Jack Hughes spent July 23 on a golf course with his older brother Quinn, some friends and some uncles, and at one point, his phone buzzed with a text from Ducks forward Trevor Zegras.
“Luke to Anaheim,” the text read.
Hughes got excited. His younger brother, Luke, was slated as a top prospect in that night’s NHL Draft, giving them a chance to become the first trio of brothers in the United States to hear their names called in the opening round — joining Jack at No. 1 and Quinn to No. 7. Jack texted everyone what Zegras, a 2019 first-round selection, had told him, but then realized “’Z’ had no clue, he’s just busting balls.”
Instead, Luke slid one pick past Anaheim at No. 3, right to the Devils at No. 4. Jack said on Saturday’s episode of Sportsnet’s “31 Thoughts” podcast that he stayed glued to reports from NHL journalists Elliotte Friedman and Bob McKenzie, seeing where they had Luke, but the Hughes family had no idea.
It created the widely circulated draft-night scene of Luke hearing his name called by the Devils, his brothers leaping from a couch and engulfing him with hugs and the scenario that Luke and Jack will now play alongside each other with the Devils for the foreseeable future.
“It’s not like an everyday thing,” Jack said on the podcast. “It’s very hard for it to happen … It’s an extremely lucky thing to happen, and yeah, we were all pretty pumped up.”
Jack said that he wanted to text New Jersey general manager Tom Fitzgerald everyday leading up to the draft, telling him that they had to take Luke. New Jersey’s front office didn’t tell him or Luke at any stage of the pre- or in-draft process, just like it unfolded for him in 2019.
That created an “electric” atmosphere when the Devils selected Luke, Jack said. Everyone clapped after the first pick. That was Owen Powers, and he went to Buffalo. They clapped after the second pick, too. That was Matthew Beniers, the Seattle Kraken’s first pick. Then came Anaheim’s third pick — “no one wanted to see him go there,” Jack joked.
And that set up a scenario where everyone got nervous, tensed up and then erupted in cheers after the fourth pick. Everyone started celebrating, and then kept celebrating throughout the night even after Luke went to bed because he had World Junior camp the next day. “It’s a dream come true to play in the NHL,” Luke said that night. “It’s also a dream come true to play with your brother.”
For his parents, Jim and Ellen, they’ll be able to travel to New Jersey a lot, Jack said. And he and Luke will get to “grow up together,” spending years living together in New Jersey while at the same time setting the foundation for the Devils and their future.
“You hope for the best but at the end of the day, the message we gave to him was it’s the NHL,” Jack said. “You’re gonna go to a good spot no matter where it is. But god, what a time. That was great, man.”
This post first appeared on Nypost.com
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