Booing Luke Hughes Is Bad Look For Devils Fans

On Jan. 4, New Jersey Devils' defenseman Luke Hughes seemingly took credit for two own-goals in a 3-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on home-ice.

Those in attendance at the Prudential Center reacted swiftly. Hughes was booed boisterously on various occasions anytime he touched the puck afterwards. This even includes an instance of booing the Devils at Prudential Center while they were on the power play. Though — more often that not — hockey is described by NHL and PWHL players as a sport made by mistakes. Hughes, only 22, is the second-youngest player on the Devils' roster behind only Simon Nemec (born in 2004).

Hughes has 114 points (21 goals, 93 assists) on his career across 197 games played and was originally drafted by New Jersey with the No. 4 overall pick of 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

Following the conclusion of play against the Hurricanes, Hughes said that while booing is a natural part of athletics he already recognizes that he needs to play better.

It is what it is. It's part of sports" Hughes said with emotion. "Obviously, I made a couple mistakes and I have to be better ... We've got a lot of great guys in this room and we have a good team ... I just have to be better."

Not sure I’ve ever seen anything like this.#NJDevils fans BOO Luke Hughes three times — and pretty loudly — after he (essentially) scored two own goals tonight.

Here’s the video of one of them.https://t.co/vWmXiR8mvF
— Ryan Novozinsky (@ryannovoNHL) January 5, 2026

But despite his words, there has still been plenty of divided comments online surrounding the entire situation.

Why Devils Fans Booed Luke Hughes

The matchup between the Hurricanes and New Jersey is a frustrating topic for Devils' fans, with Carolina being 7-3-0 in their last 10 games against the New Jersey franchise.

Meaning, mistakes made in front of New Jersey locals are only that much more costly in this particular matchup as a whole.

have a night Luke Hughes 🔥 pic.twitter.com/6bSrnoqZPa
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) January 5, 2026

"It's not Luke Hughes' night," @Sportsnet posted while showing two clips of the "own goals.

It is also important to mention that Hughes is signed a seven-year, $63 million contract with the Devils that boasts an average annual value of $9 million. This deal came to fruition in Oct., 2025 as the defenseman was a restricted free agent.

Many fans have pointed out that fact as a reasoning behind their frustrations with that specific player.

"9 Million dollars a year btw," one account said while garnering over 200 likes in around five hours time.

It was deserved. It’s been deserved for quite some time. If a professional athlete can’t handle a few “boos” when he performs poorly on a consistent basis then he should find a different career. His has been horrendous for quite some time, and that was before the extension.
— Tim Purcell (@Tim_Purcell_4) January 5, 2026

As a result of this treatment, New Jersey's captain of Nico Hischier made himself available to the media postgame to offer his support to the younger player.

"We stand behind him. I mean, it's a game of mistakes. Mistakes happen," Hischier said despite not being originally requested to speak to the media. "He's obviously not happy about his game, but there's more to come. He's going to learn from that, and I know he will, and we're here to support him, and that's what good teams do ... I don't support [the booing] at all ... He's obviously not happy with that as well, and booing doesn't help. So I understand the frustration ... [but] we fully stand behind Luke and he's a great player, and he knows what he did tonight, and that's it. We move on from here."

Though, a meme has since surfaced as a result of Hischier's defense of Hughes — in addition to a question on whether the booing will garner positive results for the Devils.

One Devils' fan account's meme in response to Hischier's media availability | Screenshot from X - Courtesy: Jennifer Streeter

"I wasn’t in the building tonight and I wouldn’t have booed Luke if I was, but if the boys band together over this and bounce back on the ice, are we gonna have a conversation about it possibly working," the same account who posted the meme — @TheBrattPack63 — asked.

In addition to Hischier, New Jersey head coach Sheldon Keefe also spoke to the media of the situation surrounding Hughes's treatment at home-ice, saying the crowd's reaction to Hughes's play was a disappointment.

"I don't want to see any of our players have to go through something like that in terms of the fan reaction, you know? But in terms of what got us to that situation, that's a young player having a tough couple plays," Keefe said per Devils' team reporter Amanda Stein. "It's disappointing that that was the reaction that we had in the building for the youngest player on the ice, but he'll give them lots of reasons to cheer in the future."

Still, despite the appearances from players and coach's who are not required to attend to media availabilities or speak on certain subjects, various fans and even a well-known NHL reporter from ESPN still have active posts up across social media either defending the treatment Hughes received or ridiculing him entirely.

"Maybe if they didn't play games all summer and he didn't miss training camp AGAIN...things would be different," @DevilsJointX wrote on X.

IDK pretty sure I saw one Devils defenseman with a nozzle and a squeegee tonight https://t.co/UdIZ6BbzbW
— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) January 5, 2026

Where Does New Jersey Go From Here?

In Nov. 2025, Breakaway On SI wrote that the entire NHL fanbase — including New Jersey Devils fans — needed to do better by their players as a result of treatment following Jack Hughes's injury sustained in a freak accident. Not even two full months later, can they same question be made?

For years, fans and residents of New Jersey alike have talked about uniting all three Hughes brothers (Jack, Luke and their eldest Quinn who is now with the Minnesota Wild) together on the Devils' roster. This incident has to beg the question, is booing the youngest of those three going to help accomplish that goal and make Quinn want to call the Prudential Center his home rink?

Within his first month after being traded to the Wild, Quinn recently tied Matt Dumba for the Minnesota single-game franchise record for assists by a blueliner with four helpers against against the Anaheim Ducks. The oldest of the three Hughes brothers was also among the initial six players named to the United States Men's ice Hockey team for the upcoming 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games.

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