Hughes Bowl 3: Quinn, Jack and Luke Hughes face off for the first time in Minnesota – The Athletic

MINNEAPOLIS — What are the chances? When Quinn, Jack and Luke Hughes square off Monday night when the New Jersey Devils visit the Minnesota Wild for the first time since Quinn was traded here one month ago today, it’ll also be the birthdays of their great-grandfather Jerry, grandfather Warren, and uncle Adam.

Call it fate, destiny, kismet, whatever.

“Hilarious coincidence,” said Quinn, whose middle name, Jerome, is to honor Jerry, his mom’s grandfather.

So, this Jan. 12 serendipity makes Monday’s meeting — which will also have cousins like Teddy and Ellie Docherty, who coach at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, in attendance — even more special for the brothers’ parents. Ellen and Jim Hughes will be inside Grand Casino Arena for “Hughes Bowl 3” and sat down with The Athletic on Sunday after watching Quinn put on a clinic the night before with three assists against the New York Islanders.

Family is everything to the Hugheses. Luke’s middle name is Warren, named after Ellen’s late father, who was one of the top neurologists in the country. And uncle Adam Weinberg, whom the three brothers are very close to, is the president of Denison University in Ohio.

Jack’s first NHL goal came against Quinn’s Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 19, 2019, making him the ninth player in NHL history (and first since Marcus Foligno against Nick in 2012) to score his first NHL goal in a game against his brother. What made that extra special: Jim’s dad, Marty — a former New York City firefighter and considered the Hughes brothers’ biggest fan — was in the crowd. He doesn’t get to a lot of games.

“Not just genes, but we take the wisdom from our grandparents, my parents, Ellen’s parents, and we pass it on to Quinn, Jack and Luke,” said Jim, a Long Island native. “It’s why they do so much for first responders and do a lot of good things away from the rink to honor their grandparents. We take a lot from our family and we passed it on to our own kids.

“Probably indirectly, that’s why they have a New York state of mind,” Jim continued. “They enjoy their sandwiches, and they enjoy their pizza.”

“The Yankees,” Ellen added.

“There’s a lot of roots,” Jim said. “They’re loyal to the fire departments in B.C., Hoboken and New York City. We reflect a lot on all of this every time we’re lucky enough to watch them play.”

There have been only eight families in history where three or more brothers played in a game with at least one brother on each team. Their first meeting, Dec. 5, 2023, the Devils won 6-5, with Jack scoring a goal and two assists, Luke scoring a goal and Quinn assisting on two goals. In the other, Oct. 30, 2024, the Devils won 6-0 with Jack posting a goal and assist.

“We haven’t done it in a long time,” Quinn said. “So it’ll be special, obviously. It’ll be a big deal, at least for me.”

The three Hughes brothers have only appeared in the same game twice before. (Derek Cain / Getty Images)

The Hugheses are the only American family in history with three siblings all selected in the first round (Quinn No. 7 in 2018, Jack No. 1 in 2019 and Luke No. 4 in 2021). According to the NHL, they are the second American family to have three or more brothers appear in the same NHL game: In 1989-90, Minnesotans Neal, Paul and Aaron Broten all skated together when the North Stars twice met the New York Rangers.

Ellen and Jim always joke that they wish every meeting would go to overtime so both teams benefit, but in Vancouver, it was the Devils that dominated. In head-to-head meetings between Jack and Quinn, the Devils were 7-1-1 against the Canucks (Quinn 1-6-1) with Jack scoring eight goals and 15 points and Quinn assisting on five goals. In head-to-head meetings between Luke and Quinn, the Devils were 2-1-1 (Quinn 2-2-0).

The Hughes parents usually watch their kids play from the comfy confines of their home in Michigan. But when the boys play each other, “it’s one game that we always try to get to,” said Ellen, a former University of New Hampshire standout who’s in the UNH Athletic Hall of Fame and currently works as the USA women’s Olympic team’s player development consultant. “But I don’t like it when they’re all on the ice together.”

