Jack Hughes was one of the last New Jersey Devils to step onto the ice for Sunday morning skate — and for a few moments, it felt like the rink itself noticed. After five weeks away following a freak off-ice hand injury and subsequent finger surgery, the Devils’ superstar centre confirmed he’s back in the lineup tonight against the Buffalo Sabres.

Game info (local time conversions)

Devils vs Sabres: 7:00 p.m. ET (Newark) | 12:00 a.m. GMT (UK, Mon)
Venue: Prudential Center, Newark.

“Yeah, I’m going to play tonight and just ease my way back in,” Hughes told reporters after practice — a low-key sentence that landed like a headline in a season where New Jersey has badly missed his pace, his creativity, and the way he tilts a game the moment he touches a puck.

The story of how Hughes got here is still the kind of thing that sounds half-made-up: a mid-November “freak accident” at the team’s rookie dinner in Chicago that reportedly involved glass, a cut, and then surgery in the days that followed. The Devils’ early expectation was an eight-week recovery window, with an evaluation point at six weeks. Instead, just five weeks later, Hughes was back on the ice with his teammates — and now, back in the lineup. NHL.com previously outlined the initial timeline when the injury was announced and surgery confirmed. Read NHL.com’s original injury update.

Sunday’s skate offered a clear signal of where he is in the return-to-play arc: not hidden away with trainers, not skating solo after the group clears out, but taking regular reps with the team. He joined a full mix of forwards and defensemen in the session — including Jesper Bratt, Nico Hischier, Ondrej Palat, Dougie Hamilton, Luke Hughes, Brett Pesce, and goaltenders Jake Allen and Jacob Markstrom — the kind of roll call that matters because it looks like a normal morning.

“Ease my way back in” is doing a lot of work, though. Hughes is the engine-room player New Jersey builds around, and the Devils have felt the absence in a way that shows up on the standings and in the rhythms of games. In 17 appearances this season, Hughes has 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists). Without him, New Jersey went 8-10-0 — a stretch that turned routine nights into grind-it-out evenings, and forced other lines to carry heavier minutes than planned.

The Devils don’t just get a scorer back. They get back a player who changes matchups. Coaches shorten benches when games tighten; opponents hunt favorable shifts; and suddenly, having Hughes available means Buffalo can’t simply load its best defensive looks against one top line and move on. Even if he’s on a managed workload, he creates a second-by-second threat — a burst through the neutral zone, a quick slip pass inside the dots, a power-play sequence that forces penalty killers to rotate one step faster than they want to.

The timing is also dramatic because the opponent is arriving hot. Buffalo comes into Sunday riding a five-game winning streak, and their most recent win — a 3-2 shootout result over the Islanders — extended that run on Saturday night. Reuters reported the streak reached five with that victory, a reminder that the Sabres are showing up with confidence and momentum, not just points in the bank. Reuters recap of Buffalo’s latest win.

That context matters because this isn’t simply a feel-good return story — it’s a return into a game that can turn into a test immediately. Buffalo has been opportunistic during the streak, and their game plan tends to look simpler when they get early chances: forecheck with purpose, win a few battles, and let their scorers play with time. For New Jersey, Hughes’ presence should help settle the puck through the middle of the ice and reduce those stretches where the Devils are forced to chip it out and chase.

For Hughes personally, Sunday night is about two things at once: rejoining the season, and rejoining his own pace. A hand/finger injury can change tiny habits — how a player leans on a stick, how hard he loads up on a shot, how he receives a pass in traffic. The Devils will likely be watching those micro-moments as closely as the scoreboard, because the goal isn’t just to get him back for one game — it’s to get him back for the stretch that follows.

Still, there’s no mistaking what this does to the tone around the team. It shifts the conversation from “survive” to “attack.” It gives the Devils’ crowd something to lean into at the first touch. And it gives New Jersey the kind of lineup note that can’t be faked: your best player is back, and he’s playing.

You may also like: Jakob Chychrun Scores Twice as Capitals Shut Out Maple Leafs 4–0