Report: Devils, RFA Luke Hughes ‘a ways apart’ in contract negotiations

New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes is one of the top remaining restricted free agents who has not yet inked a contract to re-join his team for the upcoming NHL season.

According to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, a resolution to the negotiations between Hughes and the Devils may not be as close as New Jersey fans would hope.

“Both sides in Luke Hughes negotiation spoke again Monday night in an effort to find some leeway in talks for the unsigned RFA D,” LeBrun wrote in a post on X. “Both sides still need to find more common ground. Still a ways apart.”

Earlier in the summer, Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald called the negotiations with Hughes his top priority. The AFP Analytics projection for a fair contract comes in at an average annual value of $8.386 million on a six-year deal, or $5.756 million over three years.

The No. 4 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, Hughes debuted in 2022-23 and has produced 93 points in 155 games played. He finished last season with 44 points in 71 games played, though he ended the regular season with a run of 19 points in 20 contests.

Now, with his age-22 season on tap, the opportunity is there for Hughes to take his game to the next level. If he can do that, he’d lift the Devils from a run-of-the-mill playoff team to a legitimate contender powered by a one-two combination up the middle with his brother Jack and captain Nico Hischier, along with a host of other quality defensemen in Brett Pesce, Dougie Hamilton, Jonas Siegenthaler and others.

New Jersey finished the 2024-25 campaign with a record of 42-33-7 before losing in five games to the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In that series, the younger Hughes was forced out of action with an upper-body injury while Jack was already sidelined with a shoulder injury.