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Once again, NHL fans will have to watch a hockey world without the talents of Jack Hughes.

Though his career so far in the show has been riddled by injury, this one was a “freak accident”, according to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan, an incident that involved getting cut by glass at a team dinner on Thursday. The Devils said Friday that Hughes had surgery on his finger in New York City and will be reevaluated in six weeks, while his expected recovery time is eight weeks. For Team USA fans keeping score, the Olympics begin in about 12 weeks.

Clearly this is an unpredictable off-ice injury. But, because of Jack’s history with missing significant time in his career, you can’t help but feel several emotions about it right now, whether you are a Devils fan or not.

Certainly, you feel for the player — Hughes was off to a terrific start. Ten goals and 20 points in 17 games. Before the season, some pundits suggested this might be the season that the middle Hughes brother becomes the first Devil in NHL history to reach 100 points in a season (and maybe even 50 goals). His personal best remains 43 goals and 99 points in 78 games in 2022-23, his fourth season in the league.

Through seven seasons, the 24-year-old has been able to play north of 70 games in just that one season; shoulder and upper-body injuries flood his career injury report.

There is also, of course, the impact on the Devils for the next two months without their star player. They prevailed against the Washington Capitals on Saturday, with younger brother Luke Hughes notching a goal and assist.

But consider the numbers in the last five season for the Devils with and without Jack Hughes in the lineup, as seen at right.

Devils fans have been sincerely making the case about Hughes’ elite prowess: at his best, is Hughes the most purely talented player in the NHL outside of Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon?

Putting the obvious homerism aside, any hockey observer can clearly see the way he controls a game, his creativity on the ice and his elite shot.

This particular injury did not happen on the ice. Hughes can recover, stay healthy for a couple seasons, put up monster points and the narrative will certainly change. But are we inching closer to that unfortunate “he was amazing, but injuries plagued him” status that so many high-potential hockey players were slapped with, even if they did end up winning Stanley Cups and going into the Hockey Hall of Fame?

Players like Cam Neely, Peter Forsberg and Eric Lindros; all elite forwards with many accolades and a spot in the Hall of Fame, but limited by injuries that prevented them from reaching even higher. That’s great company, don’t get me wrong, and it’s hockey — injuries inevitably happen. I just hope that we get a long healthy stretch of being able to watch Jack Hughes excel at hockey after this latest mishap.

Jump ahead:
Games of the week
What I loved this weekend
Hart Trophy candidates
Social post of the week
Stick taps

Biggest games of the week

Obviously since I just wrote that whole bit about Jack Hughes, I’m curious about the Devils this week and how they adapt to playing without him.

They head to Florida next, playing the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday and the Florida Panthers on Thursday before meeting up with their Metropolitan Division Philadelphia Flyers in Philly on Saturday.

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0:28

Simon Nemec slaps in Devils shootout winner

Simon Nemec scores the winning goal in the shootout to give the Devils 3-2 win over the Capitals.

Sunday, 7 p.m. ET | NHL Network

I’m looking forward to this matchup. With Connor Bedard and Nathan MacKinnon, the star power is there. But these two teams are both thriving this season.

Are the Hawks for real? A game against one the West’s juggernauts is a fun test for a team like Chicago.

Other key games this week

Monday, 7 p.m. ET | ESPN+

Tuesday, 7 p.m. ET | ESPN+

Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET | ESPN+

Wednesday, 10 p.m. ET | ESPN+

Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET | ESPN+/Hulu

Thursday, 10 p.m. ET | ESPN+/Hulu

Saturday, 7 p.m. ET | ESPN+

Saturday, 10 p.m. ET | ESPN+

What I loved this weekend

Friday’s NHL slate made history: According to ESPN Research, it was the first day since the league began operation that when there were at least four games being played, every single one went to overtime or a shootout.

Once Friday’s four games were decided, 282 NHL games had been played this season. Of that 282, 28% of them (80) went to the extra frame — that’s also the highest percentage at this point in the season in NHL history.

