Now dubbed “PuckGate,” Jack Hughes and the Hockey Hall of Fame have been in a standoff. The Team USA star left the rink with a gold medal but without two teeth and his Olympic medal-winning puck. It has led to a war of words between Hughes and the HOF as he asked for the puck, but the HOF immediately shut him down. And now Hughes’ agent has stepped in to clear the air.

It turns out the entire situation was just Hughes being curious about where the puck was, according to Pat Brisson, when he appeared on Spittin’ Chiclets.

“So when, uh, Jack scored the goal two weeks ago, three weeks ago, a few days later, we start talking. He said, ‘Hey, where’s the puck, and where, who has the puck?’” Brisson said on the podcast.

“And I, I, I said, ‘Let me look into it.’ So I called the league. They said, ‘You know, it’s, it’s the Hall of Fame has it,’ but the league doesn’t also control the Hall of Fame when it’s non-NHL stuff. So took three, four days.”

The Jack Hughes drama has snowballed so quickly that his agent’s now stepping in to set things straight. On February 22, the New Jersey Devils star netted the overtime winner against Canada, giving Team USA a 2-1 victory and long-awaited Olympic gold. That sudden strike in extra time ended years of waiting and sent the Americans into pure celebration.

For those that don’t know, earlier this month, Hughes questioned why the Hockey Hall of Fame had it, saying, “I’m trying to get it. Like, that’s bulls**t that the Hockey Hall of Fame has it, in my opinion. Why would they have that puck?”

“PuckGate” took shape when confusion swirled around the puck’s whereabouts. The Hockey Hall of Fame later confirmed it received the puck under an agreement with the International Ice Hockey Federation and the International Olympic Committee. It now sits proudly in Toronto as part of the “Olympics ’26” exhibit.

Brisson further explained, “It wasn’t a priority. Jack said, “Where’s the puck? We just wanna know.” Just– And then, um, we found out a few days later that the IIHF and the, uh, IOC, I guess they, they do have a, some sort of an understanding with the IO– uh, the Hall of Fame.

“So spoke to the PA as well, spoke to Marty and said, “Is it true?” Because we just wanna understand what the process is. When Jack was interviewed a few days ago, someone asked him, “Where’s the puck?” “Yeah,” he said, “I’d like to have my puck.”

That interview is what has since kicked off the controversy. In an exclusive with ESPN, Jack Hughes confessed to being unhappy that neither he nor Megan Keller could keep their pucks. Keller, for context, scored an overtime winner to secure Team USA women’s ice hockey’s Olympic gold medal. The New Jersey Devils center was confused as to why “they (Hockey Hall of Fame) have that puck”.

Jack Hughes clears the air around Puckgate after HOF statement

It has since seen fans and media personalities like Pat McAfee come out and ask the Hall of Fame to return the puck to Hughes, as well as Keller. However, Philip Pritchard, Vice President and Curator of the Hockey Hall of Fame, immediately shut down those calls. Brisson then conveyed that to Hughes, as well as the reason why the HOF refused to give him the puck.

“Once Jack was explained last night after the game when we spoke, “Jack, the puck is at the Hall of Fame because there’s an, an agreement with the IOC and the IIHF,” Brisson added.

And now, in the aftermath of that statement, Jack Hughes publicly made a statement to clear the air. The 24-year-old has focused on his NHL season and enjoyed a strong post-Olympics stretch with the New Jersey Devils. And following their latest win over cross-city rivals, the New York Rangers, Hughes touched upon PuckGate and cleared the air once and for all.

“It’s like the most special place in hockey,” Hughes said, as per the Athletic. “I’m honored that it’s there, but obviously I think things were taken crazy. That’s the way I felt. I didn’t know where the puck was. It is what it is.”

But despite PuckGate, Jack Hughes’ focus has clearly been with his NHL side, the New Jersey Devils, ever since he returned from Milan. The 24-year-old has thrived for the team, contributing to either a goal or an assist in all but two of the eleven games he has played since. 

That includes one hat-trick against the New York Rangers, and he added to that in another clash with them. In their second game of the season against the Rangers, Hughes scored one and assisted two more as the Devils beat them 6-3 on the night.

With PuckGate behind him, fans will be eager to see if Jack Hughes can maintain his impressive post-Olympic form and help spark a late-season surge for the Devils, regardless of their long playoff odds.