Hughes and the Devils avoided a much worse prognosis on Tuesday morning, but the star forward will still be out of the lineup on a week-to-week basis as he recovers from an upper-body injury. Hughes has already missed six games this season with a separate injury and provides another blow to an injury-depleted Devils club that is already without Timo Meier, Jonas Siegenthaler, Dougie Hamilton, and Ondrej Palat. Dawson Mercer has moved into the top six and onto the top powerplay unit and should be the main benefactor of offensive deployment during Hughes' absence.