“Yeah, that’s very unusual,” said Jim, a former Providence College captain who coached professionally for years (including the Boston Bruins as an assistant when Bill Guerin was playing) and was the longtime director of player development with the Maple Leafs. “You’ve got all three moving, and it’s a lot to take. So it’s a game where we really have to be …”

“Dialed in,” Ellen said, laughing.

The Devils dropped a one-goal decision Sunday in Winnipeg, but it was an afternoon game. So Jack and Luke arrived in the Twin Cities in the early evening and planned to have dinner together with Quinn and their parents.

The timing will be refreshing for Jack and Luke. The Devils, who won eight of their first nine this season, are 2-7-1 in their past 10 and have had a lot of noise around them lately with one-sided losses and Dougie Hamilton’s scratch Sunday night.

The Wild, on the other hand, are tied for the second-most points in the NHL (61) and are 8-2-4 with Quinn, who leads the league with 15 assists and 390 minutes, 8 seconds of ice time (27:52 a game, first by more than a minute) since his arrival.

Brock Boeser, Quinn’s former Canucks teammate, finds it hilarious how so many people get a kick out of the way Quinn sits on the bench and just stares ahead.

“When you get a camera on him, that’s actually the 30 minutes of the game when he’s not on the ice,” Boeser said. “So he’s exhausted. That dude’s working as hard as anybody NHL with what he’s got on his plate. The level of stress that he’s got on him, I wouldn’t wish on anybody.”

“I’m really happy for Quinn,” said Columbus Blue Jackets captain Zach Werenski, who next month will be Quinn and Jack’s USA Olympic teammate. “Probably a difficult situation in Vancouver, but he loved it there and was a captain. Probably hard to leave there, but I bet he’s thrilled to be in Minnesota. Why wouldn’t you be with that hockey team, in that hockey market? They’ve got a good thing going.”

Quinn, 26, Jack, 24, and Luke, 22, are the best of friends. They live together in the offseason in a house on a Michigan lake, where they love to be out on the water. They’re members of the same country club, train together and skate together in a star-studded session that Jim runs.

“I plan on making it out to their place next summer because boy, does Quinn like to hype that place up,” Boeser cracked.

Beside the Hugheses, those summer skates include Zach Werenski, Dylan Larkin, Kyle Connor, Connor Hellebuyck, Cole Caufield, Jake Sanderson, Josh Norris and Alex DeBrincat, among many, many others.

Jim, the director of player development for CAA Hockey, calls it his “free job.”

“They pay for the ice, and I just blow the whistle,” he joked.

“Those skates, we’re talking really high-end players, so it’s a great tune-up for the season,” Werenski said.

“It’s just fun with him,” Quinn said of his dad. “He trains us and we tell him what drills we want to do.”

John Wroblewski, the U.S. women’s national team coach in the upcoming Olympics, coached Quinn and Jack at the National Team Development Program. The first time he remembers watching Quinn was when the NTDP’s U17 team was playing in a North American Hockey League showcase in Plymouth, Mich. Quinn had just turned 16.

“You could tell he was just playing a different sport at that age compared to the others,” Wroblewski said. “The escapability and the calm yet urgent play that I think that he displays in the NHL now, you could see it then.”

As coach of the ’99 birth year, Wroblewski remembers a weekend in Duluth, Minn., when they played UMD. The Bulldogs were No. 2 in the country, but the Under-18 team beat the Bulldogs by a goal.

“And Quinn put on a show,” Wroblewski said. “These are all like 24-year-old men that we were playing and Quinn just turned 17. And Quinn put on one of the best defensive performances I’ve ever seen. He was blanketing. He was knocking guys off the puck. His stick was unbelievable. His poke checks would end up outside the blue line.

