MILAN — It was just over two weeks ago in New Jersey, and Jack Hughes was standing on the ice in street clothes. In their last game before the break, the Devils were holding a ceremony to honor their Olympians, and the big question was whether Jack would get booed by his home crowd.
He wasn’t, in the end, but there was real animosity among Devils fans toward their best player over a pileup of circumstances: a poorly worded answer at a charity function; a frustrating season in which Hughes had missed time with a hand injury incurred at a team dinner and didn’t look quite right upon return; plus the optics of him missing New Jersey’s last game before the break before flying to Milan, where he would be a “full go” for Team USA.
There was so much on the line for Hughes in these Olympics, beyond his reputation with fans of his own team. He hadn’t produced in the 4 Nations Face-off. His playoff résumé was short. He started here on the fourth line.
“Yeah, people don’t know s–t,” Quinn Hughes said Sunday, after his brother authored an Olympic moment for which America has waited 46 years, the 2-1 overtime winner for a gold medal over Canada. “There’s a bunch of idiots out there and no one’s rehabbed before, you know? There’s reporters out there saying this and that. They don’t know what it’s like to get surgery for six months, not really feel good for 10 months and do that back-to-back. For him to just persevere and keep believing and just keep going, no matter what happens, he’s a special guy. Special player.”