On Luke Hughes' next contract

High-end production, a soaring salary cap, and his brothers' value contracts could all be factors in extension talks dragging on.

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The New Jersey Devils have made plenty of moves this off-season – most notably remodelling the bottom-6 – but work still remains.

At the top of the to-do list, no doubt, is signing defenseman Luke Hughes to a contract extension.

Locking up the 21-year-old was long ago deemed the top priority by Tom Fitzgerald himself. Yet here we are approaching mid-August and an agreement has still not been reached.

I don’t think that’s any cause for concern.

These contracts can take time, especially when there aren’t any levers that can be pulled – arbitration, offer sheet threats, etc. – to accelerate the process and bring the two sides together.

We’re talking about a high pedigree defenseman who has averaged 49 points per 82 games over his first couple of years.

Hughes will rightfully want to cash in, perhaps even more so considering a) a soaring salary cap envrionment and; b) his brothers are currently two of the most underpaid players in the league.

Agents nor players like seeing their names atop lists of underpaid or best value deals, and it’s generally guys in Hughes’ shoes right now who end up on it.

I have little doubt Luke will surpass both Jack ($8M) and Quinn ($7.85M) in terms of AAV. That feels inevitable given the cap envrionment we’re entering.