Jack’s skating is world class, his vision is world class, and his confidence and tenacity to grow and be better is world class.
Him in the NHL allowed him to get a head start on learning the defensive game, the speed and pace, the training regiments and other factors, etc etc...
The idea of going to the AHL/college/Euro pro leagues is more centered for guys who dont already possess multiple skills at an NHL level. Jack’s size isnt reason enough to hols him back from learning things at an NHL level that you cant possibly learn elsewhere. That is why nowadays 1st-3rd overall picks almost always make the big league by the end of the first season. Because they possess NHL talents and usually only differ in size, pace, and physicality.
Jack would have absolutely tore up and been the best player on any team he played for outside the NHL. What does that do for him in finding holes in his game and improving on what he doesnt excel at?
This attitude's so strange to me. Hughes had only played USNTDP hockey, where the toughest challenge would be some exhibition games against NCAA teams. He had zero pro experience and it's ridiculous to just assume he'd completely dominate any other league and that it wouldn't be useful for learning at all, this attitude was thrown around even before the draft and I just don't get where that's coming from. Somehow, players can go to even OHL for their third season and learn a ton of things, but a player playing in a pro league for the first time would "have nothing to learn". Yeah, right.
For an 18-year-old, it's not exactly important to "find holes in his game", it'd actually be important to first enhance these strengths. For example, if Jack Hughes's great at making things happen with the puck on his stick, it'd make perfect sense to have him play in an environment where he gets to have the puck on his stick a ton and to constantly make plays with it, while playing 20 minutes. That'd be far more helpful to him than having to endure a battle for survival every shift, where he frequently doesn't even get to the puck and doesn't get to even learn what kind of plays he could possibly be making because the pace's just way too high for him. He also won't be able to get away with a ton of plays, leading into mistakes that get punished extremely hard, which then leads to him losing confidence and perhaps misunderstanding why those plays didn't work in the first place. I'll also reiterate that it's ridiculous to assume that he's already mastered all the plays he could make with the puck, it's honestly some absurd logic.
In the worst case scenario, due to playing in NHL too early, Hughes will never have the repertoire with the puck that he could have had, and will be much more afraid of making impactful plays due to them getting punished so heavily. In the best case scenario... do we really think he'll actually end up being better than he'd have been if he'd played 20+ minutes a night with freedom to express himself last season, while getting used to the pro game? I can hardly agree with that.
