Marginal Islanders prospect Bobby Hughes has had a number of challenges, including another injury in the Albany team bus accident last winter -- that led to his trade for non-prospect Rob Hennigar last summer.
Add one more, quite serious one:
A Canadian citizen, [Hughes] was arrested Wednesday by members of the U.S. Marshal Violent Crime Fugitive Task Force at the Arena at Harbor Yard following a hockey game.
"We waited until the game was over and then walked him out without incident," said police Detective Robert Martin, a member of the task force.
Hughes was arrested on a warrant issued from Bethlehem, N.Y., on charges of first-degree criminal sexual act and third-degree criminal sexual act.
I downplay this here [Edit: See a bit on what these charges mean in comments] I absolutely don't want to downplay the seriousness of this matter. But as a fan, I don't have much comment beyond relaying the news because -- despite the newsy buzz that accompanies such cases and demands TMZ clicks! clicks! clicks! -- it's a murky matter under sealed indictment, and Hughes has never appeared to be part of the Islanders' future. (He's appeared in 4 of 14 Sound Tiger games.) Needless to say, if it were a player who meant something to me as a fan, I'd be flipping out, while still being stuck in that ambiguous area of not knowing the facts nor knowing what to think.
James Mirtle points out Hughes is from the Toronto area and was a junior star, so the cynic in me suspects it will be bigger news in the Center of the Hockey Universe.
Something seriously wrong has happened, and you hope the justice system figures out what and takes care of it accordingly.