And on the history-making Friday night, the history-making rookie made even more of it. One of the biggest stories of the season has been 18-year-old New York Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer setting NHL records. This time, he scored his seventh goal of the season, winning the game for the Islanders against the Utah Mammoth, and becoming the youngest player in NHL history to score an overtime goal (and giving the Isles a four-game win streak in the process).

On the poetic side, earlier that day the Global Series took place in Sweden between Erik Karlsson‘s Pittsburgh Penguins and Filip Forsberg‘s Nashville Predators. With 70 seconds left and the Preds down a goal, Forsberg scored to tie it up, getting an incredible reaction from the fans in Stockholm. Forsberg’s teammate Steven Stamkos scored the overtime winner, giving the Swedish fans another opportunity to cheer for their hero.

Hart Trophy candidates if the season ended today

Nathan MacKinnon cannot be denied. Now with 33 points and 14 goals, he leads the league in both categories outright. He stays on the Hart Finalist list.

Last week it was fun to put Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini in as finalists, because they were 1-2 on the points list at one point last weekend. But since that’s no longer the case, they are both on the outside looking in for this week. Instead, I’m going to tip my cap to another young standout, Leo Carlsson. He could have easily been a Hart Finalist last week too — the “three young superstars” angle would have been a good one in hindsight. So to rectify it — and to curry favor with all the Ducks fans that flooded my mentions because I left Carlsson out — he’s getting a Hart Trophy finalist nod this week. Uncle Leo is in!

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0:45

Leo Carlsson tallies goal vs. Avalanche

Leo Carlsson tallies goal vs. Avalanche

I’m keeping an eye on Logan Thompson because he’s still sitting at a .925 save percentage despite the Capitals being four points out of the playoff spot. But, Connor McDavid has eight points this week and is now second behind MacKinnon. And if you were to guess, Mac and Mc would definitely be easy picks to be Hart Trophy finalists at the end of the season.

… but it’s not the end of the season. And there’s plenty of time to throw flowers at McDavid (like when he probably inevitably takes over the points race lead). We haven’t had a goalie in here for a while, so I want to shine a spotlight on a tendy. Why not, it’s my list after all! Spencer Knight definitely deserves it. He has a .924 save percentage, 7-3-3 record, and the Blackhawks are in a playoff position. This week, Spencer Knight is a Hart Trophy finalist!

For the record, I don’t subscribe to the “goalies have their own award” chatter. Connor Hellebuyck won just last year, and Igor Shesterkin should absolutely have a Hart Trophy in his cabinet before he retires.

Social media post of the week

Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Elvis Merzlikins has a new mask design, and it’s Sonic the Hedgehog-themed. Nothing else needs to be said. You win the week, good sir.

Stick taps

Stick taps to Sarah Thompson, who won a CHA championship at Syracuse, as well as under-18 World Championship gold with Canada. Last season, while playing for St. Lawrence, Thompson was awarded the 2025 Hockey Humanitarian Award, given annually to “College Hockey’s finest citizen”, recognizing a student athlete making significant contributions to both team and community as a volunteer.

Thompson founded Sticks Together, an organization that aims to give kids the opportunity to learn to play and love hockey in disadvantaged areas of the world. So far, Thompson has brought sticks, nets and pucks to Kenya, the Philippines, South Africa and Argentina. Thompson’s immediate goal is to return to Kenya to bridge the gap between ice and street hockey — to skate with the Ice Lionesses and teach street hockey in girls’ private schools around Nairobi.

“I hope that we can encourage more girls to play for the Lionesses and further develop the players in the program,” Thompson told ESPN.

As for the long-term vision for her program?

“To create a global network of girls’ and women’s hockey programs where access to the game means access to education and opportunity,” Thompson replied. “Hockey gave me the opportunity to go to university on a scholarship and build a career of my dreams, and I hope to create these opportunities for girls around the world.”

