Dahlin and Hughes vs Makar and Heiskanen

[bh53]

Lots of polls on these 4 young defenseman recently so why not just add another one.

Would you rather have Hughes and Dahlin or Heiskanen and Makar going forward. All 4 have 2 years remaining on their elc so contracts are not a factor I guess.

Click to read more...

 

[John Johnson]

Makar and Heiskanen. The other two have age on their side and Dahlin is the real wild card here, but for now Makar and Heiskanen.

 

[MackAttack26]

Went Dahlin - Hughes

Right now it's Heiskanen - Makar. And that could be a crazy good pair together.

I still think Dahlin is just in a slump right now and will become the best of the bunch. And Hughes is pretty great too.

Guessing Dahlin >= Heiskanen = Makar >= Hughes but it could turn out any way and I wouldn't be shocked.

 

[majormajor]

Makar is the best offensive, Heiskanen the best defensive. Clear win for me. Dahlin and Hughes have a ton of development time ahead of them, so it's not a closed question now, but Makar and Heiskanen are only a bit older and are already Norris quality players.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I think Dahlin will be the best player of the four by a comfortable margin, but Makar and Heiskanen are a lot better than Hughes. And the a lot is enough to negate the advantage I think Dahlin will have on the other three.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Makar is the best offensive, Heiskanen the best defensive. Clear win for me. Dahlin and Hughes have a ton of development time ahead of them, so it's not a closed question now, but Makar and Heiskanen are only a bit older and are already Norris quality players.

Exactly zero of these four players are Norris quality players right now.

 

[cgf]

I should vote for Rasmus & Hughes, but I'm homer-voting cause Cale is just on fire right now and Heiskanen is most polished of the lot...so I may not be able to justify voting this way for long.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

Exactly zero of these four players are Norris quality players right now.

Heiskanen is.

 

[TheGoldenJet]

Heiskanen is.

No Heiskanen is not “Norris caliber” right now. Same goes for Dahlin and Makar. Some day, maybe.

 

[Love]

I should vote for Rasmus & Hughes, but I'm homer-voting cause Cale is just on fire right now and Heiskanen is most polished of the lot...so I may not be able to justify voting this way for long.

Meh I don’t think it’s a homer vote at all. Either choice could be right. Even I as a Canucks fan recognize that Hughes has the biggest disadvantage of the four because of his size. So far it hasn’t been an “issue” per say, but it might be the thing that ultimately holds him back from becoming an all situations #1D. Undoubtably he’ll be great and already is, but the others have the body types to be PKers and shutdown defenceman as well as offensive dynamos. Who knows maybe Quinn will fill out and be around 5’11’’ 195lbs some day, but at the moment he’s still quite boyish.

 

[Tage2Tuch]

I should vote for Rasmus & Hughes, but I'm homer-voting cause Cale is just on fire right now and Heiskanen is most polished of the lot...so I may not be able to justify voting this way for long.

I feel the opposite that I should vote Heiskanen and makar but I’d homer vote Hughes and dahlin lol

 

[Tage2Tuch]

Meh I don’t think it’s a homer vote at all. Either choice could be right. Even I as a Canucks fan recognize that Hughes has the biggest disadvantage of the four because of his size. So far it hasn’t been an “issue” per say, but it might be the thing that ultimately holds him back from becoming an all situations #1D. Undoubtably he’ll be great and already is, but the others have the body types to be PKers and shutdown defenceman as well as offensive dynamos. Who knows maybe Quinn will fill out and be around 5’11’’ 195lbs some day, but at the moment he’s still quite boyish.

I wouldn’t say size is THE reason Hughes has a disadvantage on the other three. The other three are just better. But Hughes isn’t THAT far back which is why he’s included and it makes sense.

Size isn’t everything with D, for instance ice watched nearly every Canuck game this season (live in Kelowna) and Hughes has been at least three times as good as Tyler Myers this season. Look at that size and experience difference. Hughes looks to have the confidence dahlin had last year where he can just skate circles around other forwards.

With Heiskanen there’s just a more alert defensive side that the others haven’t caught into yet IMO, but all will. Makar too.

