Jack Hughes is all business during the game and doesn’t have time for “weird” attempts at humor.
During the first intermission of the Flyers-Devils game on Thursday night, Hughes paused to give ESPN’s A.J. Mleczko a few minutes for an interview before heading into the locker room.
Given Hughes’ offseason injury, a cut finger so severe it required surgery, Mleczko decided to make a joke before wrapping up.
“Let’s wrap you in bubble wrap and use plastic cutlery this year, that sound good?” she asked.
“I think that’s a weird joke mid-game, but …,” Hughes said as he turned and skated away.
“No sense of humor here in a big game, but I appreciate his time, and he had a good start here this season.”
Ok. So maybe he’s not ready to joke about that yet. His team found the humor in the incident and capitalized on it. Hughes scored the game-winning overtime goal to beat the Flyers. Then he tossed his stick into the crowd, where a fan wearing a Team USA Jack Hughes jersey caught it.
The Devils X account then posted this gem. “Can’t keep him wrapped up.”
Hughes’ injury history is no laughing matter. He dealt with a shoulder injury that required surgery as his 2025-2026 season got underway. He then cut his finger at a team dinner. That, too, required surgery. Fortunately for the United States and unfortunately for Canada, Hughes bounced back from all those complications to score the game-winning goal that brought the Americans Olympic gold in Torino.
So, it’s not surprising that he wouldn’t welcome Mleczko’s joke. But the joke wasn’t what bothered him; it was the timing.