I think the commentary re: Hodgson is more about in the scheme of things than about love. Or at least blind love, cuz blind love would be claiming he's things that he isn't. Like, um, people might be saying that he's "so valuable".
But anyway, for sure Nystrom and Jarnkrok (and there are others of course, but you just flagged those as examples so I will) hustle out there. In Nystrom's case often chasing hits of the useless variety and in Jarnkrok's too often getting knocked off the puck (or off his feet altogether) despite the effort. But still, there's something to be said for hustling, playing hard, etc.
Two things though -
1] "hustle" is personal to the player and subjectively perceived. In every element (style, speed, strength, etc.), Nystrom has a range, his own range, which may or may not be the same range as Jarnkrok, that's the personal to the player part. The subjective part is that we only think Jarnkrok tries his butt off every shift to hit his limit, in reality he may have tons more in that he's not putting on the ice.
Like those guys, Hodgson has his own range and just cuz he's not taking every opportunity to hit doesn't mean he's not working his own butt off hitting his limit. In other words, fair enough to say he doesn't play as physical as Nystrom or as flying off his feet as Jarnkrok, but that the kid's style is different from other guys doesn't actually mean he's not "hustling" in his own way within his own range. To be fair, you might be better off comparing Hodgson to guys with a similar game style - like Ribeiro for example.
2] If hustling was really all so important, Arvidsson and Fiala wouldn't even be question marks right now, Salomaki would have taken over Neal's top 6 spot, and Fisher and Ribs would have both been seeing loonngg stretches in the press box this season. Instead though, no matter how much Arviddsson hustles, he's just not ready. In fact I've been theorizing since his first handful of games that his big "issue" right now is that while his hustle is awesome it seems to come more from simply trying TOO hard to stick on the Preds.
Anyway, while I agree that Hodgson wasn't remarkable for the most part, there's something to be said for the fact that the entire forward group hasn't been especially remarkable (exception to the new 1C of course, lol) and of course the stats show he was actually producing at a better clip per minute in multiple categories than most all of the other forwards. Defensively I think you're blowing it out of the field and would again flag enhanced and basic stats where he stood out on the leader board among all regular forwards. Faceoffs? Who cares anymore. Heck, the more the season goes on, the more even Ribeiro's performance has improved while Jarnkrok's numbers are pretty much the same as Hodgson's now. Go figure.
I think the waiving is more the result of what PL said when Hodgson was scratched that first game - there's no role for him on the Preds after all. The top 6 is full of PL's preferences and the bottom 6 has guys far better suited to the "hustle" and hit chasing types, which Hodgson simply isn't.
Anyway, talking about dominating in the AHL, you may want to double-check your premise there. He's only at 1ppg right now, but pretty sure his first night back into his natural center role saw his line take all the stars honors due to the multi point nights from him and Fiala along with his PK duty, etc. In other words, he's been about as dominant as should be expected of a kid who has proven he can play top 6 in the NHL. Whether or not he ever returns to the NHL is another matter of course. For the Preds, I'd guess (and expect) mgmt would rather give roster spots to kids whose futures they are invested into.
http://admiralsroundtable.com/2016/01/31/chatterbox-vol-107/
