How New Jersey Can Safely Acquire Another Hughes Brother
The New Jersey Devils are directly tied to Quinn Hughes to reunite the Hughes brothers. Ever since the Vancouver captain spoke out about wanting to play with his brothers, the trade just feels inevitable, no matter how long fans must wait. The only other option, which is near impossible at this point, is for his brother Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes to go to Vancouver, but it’s safe to say most hockey fans know which is more likely to happen. Setting aside the confidence New Jersey must be feeling, it all comes down now to how exactly he’ll be acquired. A lot would be considered to give for Quinn Hughes, but New Jersey must be cautious not to spend too much. A big trade no doubt but it leaves much that can go wrong, so what is the safest way of reuniting the Hughes brothers?
So, what exactly does New Jersey need from a player like Quinn Hughes? Well obviously, the defense as of late has not been generating as much offense as they should, even with Luke Hughes climbing up the rankings. After returning from injury, Dougie Hamilton had his moments, but more offense must be generated, a perfect reason to bring Quinn to New Jersey. If New Jersey is to acquire him before he hits free agency in 2027, they’ll need to be smart about how much they spend. To make a deal like this work, a few prospects may need to go, which could hurt the Devils. Plenty of options present themselves, but which one is to do the least amount of damage?
The key it would seem is to not devastate the Devils so badly, but also keep Vancouver fans having decent expectations on the season. A prime example could be Simon Nemec, Dawson Mercer, and a first-round pick in 2026, some key figures to help Vancouver out. Is the trade possible this offseason? The real question is if it’s the smartest move to make for New Jersey. With an injured roster, they proved they still had what it took to compete in the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs, now implement a fully healthy roster into that, and they just might already be contenders when fully healthy. To rush into something like this could very much hurt them, especially this early, so it's likely the smartest move this offseason is to remain patient with him. Still, a trade like that is still very possible this summer, do they go all out or do they remain patient?
