3 Centers for Devils to Target to Fill Jack Hughes Void After Ugly Injury

It's a troublesome situation for the New Jersey Devils and Jack Hughes as the team will be without its leading scorer for an unknown period. According to beat writer and insider Emily Kaplan, "he’s deciding whether he needs to get surgery or not, which will dictate the timeline.”

Here is the latest on Jack Hughes from @emilymkaplan and @Buccigross from ESPN prior to the Devils Game

My understanding is the same thing they stated about his status. When you saw you knew it was bad. #njdevils pic.twitter.com/n7xZwfSkaf
— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) March 5, 2025

"I was told this opens them up to the rental market, and that does tell you how serious this is, so maybe he is out for the regular season," said Kaplan. In addition, Kristy Flannery reports that Hughes has gone to Denver to get further evaluated. That just happens to be where he had his shoulder surgery done last year.

The injury occurred on Sunday when Hughes went slamming into the end boards.

Just saw this angle of Jack Hughes' injury... pic.twitter.com/uUPlKiixfM
— Em👹🐳🦑❄️ (@Hughes_Fan4386) March 3, 2025

It's deju vu for the Devils, who watched Hughes suffer a similar spill last year which resulted in season-ending shoulder surgery.

Deja Vu from last year

This fall/injury impacted Jack Hughes’ 2023-24 season which resulted in shoulder surgery toward the end of the season#NJDevils pic.twitter.com/PiCONU26CZ
— Trey Matthews (@treymatt4) March 3, 2025

There's no telling yet exactly how long Hughes might be out this time around, but it's certainly time to look at three potential targets up the middle for the Devils to try to fill that void:

Brock Nelson, NY Islanders

The only rental on this list, the Devils are very familiar with what Nelson can do, from their divisional rivalry. He would fit the need for a top six center. But there will be plenty of competition as he's tops on most everyone's trade boards.

Casey Mittelstadt, Colorado Avalanche

His fit in Denver just hasn't worked out, but Mittelstadt was an up-and-coming middle-six center his last couple of years in Buffalo before being dealt at last year's deadline. He has the prospect pedigree (8th overall selection, 2017), so perhaps a fresh start with a new team could rejuvenate him. He also has another two seasons to go on a $5.575M cap hit.

Brayden Schenn, St. Louis Blues

Between the Blues re-thinking their stance on trading Schenn, and the sky-high price tag even if they do, it makes this potential addition a difficult one, even though we know that the Devils have had some interest in him. He's got three more years to run on a $6.5M cap hit.