Devils' Hughes to Miss Significant Time After Sustaining Freak Injury

New Jersey Devils forward Jack Hughes cannot catch a break.

It seems like year in and year out, he misses time due to an injury. Unfortunately for both himself and the Devils, that is going to be the case once again.

It was reported on Saturday, November 15, that Jack will miss about eight weeks after injuring his finger in a so-called "freak accident" at a team dinner last Thursday, November 13. Yes, you read that right.

The injury comes during a season in which both the Jack and the Devils are flying high. As of this writing (Monday, November 17), the Devils are first in the Metropolitan Division, first in the Eastern Conference, and tied for second in the NHL, while Jack leads his team in goals (10), and points (20).

As mentioned above, this is not the first time that the Devils will be without their best player. Here is Jack's extensive injury history:

- November 30, 2019 to December 5, 2019 (lower-body injury)
- January 2, 2020 to January 12, 2020 (upper-body injury)
- October 21, 2021 to November 29, 2021 (shoulder injury)
- April 4, 2022 to September 27, 2022 (knee injury)
- February 8, 2023 to February 17, 2023 (upper-body injury)
- November 5, 2023 to November 17, 2023 (shoulder injury)
- January 7, 2024 to February 8, 2024 (upper-body injury)
- April 9, 2024 to September 12, 2024 (shoulder injury)
- March 4, 2025 to September 15, 2025 (shoulder injury)

As you can see, Jack has been injured a lot in his seven seasons with the team. From important regular season games to the entire playoffs, Jack continues to miss time when the team needs him the most.

This is not a good look for Jack or the team. Jack has an eight-year, $64 million contract that runs through the 2029-30 season, which is a lot of money going to someone that gets hurt an awful lot.

Yes, the injury he sustained last week was a freak one and one that probably would not happen at any other time. With that said, it is still another significant injury and one that will cause him to miss a lot of time.

Both Jack and the Devils need to figure out a way to protect themselves. Jack is getting a lot of money whether he is on the ice or off of it, and the Devils obviously need him on it in order to have success.