“That’s when I realized that there was something about this Quinn Hughes kid. You knew that this kid had offensive prowess, but when it came to his defensive play, he never really got to put it on full display until the second half of the year. That team lost three games after New Year’s and won their last 17.”

Wroblewski added, “His partner, (current Wilkes-Barre captain) Phil Kemp, Quinn used him a lot like he uses Brock Faber right now. They worked perfectly together, but all the things we tried to implement in the offensive zone, it all stemmed from watching Quinn use his habits and instincts. You basically let him run the show.”

Wroblewski says Quinn’s passing is worth the price of admission itself. And then there’s his skating and ability to turn on a dime with the puck on his stick and leave a defender in his dust. According to NHL Edge, Quinn leads the league by skating 4.76 miles a game and ranks fourth this season in total miles with 163.43.

“Quinn’s elite edge work on top of the ice is like 1 percent of 1 percent,” Wroblewski said. “People don’t understand how unbelievable NHL skaters are, but he’s just at a whole other level. His grip on the ice and his command of his edges allows him to play a different game than everybody else.”

Wroblewski got Jack right after Quinn at the program. They may be different positions, with Jack being a star forward, but Wroblewski says the beauty in their skating and the way they process is awfully similar.

How about personality?

“Well, you know that Jack is in the room and you don’t necessarily know that Quinn’s in the room,” Wroblewski said, smiling wide. “There’s usually a little bit of noise and some hoopla coming around Jack and with Quinn, he’ll blend in. Quinn’s energy is internal, and it’s burning.”

Funny enough, Werenski echoed that sentiment: “You know when Jack’s there. You kind of know when Luke’s there. Quinn will just sneak up on you.”

Luke is on the rise with 91 points in his first two full seasons in the league and 24 in 45 games this season.

The one common denominator in each brother, Kemp says, is they love to compete, whether it’s “pool, ping-pong, basketball. Whatever it is, they want to win, man, and it’s awesome to be around.”

Quinn’s best memories growing up with his brothers are those mornings, afternoons and nights on the outdoor rink, mini sticks in the basement and going to Leafs games.

Quinn, like Jack, was born in Orlando when Jim was working for the Solar Bears. They essentially grew up in Canada when Jim worked for the Leafs and spent their summers in New Hampshire on the water, tubing and water skiing.

Their parents had the hockey background and pedigree, but they were never overbearing, Quinn says. In fact, Ellen and Jim had their three boys play everything. Lacrosse was a big passion for Jim because of his Long Island roots, so the brothers played field and box lacrosse. And Quinn remembers his dad getting such joy from watching the boys run cross country.

“He loved that more than probably watching us play hockey,” Quinn said.

And what Ellen and Jim always impressed upon their boys was, “work hard, have fun and be great teammates.”

“Their parents are great people,” Werenski said.

Pat Brisson, agent for all three Hugheses, has known Quinn, Jack and Luke since they were 12, 10 and 8, respectively, because his two boys Jordan and Brendan played with and against them. They became close family friends and eventually, after Jim left the Leafs, Brisson hired Jim with CAA.

“They were an exceptionally connected hockey family,” Brisson said. “Ellen was an encyclopedia of hockey. She knew the game. She played the game. She was teaching power skating lessons. Jim was a hockey guy and they were very committed to their kids’ development. Their kids were good players. Jack was very, very good. He was probably one of the best in his age group at the time. But I remember sitting on the couch and talking to Jim and Ellen at one point and we were just hoping that Quinn would be good enough to play college hockey. Jack may have a chance to maybe push the needle and we didn’t know what Luke was going to be.

“Now? Look at all three.”

Brisson said all three brothers are extremely curious hockey players. They want to know about everything. And they could sit around the table and talk hockey forever.

“I sat with Quinn for a half hour (last week) and we talked Wild, Team USA, Team Canada, World Juniors, the NHL. It’s hockey 24/7,” Brisson said.

