(Photo: Petr David Josek, Associated Press)
Buffalo, N.Y. — The fan bases in Detroit and 28 other NHL cities have come to accept it, though it likely still hurts.
Jack Hughes, long the big prize of this NHL Entry Draft, isn’t coming to their town.
Given how the NHL draft lottery turned out, Hughes likely will either wind up in New Jersey (picking No. 1) or the New York Rangers (picking No. 2) with late-charging Kaapo Kakko of Finland going in the other spot.
“We’ll be linked to each other for a lot of years with the Rangers and Devils right there,” Hughes said of the two close geographic and division rivals last week at the NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo.