The New Jersey Devils and Luke Hughes just going through the process
NHL Network: New Jersey Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald and NHL Network’s EJ Hradek on the Luke Hughes contract situation. The sides appear to be good with the term, but what dollar amount will they settle on?
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Erika Wachter: “Now we’re talking about Jack’s younger brother Luke Hughes, because he is a holdout of camp right now, because they have still yet to come to a deal there. It’s obviously an important RFA for this New Jersey Devils team. Let’s hear what GM Tom Fitzgerald (last week) had to say about the contract talks.”
Fitzgerald: “This is part of the process. You know, we’re grinding through this together. Presenting both sides’ stories, and you know where we want to go with this, and respecting each other’s opinions. Urgency wise, tomorrow’s day two of training camp. And you know, I do believe every day you lose, it is an impact on the player.
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So from our end, yeah, there’s urgency to get him here, or to continue to strive to that common goal of getting a deal. And I believe on their end, too, there’s some urgency. So we’re disappointed he’s not here. I know he’s disappointed. I’ve said it probably the top priority is signing Luke Hughes to a long-term deal, and that’s our goal. It hasn’t changed.”
Wachter: “All right? Well, I know Elliotte Friedman put out the fact that it seems like these two were agreeing for six-year term. That’s untrue. They are fixated on long-term, and you can feel some of that urgency from Tom Fitzgerald as well. Because Luke Hughes, he could be a huge piece, and he already is for this club.
Hradek: “Hey, listen, he was the fourth overall pick in his draft year. He’s obviously the connection with him and Jack there on the Devils. There’s been a lot of speculation in the future. Maybe they would have Quinn there as well.
Both sides in Luke Hughes negotiation spoke again Monday night in an effort to find some leeway in talks for the unsigned RFA D. Both sides still need to find more common ground. Still a ways apart. Both sides are focused on a long-term deal but aren’t there yet on the AAV. The…
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But, you know, general manager Tom Fitzgerald, he said, it’s a process, and that’s really what it is. Now, for me, when I look again, you look for comparables. Owen Power, who was the first pick in the same draft, he ended up getting a seven-year deal, $8.35 million per year.
Now, you heard Elliotte talk before, the market changing. The cap is going up, so maybe that number has to be higher, but if he gets more than that on a long-term deal, he’ll be getting paid more than his brother Jack, at $8 million. So I don’t know if that’s a consideration at all that, because Jack is a little bit more accomplished. Now he signed earlier, bargain of a deal, right? So you can see here, notable young defenseman.
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And again, Powers in that mix. But how about Brock Faber, A little higher. Then how about Noah Dobson, even higher than that.
So this is a process, and I do think because of the changing environment. The new CBA that will be going into effect next year. The higher cap number. There’s a lot of things to consider, and I know these guys don’t want to miss time, but unfortunately, this is the process that we go through.
I assume that, I’m going to figure that Luke is going to get done at some point, hopefully for the Devils and for him, sooner the better.
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