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Braves sign vet OF Yastrzemski to 2-year deal

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December 11, 2025

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Braves sign vet OF Yastrzemski to 2-year deal

  • Associated Press

Dec 10, 2025, 09:16 PM ET

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves signed veteran outfielder Mike Yastrzemski to a two-year deal Wednesday that includes a club option for 2028.

The 35-year-old Yastrzemski hit .233 with 17 home runs and 46 RBIs in 146 games last year between San Francisco and Kansas City.

Yastrzemski, who spent the first six-plus seasons of his career with the Giants before being sent to the Royals in July, will make $9 million in 2026 and $10 million in 2027. Atlanta holds a club option for 2028. Yastrzemski will make $7 million if the Braves pick up the option. He will receive a $4 million buyout if they do not.

The versatile Yastrzemski, the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski, can play all three outfield positions and is a career .238 hitter. His best season came in the COVID-19-shortened 2020 campaign, when he batted .297 with 10 homers in 54 games and finished in the top 10 in NL MVP voting.

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Rule 5: Yanks pick Winquest, Rockies get Petit

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December 11, 2025

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Rule 5: Yanks pick Winquest, Rockies get Petit

  • Jorge CastilloDec 10, 2025, 03:55 PM ET

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      ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.

ORLANDO, Fla. — The New York Yankees made their first selection in a Rule 5 draft since 2011 on Wednesday, taking right-hander Cade Winquest from the St. Louis Cardinals.

Winquest was one of 13 players — and 12 right-handed pitchers — chosen in the major league portion of the draft.

The Rockies took RJ Petit, a 6-foot-8 reliever, with the first pick from the Detroit Tigers. Petit, 26, had a 2.44 ERA in 45 relief appearances and two starts between Double A and Triple A last season. The Minnesota Twins chose the only position player, selecting catcher Daniel Susac from the Athletics.

Clubs pay $100,000 to select a player and must keep him on the active major league roster for the entire following season unless he lands on the injured list. Players taken off the roster must be offered back to the former club for $50,000.

The 25-year-old Winquest recorded a 4.58 ERA with a 48% groundball rate in 106 innings across 25 games, including 23 starts, between Single A and Double A last season. He features a fastball that sits in the mid-90s and touches 98 mph plus a curveball, cutter and sweeper. He is expected to compete for a spot in the Yankees’ bullpen next season.

Right-hander Brad Meyers was the last player the Yankees had chosen in a Rule 5 draft. He suffered a right shoulder injury in spring training and was on the injured list for the entire 2012 season before he was offered back to the Washington Nationals. He never appeared in a major league game.

Also picked were right-hander Jedixson Paez (Colorado from Boston), right-hander Griff McGarry (Washington from Philadelphia), catcher Carter Baumler (Pittsburgh from Baltimore), right-hander Ryan Watson (Athletics from San Francisco), right-hander Matthew Pushard (St. Louis from Miami), right-hander Roddery Munoz (Houston from Cincinnati), right-hander Peyton Pallette (Cleveland from Chicago White Sox), right-hander Spencer Miles (Toronto from San Francisco), right-hander Zach McCambley (Philadelphia from Miami) and right-hander Alexander Alberto (White Sox from Tampa Bay).

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Joe Buck joins father, wins HOF’s Frick Award

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December 11, 2025

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Joe Buck joins father, wins HOF's Frick Award

  • Associated Press

Dec 10, 2025, 03:01 PM ET

Even though Joe Buck is more widely known these days as the voice of ESPN’s “Monday Night Football,” his broadcast career is rooted in baseball, including calling the most World Series games on television.

On Wednesday, Buck received a call that he thought was at least a few years down the line. He found out he received the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting by baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Buck is not only the 50th winner of the Frick Award, he joins his father, Jack, to become the only father-son duo to win the honor. Jack Buck, who broadcast St. Louis Cardinals games from 1954 until 2021 and was the lead announcer on CBS’ baseball package in 1990 and ’91, received the award in 1987.

