Prospect Info: Jack Hughes

[Ripshot 43]

So glad I know not to click the link since you guys took the bullet for me. Sad that I’ve known to avoid Sports Illustrated for years since unnoticed they avoided hockey anyways.

 

[StevenToddIves]

Here's a good read for The Athletic subscribers:

Pronman: Why Jack Hughes is an elite NHL prospect

 

[PWiz30]

Boy oh boy is that article TERRIBLE

‘A long rebuild with or without Hughes’

But the old, slow Kings would have a short rebuild.

"The NHL was different when Jack Hughes was born in 2001: The game was slower, the average skater weighed seven pounds more, the two-line pass existed and the New Jersey Devils turned hockey into a plodding, painful exhibition with the neutral zone trap"

Stupid Article....

In 2001 the Devils scored 295 goals, that would be 2nd in the NHL today only to Tampa's freakish season of 325.

If I'd seen the article when if first came out I would have definitely called him out on Twitter about that fact. I still may but it's a bit late now.

 

[NJ DevLolz]

How come the only posters disparaging Hughes are Finns? Do they know something about Jack that we don't??

 

[Tretyak 20]

How come the only posters disparaging Hughes are Finns? Do they know something about Jack that we don't??

...well since they get to watch him live all the time...

 

[Blackjack]

"The NHL was different when Jack Hughes was born in 2001: The game was slower, the average skater weighed seven pounds more, the two-line pass existed and the New Jersey Devils turned hockey into a plodding, painful exhibition with the neutral zone trap"

Stupid Article....

In 2001 the Devils scored 295 goals, that would be 2nd in the NHL today only to Tampa's freakish season of 325.

"The world was different when Jack Hughes was born in 2001: Sports Illustrated was a relevant publication..."

 

[glenwo2]

"The NHL was different when Jack Hughes was born in 2001: The game was slower, the average skater weighed seven pounds more, the two-line pass existed and the New Jersey Devils turned hockey into a plodding, painful exhibition with the neutral zone trap"

Stupid Article....

In 2001 the Devils scored 295 goals, that would be 2nd in the NHL today only to Tampa's freakish season of 325.

What really annoys me is that there's no way to directly contact this Dan Falkenheim person who typed this article up so I can put down what you just said.

 

[njdevils1982]

"The world was different when Jack Hughes was born in 2001: Sports Illustrated was a relevant publication..."

nice

….a bit off topic but as a bears fan i found these issues in a box on the side of the road a few years ago……some great stuff in them

 

[kiwidevil]

Hearing how Hughes is strictly a pass first player seems a bit off base when you watch the videos.
Basically all of his passes are only to players in better positions, and when the pass isn't on, he shoots. It's not like he passing instead of taking A grade scoring chances. Or simply refusing to shoot.

Is it that these players whom always have the puck get labelled this way? as they see the ice so well and find the open man, while a player with less IQ is only thinking shoot, or alternatively, spends a lot of time without the puck waiting for a chance to shoot?

 

[BenedictGomez]

One thing I have learned from those videos is Hughes will be the best passer on the Devils the day he joins the team.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Hearing how Hughes is strictly a pass first player seems a bit off base when you watch the videos.
Basically all of his passes are only to players in better positions, and when the pass isn't on, he shoots. It's not like he passing instead of taking A grade scoring chances. Or simply refusing to shoot.

Is it that these players whom always have the puck get labelled this way? as they see the ice so well and find the open man, while a player with less IQ is only thinking shoot, or alternatively, spends a lot of time without the puck waiting for a chance to shoot?

Cordell did a decent write up with some stats on like 10 full games he tracked (not a huge sample but still). You’re correct, he is not a pass first player. He took 28% of shot attempts in the games he tracked with primary shot assists on 24% of shots. Very balanced split.

 

[Lindys Lazy Eye]

"The NHL was different when Jack Hughes was born in 2001: The game was slower, the average skater weighed seven pounds more, the two-line pass existed and the New Jersey Devils turned hockey into a plodding, painful exhibition with the neutral zone trap"

Stupid Article....

In 2001 the Devils scored 295 goals, that would be 2nd in the NHL today only to Tampa's freakish season of 325.

