, the Wild’s star defenseman, to do both shows. It required two round-trips to New York, for Saturday’s and Monday’s TV shows, scheduled around home games on Sunday and Tuesday.
“We’re trying to take it in and just enjoy it,” Quinn said. “We really enjoyed ‘Saturday Night Live’ and ‘The Tonight Show,’ and we’re just doing it a day at a time here. It’ll settle down for both of us now, and we’ll focus on the hockey. But I think right now for these opportunities, it’s been special, and we’re really grateful. It’s truly humbling.
“And I think for Jack, the guys on both our teams have been unreal. They’re happy we’re getting this opportunity. Obviously, there’s some ball busting, but they’re happy for us. But I’m looking forward to getting back to Minny and spending time with the boys because I haven’t really seen them too much with all this and the Olympics. It’ll be nice to just have some quiet time and focus in on what we need to focus in on.”
Guerin loves the humility of both Hughes brothers and believes one day they’ll realize all this exposure was good not only for them but for the sport.
“Those boys, they’re just so humble and together. The way they act, you wouldn’t think they’re these star hockey players,” Guerin said. “Getting all this attention now and the way they handle themselves is pretty amazing. They were raised right.”