 

[Mackinnonen]

Makar and Heisk would be INSANE. Easy choice for me. Dahlin and Hughes have the potential though.

 

[Mackinnonen]

Can you imagine the skating skill of a Makar-Heiskanen pairing... So good.

 

[Spotty 2 Hotty]

Can you imagine the skating skill of a Makar-Heiskanen pairing... So good.

It would be pretty funny to watch too, considering how fast they both are, but have such different skating styles.

 

[Critical13]

This one was the Heisk option, but it's close. Here's how I rank these studs:

1. Dahlin
2. Heiskanen
3. Makar
4. Hughes

All 4 will be Norris winners once in the next decade if I had to guess. They are the next generation now that we're winding down with the Keith/Weber/Karlsson/Subban/Chara generation.

Went Dahlin - Hughes

Right now it's Heiskanen - Makar. And that could be a crazy good pair together.

I still think Dahlin is just in a slump right now and will become the best of the bunch. And Hughes is pretty great too.

Guessing Dahlin >= Heiskanen = Makar >= Hughes but it could turn out any way and I wouldn't be shocked.

Dahlin for me still passes the eye test for the best overall. He just seems in his own league out there some nights, even on a struggling Buffalo team.

I have no doubt that he would be ppg+ if he played on the Avs.

 

[Lebowski]

Can you imagine the skating skill of a Makar-Heiskanen pairing... So good.

It sure is, but is it any better than the skating skill of a Hughes - Dahlin pairing?

 

[Mackinnonen]

Good question. If I had to guess Heisk-Makar are faster but Dahlin-Hughes are more agile.

 

[avsfan9]

There’s not much separating any of these players right now. Can’t go wrong with either combo. But, I like Makar the Most since he’s on my team. If any of these other players were on the avs instead of him, I’d probably choose them

 

[SillyRabbit]

As of right now, even as a Canucks fan I’ve gotta take Makar and Heiskanen.

They are simply better players at this point in time.

I do think that while those two will continue to improve, Dahlin and Hughes have more room to grow than they do.

However you can’t just bank on potential especially when Makar/Heiskanen are similarly skilled, as there’s a chance they don’t reach it, and even if they do, the gap isn’t likely to be much between any of these guys in their prime.

 

[hcg]

Makar is the best offensive, Heiskanen the best defensive. Clear win for me. Dahlin and Hughes have a ton of development time ahead of them, so it's not a closed question now, but Makar and Heiskanen are only a bit older and are already Norris quality players.

Hughes has 21 points in 25 games, he's a year younger, and he's playing on a worse team.

 

[avsfan9]

Hughes has 21 points in 25 games, he's a year younger, and he's playing on a worse team.

Makar played 25 mins last night on an injury riddled avs team given the task of shutting down Mcdavid and Dri and held both off the score sheet. There’s more to playing d than offense. Makar has become the avs #1 d man just 25 games into his career, while having 3 more points playing 1 less game.

 

[Patagonia]

Makar/Heiskanen are right now the best offensive/defensive of the group.

Incredible skating and would be a dominant pairing. Makar leads all rookies in scoring playing for a team missing 1/3 of their starters. Heiskanen changed a run/gun team into one of the best defensive teams in the league.

Dahlin is the youngest and might have the highest potential, but struggling to lift a terrible team. QHughes is the smallest of the group and powering a relatively healthy team.

Good poll and rankings will change throughout the year.

 

[majormajor]

Hughes has 21 points in 25 games, he's a year younger, and he's playing on a worse team.

Hughes is playing on one of the highest scoring powerplay units in the league. His 5 v 5 scoring is not even above average.

Also have you seen the Avs lineup lately? It's Mackinnon and Makar, and then a bunch of guys who were in the bottom six or AHL last year. Rantanen and Landeskog have missed most of the season.

 

[Cousin Eddie]

I truly believe Heiskanen and Makar are top 10 D right now. Dahlin and Hughes have age on their side but it’s only 1-2 years in the difference. Makar and Heiskanen are far and away the best two of these four right now and are young enough to improve as well.

I’ll take the safe 2.