Luke Hughes and the Hughes Family Rewind: How Milan’s Olympic Week, Draft Pedigree and a January Injury Reshifted a Season

Emerson Raymont

Published: February 23, 2026 4:08 PM ET

Luke Hughes and the Hughes Family Rewind: How Milan’s Olympic Week, Draft Pedigree and a January Injury Reshifted a Season

The Hughes story matters now because an extraordinary Olympic week in Milan intersected with a January roster blow and an NHL team regrouping. luke hughes — placed on long-term injured reserve with a shoulder injury in January 2026 — watched his brothers win gold from New Jersey; days later the Devils returned from the extended Olympic break with him back at practice and a locker room still digesting Jack’s overtime golden goal.

Luke Hughes: the background thread that explains why Milan felt different

What led here is a family arc that combines high draft picks, international medals and shifting club roles. Luke was born in 2003, went fourth overall to the New Jersey Devils in 2021 and made the all-rookie team in 2023-24. That sequence sits alongside Jack’s franchise center role, Jack’s first-overall selection in 2019 and Quinn’s top-10 selection in 2018 — a rare three-brother first-round lineage for an American family.

Event details embedded: the Milan week, the golden goal and the earlier gold

In Milan, the family earned more than one headline. Their mother, Ellen Weinberg-Hughes, helped coach the U. S. women’s team to a 2-1 gold medal victory over Canada on Thursday; her sons Jack and Quinn watched from the stands. By the time Jack put the puck past Jordan Binnington in overtime Sunday night to score the golden goal, the Hughes family had already collected that earlier Olympic gold. Three days later, the brothers swapped roles across domestic and international arenas in what was described as hockey professional-style musical chairs.

How the Devils felt the ripple on return from the Olympic break

Here’s the part that matters: the NHL club returned from an extended Olympic break with a mix of celebration and recovery to manage. Sheldon Keefe, the head coach, discussed Jack’s game-winning goal in Milan and gave an update on Luke Hughes as the team prepared to resume its NHL schedule. Luke was back at practice the day the team returned. Jesper Bratt also returned to practice after his time in Milan. Former captain Andy Greene skated with the team in a nostalgic appearance, suiting up to help at practice.

Teammates weighed in about the Olympic performances: Brett Pesce on Jack’s game-winner for the Americans, Dillon on Simon Nemec’s Milan showing, Cody Glass on the return-to-play timeline, Jake Allen on the upcoming final stretch, and Connor Brown on what it feels like to be back after the break. The club also highlighted festivities from its annual Sweep the Deck gala — Brodeur spoke about Canada’s goalies, Elias shared a small-pants Olympic injury story, and Arseny Gritsyuk toured the gala for the first time with Amanda Stein.

Family legacy, milestones and where roles have shifted

The family’s path includes Jim Hughes’s move from college hockey into development and representation work, five years in a player development role with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and later a role at CAA Hockey. Ellen was a three-sport athlete at the University of New Hampshire (soccer, lacrosse and hockey) and won silver at the 1992 IIHF Women’s World Championships. Women’s hockey didn’t debut at the Olympics until 1998, just after her playing days ended; she later worked as a broadcaster before stepping away from TV in 2009 when Jim’s career demanded the family’s full attention.

Quinn and Jack were both born in Orlando while Jim was an assistant coach for the Solar Bears; the family later settled in Mississauga, Ontario, where the boys grew up on Canadian ice, retained American eligibility, and ultimately moved to Michigan when the oldest boys were in high school. Quinn won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman in 2024 and was voted Best Defender of this Olympic tournament by the IIHF. Jack set a Devils team record with 99 points in 2022-23 and, after Sunday night, became one of the most prominent U. S. hockey figures, toothless as he may now be. The three brothers train together every summer in highly competitive informal sessions.

Mini timeline and the short forward look

1992: Ellen Weinberg-Hughes won silver at the IIHF Women’s World Championships.
1998: Women’s hockey debuted at the Olympics (timeline context noted here).
2018–2021: Quinn (7th overall, 2018), Jack (1st overall, 2019) and Luke (4th overall, 2021) were selected in the first round of the NHL draft.
2023–24: Luke made the all-rookie team; Jack set a Devils record with 99 points in 2022-23.
January 2026: Luke was placed on long-term injured reserve with a shoulder injury and watched his brothers win gold from New Jersey; the Devils returned from the extended Olympic break with Luke back at practice.

The real question now is whether Luke’s return to practice marks a straight-line recovery or a more cautious ramp-up through game action — confirmation will come from official roster moves and game availability notices.

What’s easy to miss is how tightly interwoven club recovery and family milestones are for this group: an Olympic week of multiple golds, a high-profile overtime winner, offseason training rituals and an in-season injury all compressed into a few weeks. Watch for roster updates and the team’s handling of Luke’s next steps as the clearest signals of what’s next.