Introduction
This afternoon, the New Jersey Devils announced a long-term contract extension for franchise center Jack Hughes. The contract begins next season and runs until 2030. With that in mind, let’s discuss what the contract means for the Devils, and look at some contract comparables.
What It Means
At the moment, the contract itself does not appear to be a steal as many are indicating, yet. However, it’s certainly not a bad contract either. For now, it’s a fair contract for a player who’s put up fantastic underlying numbers last season. And that also has star potential as he continues to develop.
Hughes only played at a 45-point pace last season, but he also was one of the most unlucky players in the league. He was up there with Andreas Johnsson, and we’ve seen what Johnsson has done this season compared to last year. Even in the four periods we saw from Hughes this year, he looked somehow better than the year before. The figures above and below show just how effective Hughes was last year.
Contract Comparables
Per CapFriendly‘s comparable tool, the below is a simulation showing which already signed contracts are most similar to Hughes’. Based off some different features, the below are the skaters that were closest to his new deal:
- Nick Suzuki – 7.875M x 8 years (95.2% comparable)
- Leon Draisaitl – 8.5M x 8 years (85.5% comparable)
- Nico Hischier – 7.25M x 7 years (82.5% comparable)
- Evgeny Kuznetsov – 7.8M x 8 years (79.1% comparable)
- Ryan Johansen – 8M x 8 years (73.6% comparable)
Those are some good names to be next to, especially considering what Hughes has the potential to be. If Hughes breaks out to become a superstar like most people are projecting, then being in the same contract range as guys like Ryan Johansen, Evgeny Kuznetsov, or even the Devils’ own Nico Hischier will look like extremely good value. Now, that is not a knock on any of those guys, they’re all really good hockey players, great even. However, great isn’t elite, and Jack Hughes has all the tools to turn into just that.