The New Jersey Devils provided an update on Jack Hughes. They announced that Hughes underwent successful surgery on his finger.

He’s expected to miss eight weeks due to the procedure. Hughes suffered the injury when he accidentally cut his finger at a team dinner in Chicago on Thursday night. He will be re-evaluated after six weeks to see how it’s healing.

On Wednesday, Hughes assisted on a pair of goals in a Devils come from behind 4-3 win over the Blackhawks in overtime. He helped set up Simon Nemec’s tying goal with under four minutes remaining in the third period.

The 24-year-old center leads the team in scoring with 10 goals and 10 assists for 20 points over 17 games. Hughes will once again miss significant time due to an injury for a third straight season. He missed 20 games in each of the past two years..

Unlike past injuries, this one happened off the ice. It’s hard to believe he could be so careless. However, it isn’t the first time a star player got seriously hurt away from the rink.

In March 1993, New York Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch broke his ankle after a late night out spent with teammates. Many stories followed about what happened. The truth was that Leetch was drunk and fell to end his season. It was a disappointing year for the Rangers, who missed the postseason in 1992-93 one year removed from winning the Presidents’ Trophy.

At least Hughes’ bizarre injury came in the middle of November. That means he should be back before the Olynpics. If you’re the Devils, do you even want him participating for Team USA? We know the short answer from most Devil fans.

Now, the Devils will have to survive without their best offensive player. They still have Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt to help lead a team that enters Saturday, leading the Metropolitan Division with a 12-4-1 record. Ironically enough, that was the identical record the Rangers had a year ago when Chris Drury sent out his ill-fated league memo.

Unlike their bitter rival across the Hudson, the Devils don’t seem to have any outside distractions. However, they are piling up man games lost due to injuries. Hughes joins a crowded list on the injured reserve that includes Brett Pesce, Dougie Hamilton, Jonathan Kovacevic, Connor Brown, Evgenii Dadonov, Zack MacEwen, and Marc Mclaughlin.

If they can continue to get strong performances from Dawson Mercer, Arseny Gritsyuk, Timo Meier, Brenden Dillon, and Simon Nemec, they should be alright. They’ll also need Luke Hughes to be better along with Jacob Markstrom.

The Devils will take on the Washington Capitals later tonight in DC.