“I am shocked in many ways. I didn’t think this was coming right now,” Buck said. “I was saying to the group that called to tell me that my best memory of my father as a Major League Baseball broadcaster was in 1987 in Cooperstown, New York, and what it meant to him, what it meant to our family to see him get the award. To see the joy and the pride that he had for what he had done.”

Joe Buck will receive the award during the Hall’s July 25, 2026, awards presentation in Cooperstown, a day ahead of induction ceremonies. At 56, Buck becomes the second-youngest Frick Award winner, trailing only Vin Scully, who was 54 when he was named the 1982 winner.

Buck grew up in St. Louis and called games for the Triple-A Louisville Redbirds in 1989 and ’90 after graduating from Indiana University. He joined his father for Cardinals broadcasts in 1991, a job Joe held through 2007. Jack Buck died in June 2002 at age 77.

“I was lucky to call Jack Buck my dad and my best friend. I’m lucky that I’m Carol Buck’s son. I tend to downplay awards and what have you because of always feeling like I had a leg up at the start of my career and I did. I’m the first to admit it. But I am happy that when I was a kid, I paid attention and I wanted to be with him. I think the greatest gift my dad gave me was allowing me to be in the room with him. I’d like to think there’s still some stuff out in front of me, but this is the greatest honor I could receive. And to know what he would be thinking and feeling on this day, that’s the part what makes it special.

“I recall him saying [during his speech] that he was honored to be the eyes and the ears for Cardinal fans, wherever the Cardinals went, and he was very proud of being the conduit between wherever the Cardinals were playing and those fans that were listening. That always resonated with me.”

Buck joined Fox Sports when it started doing NFL games in 1994. Two years later, it got the rights to Major League Baseball and Buck was made the lead announcer with Tim McCarver as the analyst. McCarver retired from broadcasting after the 2013 season and received the Frick Award in 2021.

Buck was 27 when he called his first World Series in 1996. He would go on to do the Fall Classic in 1998 and then annually from 2000-21. His 135 World Series games make him one of six U.S. play-by-play announcers to reach the century mark calling either the Fall Classic, NBA Finals or Stanley Cup Finals. Scully had 126 World Series games on radio and television.

Buck also worked 21 All-Star Games and 26 League Championship Series for Fox before joining ESPN in 2022 as the voice of “Monday Night Football.”

Since going to ESPN, Buck called a game on Opening Day last year and worked a Cardinals game with Chip Caray in 2023. Buck said there is the possibility of doing a couple more games for ESPN in the future.

“I think of myself as a baseball announcer probably first because that’s what I was around the most. I love the game. I’m a fan of the game,” he said. “I still dream as a baseball announcer at night. I think all announcers have the same nightmare where you show up at a game and you can’t see anybody on the field, you don’t know anybody’s name and you’re trying to fake your way through a broadcast. Those are all baseball games in my dreams. So it’s in my genetics, it’s in my DNA. I grew up at Busch Stadium as a kid and yeah, baseball is always kind of first and foremost in my heart.”

Buck also becomes the sixth broadcaster to win both the Frick Award and the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, joining Jack Buck, Dick Enberg, Curt Gowdy, Al Michaels and Lindsey Nelson.

A broadcaster must have 10 continuous years of experience with a network or team to be considered, and the ballot was picked by a subcommittee of past winners that includes Marty Brennaman, Joe Castiglione and Bob Costas, along with broadcast historians David J. Halberstam and Curt Smith. At least one candidate must be a foreign-language broadcaster.

Voters are 13 past winners — Brennaman, Castiglione, Costas, Ken Harrelson, Pat Hughes, Jaime Jarrín, Tony Kubek, Denny Matthews, Michaels, Jon Miller, Eric Nadel, Dave Van Horne and Tom Hamilton — plus historians Halberstam, Smith and former Dallas Morning News writer Barry Horn.

John Rooney of the Cardinals and Brian Anderson of the Milwaukee Brewers were ballot newcomers this year, joining returnees Skip Caray, Rene Cardenas, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Duane Kuiper and John Sterling. Buck was on the ballot after being dropped last year, and Dan Shulman was on for the third time in four years.

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