In shocking news, the Devils announced this afternoon that star center Jack Hughes is out due to a hand injury sustained at a team dinner Thursday night.

The injury occurred when Hughes accidentally cut his hand. According to Elliotte Friedman, it sounds like Hughes slipped, which led to the freak accident.

Hughes will not play on Saturday against the Capitals. No timeline has been given yet. Hughes will be evaluated to determine the extent of the hand injury.

It’s as bizarre as it sounds. Supposedly, it was at superfan Frank Fleming’s birthday party. Better known as Frank The Tank, he’s a diehard Mets and Devils fan who is well known on social media for his epic rants.

UPDATE: According to Devils reporter Kristy Flannery, the Hughes hand injury wasn’t due to using a steak knife, as had been assumed. Instead, he leaned on a glass, and it broke to cause the cut.

What a bizarre story.

For the Devils’ sake, hopefully it’s not too serious. Hughes is off to a great start, leading the team in scoring with 20 points (10-10-20) in  17 games. He has the Devils in first place with a 12-4-1 record for a conference best 25 points. They’ve been one of the league’s best teams.

Losing Hughes for any amount of time would be a significant blow. With Connor Brown placed on injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 30, the Devils are very top heavy. After injuries to both Cody Glass and Zack MacEwen (IR) on Wednesday night in Chicago, Sheldon Keefe leaned heavily on his top six to get a 4-3 overtime win over the Blackhawks.

Without Hughes, it really weakens the team at center. I suppose Dawson Mercer could slide over. Nico Hischier will do the heavy lifting with Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier. Perhaps Mercer will anchor Arseny Gritsyuk and Paul Cotter. Ondrej Palat is better suited for a supporting role. At this point, Cotter provides more than a declining Palat.

The team recalled forward Scott LaChance from Utica. He’ll be available for tomorrow night.

The Devils have been without Dougie Hamilton and Brett Pesce on the blue line. Simon Nemec has stepped up with his hat trick only the third in franchise history from a defenseman.

It’ll be interesting to see what the lineup will be for tomorrow when they visit Washington.