Moment Jack Hughes step out of the ice in New Jersey Devil‘season opener – after he dangled past three Chicago Blackhawks, and scored on his backhand for a silly overtime winner, then tosses his cane into the crowd in a moment of euphoric celebration – he turns to one of the team’s staff and has a question:
“Will I be in trouble?”
Hughes, 20, spends his Sunday afternoon on the couch taped to the NFL Red Zone. He knows all too well how controversial the NFL’s taunt rule can be. Hockey is, by its very nature, much more discreet than football, with players rarely showing their individuality off the ice, let alone it. Hughes had never seen an NHL player throw a bat into the stands before. He doesn’t know what forced him to do it. He reveled in the presence of “a barn full of grain” with “an illusory mob” that was “humming all night.”
He knows one thing for sure: “The boys love it.” As for the clothes in the NHL office across the Hudson?
“Like, you don’t know about the league and what they think,” Hughes said. “I don’t know. I just thought, ‘If I get a few thousand dollars fine, I won’t take this fine. The team better take this.'”
His concern turned out to be an argument. The league wrote a story on its website about the center’s branch-throwing heroes and shared the clip on their social channels (several times). A month later, Hughes’ phone exploded with texts from his longtime best friend, Anaheim Ducks front Trevor Zegras.
“I’ve liked 10 texts from him and he’s like, ‘dude, hilarious!’ smiley faces, all these things,” Hughes recalls. “I said, ‘What are you talking about?’ and he said, ‘Look at my goal.’ “
After roofing an overtime winner against Washington Capitals, 20-year-old Zegras launched his cane into the Anaheim crowd.
“I said, ‘It’s annoying,’” Hughes said. “We’ve talked about it before, a few weeks ago. So I wouldn’t be surprised if another friend of mine did it too.”
Hughes’ story is often told through the lens of his family, has impressive hockey credentials. His mother, Ellen, a famous University of New Hampshire player, played for the US women’s team at the 1992 World Cup. His father, Jim, starred at Providence University and has joined the NHL in the role. Coaching and developing players. Jack’s brother, Quinn, is a prominent protector for Vancouver Canucks, while younger brother, Luke, was given 4th place overall by the Devils in July – a moment that went viral for the Jacks’ unbridled enthusiasm.
(Hughes is now cringing as he watches the clip, but justifies: “It’s rare that happens. Like, a lot of things have to line up.”)
While growing up as the middle brother in a crime-haunted family certainly shaped Jack, it wasn’t the only thing that shaped him. The Devil’s No. 1 center has an electric personality, which he’s finally ready to let loose – ushering in a new era for the NHL.
“You can feel the culture changing,” says Hughes. “It’s not an old man’s game anymore. It’s a lot of young children confidently stepping in.”
Hockey form has always tantalized Hughes. “Super, super talented, smooth, obviously great hands, vision, ability to play. He’s someone who can do pretty much anything,” said his roommate and teammate. Ty Smith. “He could easily be on the list of one of the best players in the league pretty soon. He could be a guy who scores 100 points.”
That’s why the Devil felt comfortable giving Hughes a eight-year extension, $64 million in November, even though he played only 119 NHL games.
In addition to ice, the potential is also huge. Since he No. 1 draft overall by Devils in 2019, Hughes has been hyped as one of the emerging faces of hockey in the United States. But now in his third season, Hughes feels comfortable enough to really lean on. And if he really leans in, he could challenge the status quo enough to become a transcendent star. That includes not giving the typical hockey player interview, where the pronoun “I” is avoided at all costs and real opinions are never shared.
“Boys, for some reason, tend to want to be serious and short with reporters,” Hughes said. “And, you know, I’m guilty of that too, at times. , I started living with myself more. Like I’m a fun guy. I always have a smile on my face during the day. I like Go out with your friends.
“I think people might think I’m pretty cocky. I would say I’m pretty confident, but you know, that’s just, that’s what I’ve grown up to: I was a confident, fun kid. looks and I love my life and I really enjoy what I’m doing.”
It was a process for Hughes to get to this point. Being number 1 in general comes with perks that he never dreamed of. After celebrating with family and teammates in Vancouver, where the game took place, Hughes was whisked away on a private jet – “PJ” in hockey parlance.
“I brought my first PJ from Vancouver to New Jersey,” says Hughes. “And attended a Yankees game that night with Adam Sandler and Reggie Jackson. So it was a sick weekend. It was terrible.”
At the age of 18, Hughes became the Devil’s team. Then the puck dropped into his rookie season.
“I hate it,” he said.
