It’s August 30th, and in two days, it will be September. Hockey activities are knocking on fall’s door, and the New Jersey Devils have yet to sign star defenseman Luke Hughes to an extension.
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General manager Tom Fitzgerald offered his first comments on the situation Saturday morning via an interview with RG Media.
“We’ll just continue to talk and present each other with ideas,” Fitzgerald said to RG Media.
“Eventually, this will get done. The 11th hour is training camp. Right? A lot of times, a lot of the stuff doesn’t get done until the 11th hour. We’re hoping we can get something done here in quick fashion, and both sides are working hard at it; that’s for sure.”
The rest of that interview can be found here.
Veterans are set to report in just 19 days to training camp.
New Jersey Hockey Now reported in July the void between Hughes’ and the Devils camp. The youngest Hughes brother is hoping for a mid-year range contract, perhaps to walk to free agency with his brother Jack Hughes. However, the Devils seek a bridge-deal, or max-term contract before eight year deals vanish in September 2026.
On Friday, NJ Advance Media reported the same findings.
The Devils are hoping to avoid another holdout, such as the one they saw last year with Dawson Mercer.
The Devils forward missed just the first day of training camp, but even Fitzgerald admitted the single absence was enough to slow down the trajectory of the former first round pick’s season.
Certainly, it’s something Fitzgerald is hoping to avoid with the budding star defenseman.
“It does weigh on us, and I’m sure Hughes and Pat [Brisson] (Hughes’ agent) too,” Fitzgerald acknowledged.
“At the end of the day, when really the only leverage the player has at this point in their career is holding out, that stinks. I don’t think anyone wins, quite honestly, when that happens. So Pat and I are trying hard to get this thing to come to some common ground.”
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