Mmm that's good quality salt .

 

[RangerDoggo]

SI's mad, LOL

 

[Blackjack]

One thing I have learned from those videos is Hughes will be the best passer on the Devils the day he joins the team.

He might be better by virtue of his preternatural vision and insane skating ability to open up passing lanes, but if you distill passing to its most fundamental, I think Jesper Bratt might have something to say about that.

 

[BenedictGomez]

He might be better by virtue of his preternatural vision and insane skating ability to open up passing lanes, but if you distill passing to its most fundamental, I think Jesper Bratt might have something to say about that.

Well, however it is achieved, "better is better", but the type of nice passes Bratt occasionally makes are essentially routine for Hughes.

 

[Blackjack]

Well, however it is achieved, "better is better", but the type of nice passes Bratt occasionally makes are essentially routine for Hughes.

This pass is not routine for anyone in the world.

 

[Devils731]

This pass is not routine for anyone in the world.

I’d go with this one. It was shifty as Bratt got 3 players to bite he was going around the net and the no look backhand pass was high skill and creative.

 

[devilsblood]

Hearing how Hughes is strictly a pass first player seems a bit off base when you watch the videos.
Basically all of his passes are only to players in better positions, and when the pass isn't on, he shoots. It's not like he passing instead of taking A grade scoring chances. Or simply refusing to shoot.

Is it that these players whom always have the puck get labelled this way? as they see the ice so well and find the open man, while a player with less IQ is only thinking shoot, or alternatively, spends a lot of time without the puck waiting for a chance to shoot?

I watched some vid's as well and he seemed very much a playmaker.

And stats back that up, I think he was 3rd or 4th amongst USDP players in terms of goals per game. But the clear club house leader in assists. 3x's as many assists as goals in USHL play this year. Almost that same rate in USDP play.

Now "strictly" pass first? I'm not even sure what that means. But this past season at least, he was much more a play maker then a goal scorer.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

 

[Emperoreddy]

I think they mean he isn’t going to pass up a good shooting attempt to force a pass.

Something our forwards do a bit too often.

 

[Triumph]

I think they mean he isn’t going to pass up a good shooting attempt to force a pass.

Something our forwards do a bit too often.

I disagree. Anyone who passes as much as Hughes does will 'pass up a good shooting attempt to force a pass'.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Well, however it is achieved, "better is better", but the type of nice passes Bratt occasionally makes are essentially routine for Hughes.

Not that you're wrong but doing it in juniors and nhl is completely different. We've yet to see if Hughes can expose defenders at the nhl level.

I'm willing to bet Bratt made passes like this routinely in europe as well. I just think saying Hughes does it routinely while bratt does it occasionally when they play in different leagues isn't really fair.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

I disagree. Anyone who passes as much as Hughes does will 'pass up a good shooting attempt to force a pass'.

Eh from what I've seen he doesn't seem like a pass first player. I think it was Necas (don't quote me if i'm wrong) at u18 but I remember him flying all over the ice and making plays left and right, but the dude literally never shot the puck, ever.

Hughes isn't like that.

 

[Blackjack]

I disagree. Anyone who passes as much as Hughes does will 'pass up a good shooting attempt to force a pass'.

Or it could be that when you're the primary line driver and carrying the puck a lot, the best scoring opportunities are more often passes than shots. Players like Hughes draw defenders to themselves and then pass to the open man.

 

[mtnet]

Or it could be that when you're the primary line driver and carrying the puck a lot, the best scoring opportunities are more often passes than shots. Players like Hughes draw defenders to themselves and then pass to the open man.

Spot on

He totally draws coverage and is so shifty and mobile with remarkable passing that he finds the guy no one notices while the opposition gets caught puck watching instead of picking up the guy coasting to a high danger scoring area; aka Caufield

 

[Patrik26]

Or it could be that when you're the primary line driver and carrying the puck a lot, the best scoring opportunities are more often passes than shots. Players like Hughes draw defenders to themselves and then pass to the open man.

Spot on

He totally draws coverage and is so shifty and mobile with remarkable passing that he finds the guy no one notices while the opposition gets caught puck watching instead of picking up the guy coasting to a high danger scoring area; aka Caufield

That could be a problem.