New Jersey Devils leading scorer Jack Hughes had shoulder surgery and is out for the season, a blow to the team’s hopes of making a playoff run.
The team said Hughes had surgery on his right shoulder in Vail, Colo., on Wednesday after tests and conversations with his family, agent and medical staffs. The expectation is that he will be ready for training camp.
Hughes, 23, was injured when he slammed into the boards after getting tangled up with Golden Knights centre Jack Eichel late in New Jersey’s loss at Vegas on Sunday night.
The Devils put Hughes on long-term injured reserve, a roster move that gives them some space to use against the salary cap before the NHL trade deadline on Friday.
He leads the team with 70 points on 27 goals and 43 assists.
Defenseman Dougie Hamilton was injured Tuesday night at Dallas, and coach Sheldon Keefe did not have an update when asked earlier Wednesday.
The NHL fined Keefe $25,000 US on Wednesday for unprofessional conduct toward officials that led to his ejection Sunday after Hughes was injured.
The league announced the punishment Wednesday. The money goes to the NHL Foundation.
Keefe was incensed no penalty was called when Hughes crashed into the boards.
“I get kicked off the bench for telling the referee I felt that it was 10 times worse than the [interference penalty] that was previously called on Jack,” Keefe said in Las Vegas.
Quinn Hughes to be reassessed Thursday
Canucks captain Quinn Hughes will not play Wednesday when Vancouver hosts the Anaheim Ducks.
Hughes will get treatment for a lower-body injury and be reassessed on Thursday, said head coach Rick Tocchet.
He added the ailment is not the same issue — reported to be an oblique (rib cage) injury — that kept the 25-year-old star defenceman out of six NHL games and forced him to pull out of the United States team at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament.
The second injury may have been caused in part from Hughes’s body overcompensating for the first, Tocchet said.
“When you’re dealing with something, something else kind of gets affected,” he said. “It’s a lot of different things – how tight you are, and all that sort of stuff.”
Hughes returned to Vancouver’s lineup on Feb. 26 but was hurt again in Vancouver’s 6-3 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
He had one assist across three contests in his return.
“Eighty per cent Quinn we’ll take on our team right now. But we’ve also got to be careful because he wasn’t himself the last couple of games,” Tocchet said.
The coach said he doesn’t expect Hughes to return to 100 per cent health this season.
Hughes is the reigning Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenceman and leads the Canucks (27-22-11) in scoring with 14 goals and 60 points in 50 games this season.