Luke Hughes: A Star Was Born | FEATURE

Luke Hughes' NHL playoff debut wasn't good.

It was great.

At 19 years old and with just two NHL regular season games to his name, the youngest of the Hughes brothers was thrown into the playoff fire.

After sitting out the First Round against the New York Rangers, and the first two games against the Hurricanes, the Devils were in needed a change.

It was Luke Hughes's time.

"We needed something different in the Carolina series, we needed someone who could go back for pucks, use their legs and help with their forecheck and he did that," general manager Tom Fitzgerald said.

His playoff debut was "great", to use Lindy Ruff's word. He played just over 14 minutes of strong hockey, his elite skating and his smarts, and his playmaking vision were all on display. He was given time to quarterback the first unit of a new-look power play, he shared in assisting on Damon Severson's goal with brother Jack and added a secondary assist on Ondrej Palat's goal, the eighth and final Devils goal of the night.

Luke did not look out of place. He didn't even look nervous, not even in high-pressure moments.

"I don't really get nervous playing. I got a lot more nervous watching from up top," he said, and with the way he carried himself on the ice, you'd be hard-pressed not to believe him.

"I thought Luke had a great night," head coach Lindy Ruff said after Game 3. "From the first shift to the end of the game, for the young man to step in the way he did and play the way he did ... you expect maybe you get a good game. He gave us a great game."

But Game 4 against Carolina was different. It did not go as smoothly.

"There were a lot of mistakes by Luke," General manager Tom Fitzgerald said, "And that's okay. There was a lot of mistakes by everybody."

Luke is still a rookie, he's raw and there's plenty about the National Hockey League he still will learn. Learning lessons is part of developing your full potential, and Luke is only scratching the surface.

In Game 4 he was victim to a couple of costly errors and mis-reads. In one such instance, he was in the corner to start the play that led to Carolina's first goal, his stretch pass reached Michael McLeod but abruptly turned over. On the Carolina transition, Hughes had not gotten to the middle of the ice, allowing Martin Necas ample space to tie the game.

In the next game, Game 5, the season was on the line. There was a big decision to be made. Who sits and who stays in the lineup?

What Lindy Ruff did next, Tom Fitzgerald suggested, was "create a future star".

Luke Hughes was in for Game 5.

"After Game 4 it would have been easy to just put Ryan Graves back in, or a (Brendan) Smith or keep (Kevin) Bahl in," Fitzgerald explained, "But Lindy (Ruff) went right back to Luke Hughes because of what he felt he could give our team. Instead of waiting and thinking (Hughes) left Game 4 (with) a little negative taste in (Ruff's) mouth, because he made some mistakes (…) Lindy played him and then played him the most, with Ryan McGill controlling our defense."

Luke started Game 5 on the third pairing with Severson. By the time the game hit the second period, he had been bumped up to play shutdown minutes with John Marino. He was outstanding once again, logging 25:02 with four shots on goal, two takeaways and a blocked shot.

"I watched him play in Game 5 and I saw him lead our D-Core in ice time and I also had to continue to look and say, he's only 19, wow," Fitzgerald said, "The future is bright, the future is bright with Luke Hughes."

The credit of course goes to Hughes for making the necessary adjustments, but he wouldn't have been in that position had it not been for Lindy Ruff electing to keep him in the lineup. It spoke volumes about the potential the team sees in Hughes, but it also speaks to the faith Ruff has in his young players and his willingness to stick by them.

Ruff made the decision to keep Hughes in and the rookie made it count.

"That was awesome for me to get in there and try to help out," Hughes asserted. "At the end of the day it's about winning hockey games, so if they believed in me and thought I could get the job done best, I appreciate that, and I'll do my best to get the job done."

"Man, he was really good," Fitzgerald said, acknowledging how encouraged he was with how Luke had absorbed the corrections he was asked to make and went out and executed them.

The organization has just had its first taste of Luke Hughes, the player they picked with the fourth overall selection in 2021. The anticipation from the moment he was drafted has been palpable. They knew they were getting a good player with the pick, they were patient with his arrival, and while Hughes has many accolades attached to his name and his teammates speak glowingly of him, there is one specific moment that Fitzgerald says did something special to start Hughes' career.

Lindy Ruff stuck with him. Lindy Ruff believed in him. Lindy Ruff gave him his moment.

"I think we created something really special in that young player, by playing him," Fitzgerald asserted, "and that's just something that Lindy Ruff does. He believes in his young kids; he believes in the step of (playing) him, and (showing) confidence (in him). I think he created a future star for us by playing that one game."