Said Quinn, “I just love picking his brain. I’ve known him for so long. I remember I used to be 13 and I’d sit and watch Jack and Brendan play in youth rinks, and I’d be asking Pat about playing and all these guys. He’s like a mentor to me.”

The Wild have tried their hardest to make Quinn feel at home.

Guerin, the Wild’s president of hockey operations, and assistant GM Chris Kelleher personally flew to New Jersey, where the Canucks had landed the night of the blockbuster, to pick Quinn up in owner Craig Leipold’s private plane. They sent an Escalade to brother Jack’s house to pick him up. They had Quinn’s favorite meal waiting on the plane and a table of his favorite food at the hotel waiting for him in his room.

The Wild used their connections to make Quinn Hughes feel at home as quickly as possible. (Courtesy of the Wild)

How did they know his favorite food? Team services manager Dominic Hennig reached out to his compatriot with the Canucks. He got word from the Canucks’ team chef that Quinn loves chickpea pasta, ground chorizo sausage and premium olive oil and will sometimes mix in grass-fed Bolognese for his pregame pasta. He’s big on grass-fed and organic meats and vegetables, and prefers food that’s gluten-free with no corn products.

So, the Wild had chickpea noodle pasta and a Bolognese waiting in his hotel room, a charcuterie platter, a fresh fruit bowl and the scrumptious hummus appetizer from Mara, renowned chef Gavin Kaysen’s restaurant.

On his bed were both types of Wild No. 43 HUGHES home sweaters for him to gift his parents. The Wild made sure to rent him a brand new BMW SUV that was delivered to the hotel the next morning after arriving.

“Amazing,” Quinn said when asked about the way he has been treated. “I mean, starts with Billy, everything he did, and coming up, picking me up, obviously. And then just the trainers and my teammates, Dom here, and just all the guys have been amazing.”

The Wild provided two sets of jerseys for Quinn Hughes to gift to his parents. (Courtesy of the Wild)

Brisson, who lives in southern California, met up with Hughes in Newport Beach last week and says he’s loving his time with the Wild.

“He’s very happy. Very happy with the team and excited about the opportunity to hopefully make a difference,” Brisson said.

Quinn knows the Wild plan to come at him with a lucrative extension offer next summer. While it’s still premature, he remains open-minded about re-signing with Minnesota and has said the amount the Wild gave up to get him — Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Öghren and a 2026 first-round pick — will remain a big part of his thinking.

“The entire family is happy,” Brisson said. “The brothers are happy for Quinn that he’s happy, that he’s in a good spot. Minnesota’s got a good team going in the right direction. It’s an exciting platform right now, but again, we’ll see how it goes. It’s been a good experience so far because no matter what, when you get traded, you see the difference from the old to the new. You adjust, you adapt, you learn. You grow. I know he loves how he’s been treated by the organization and his teammates. Like, he went on and on about Kaprizov and Boldy and Faber and all these guys. He really thinks they can do damage.”

Quinn’s dad echoed that sentiment.

“From 18 years old to when he got traded, he had incredible experiences with incredible people in Vancouver,” Jim Hughes said. “He’s got incredible friendships there, guys that he probably misses. And quite frankly, I don’t know if he knew anybody on the team. (Ben) Jones, Brock a little bit, Boldy a little. So this 14-day trip they just had was so important. It couldn’t have been better timing, because it gave him the opportunity to build all these new relationships. And you’ve got to work at these relationships. You’re meeting 50 new people between players and coaches and medical and equipment and media people.

“So this 14-day trip, I think, allowed him to sort of decompress off of the trade, and to get on the road with the guys, and go have dinner and go walk the beach, and have a couple of roommates when they were out in California, and really just let guys get to know him and vice versa. And so I think he’s really enjoying it. It’s a hockey market. It’s a hockey state. And you have an exceptionally good team with a lot of talented players.

“It’s an older team. It’s a team that’s built to win. And so I think he’s really appreciating the group in so many ways.”