The center missed four games with an upper-body injury.
When the injury was announced Feb. 9, Ruff had anticipated Hughes would be out week to week.
It was unclear when the injury occurred; Hughes missed some shifts during a 5-4 overtime win against the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 6, but was on the ice in the third period and assisted on the game-winning goal.
Hughes did not practice the following day and left early during practice Feb. 8, though Ruff said he did not reaggravate the injury in that session.
But it appears things have trended in the right direction since.
"He's looked great," Ruff said.
Hughes is an important piece for the Devils (35-14-5), who trail the Carolina Hurricanes by five points for the Metropolitan Division lead and are trying to hold off a charge by the New York Rangers for second place; New York has won seven straight and trails New Jersey by one point.
"He's a big part of our offense," Devils captain Nico Hischier said of Hughes. "Definitely everybody is happy if he will be back and it will help us out a lot."
Hughes ranks fourth in the NHL in goals with 35, behind Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (42), Boston Bruins forward David Pastrnak (39) and Buffalo Sabres center Tage Thompson (36). He has 67 points in 50 games, already an NHL career high.
Hughes had 18 points (nine goals, nine assists) in a nine-game point streak at the time of his injury, including a five-game multipoint streak (11 points; six goals, five assists) from Jan. 22-Feb. 6.
Selected by the Devils with the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, Hughes has 175 points (79 goals, 96 assists) in 216 games over four seasons.
New Jersey was 2-1-1 in Hughes' absence and had a five-game point streak (4-0-1) end with a 4-2 loss at the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