Expectations are sky-high for any of the top overall picks, especially the one that makes up the opening night roster. But there’s also a paradox: A team wins the lottery because they’re inherently bad. And the Devils team Hughes is on – the team picked up No. 1 overall for the second time in three years – are not in good form. New Jersey didn’t win the first six games. The Reds fired their coach, John Hynes, in December then swapped their best player, Taylor Hall, who was just dropped from the two-year MVP season. By January, GM that drafted Hughes, Ray Shero, was also fired.
Amid the turmoil, Hughes struggled with his transition to professional hockey. “You’re first pick overall and then you’re in the NHL,” he said. “You had [Connor] McDavid one night, then [Brad] Marchand the next night after that [Sidney] Crosby next night.”
Hughes scored just seven goals and 21 points in 61 games.
Life came to him quickly.
“Like, I’m in high school, live at home, drive a car that my parents pay for, lucky if I have a Chipotle once a week. I have to ask my parents, ‘Hey, do I have a Chipotle? Can I go to Chipotle with my friends?'” He explained. “And then next year you make a million dollars, playing in front of the live arenas. You obviously have a lot of hype. It’s all I dreamed of and I wouldn’t want to change. change it, I just wish I could have played better. But at the same time, I think overcoming that adversity will make me the player I am today.”
Hughes, who is 5 foot-11 tall, is also still growing physically. He’s put on 14 pounds of muscle (up from 164 pounds to 180 pounds) entering his second season. And while he’s increased his output (from 0.34 points per game to 0.55), he still feels like he’s finding himself as a player. That said, he never lost confidence. “I mean, I could play five games with no points and maybe I still think I’m the man,” he said.
Then the pandemic hit, which Hughes says helped him. He returned to his family home in Michigan when NHL season has been paused in 2020.
“It allows me to sit back and relax; I think about myself, think about my game, where I am and where I want to go,” he said. “It was a really good time for me mentally, to reflect and just look at myself in the mirror.”
One of the reasons Hughes feels empowered to express and be himself now is because of his environment. The demons, who are building now with faith, are the youngest team in the NHL.
“Our captain is Nico Hischier and he’s 23 years old,” Hughes said. On the ice, we’re learning how to get the job done and really learning how to win. But off the ice, in the dressing room – I wouldn’t say it was a dressing room party, but obviously it was fun. “
It doesn’t hurt that the elder statesman in the dressing room is 32 years old PK Subban, who is known for pushing the boundaries of what we would expect from hockey players coming out of ice.
“He’s extremely competitive and he’s had a great career, but he has other things going on besides hockey,” Hughes said. “I’m sure it’s a good thing for us young men to look at. Sometimes, I’m very invested in hockey. It’s hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey. But we also have the rest of our lives. So I think it’s a good thing that he’s involved in other things.”
Hughes was an avid fan of the NFL and NBA, and he got his start in football. He is a student of superstars and other sports leaders.
“I love Jack Grealish, and his swagger,” he said. Football, or football there, it wasn’t so big in my world growing up, but I was watching the Euro Cup and he was very upset so I caught that. And after that LeBron. I grew up loving basketball, and he was the goat in my mind. “
For now, Hughes’ psychic results don’t stray too far from those of a typical 20-year-old. In their spare time, Hughes and Smith enjoy riding their electric scooters and exploring Jersey City and Hoboken – especially the food scene.
“You can’t even compare bagels, and I wouldn’t even touch pizza at home [in Michigan] now,” Hughes said, making sure he added that there were also “elite lovebirds” in New Jersey. On Sundays, they set up camp on their couches to watch the Red Zone, where they “dive” load each other” (their words) while watching their many fantasy tournaments. It kept happening over and over.
According to Smith, Hughes has also come “a long way” in the kitchen.
“It was a big shortcoming for him the first year,” Smith said. “His specialty is probably scrambled eggs. But this year he had some steaks and other things he could make, and it wasn’t bad. It wasn’t flashy, but he did it. complete the work.”
Hughes is also finishing work on the tape. After missing 17 games with a shoulder injury, which halted early-season momentum, Hughes is back. It took him a couple of games to easily return, but center now has nine points in his last four games – including one more game winner in injury time.
Not surprisingly, Hughes’ confidence remained high. When he became a hockey star of his own, he never wanted to lose his sense of self. And that means continuing to surprise.
When asked what he would do if he didn’t play hockey, Hughes replied: “I would say surfer. I feel that’s like my personality away from the rink. Likes bass, just I’ll be happy. I’ll be happy. That’s it. Nothing crazy.”
