Both of us are inherently biased, so I'll preface it at that. But Makar's physicality alone makes him more dynamic in my eyes. I don't see Hughes ever adding that to his skillset, but his elusiveness and stickchecking prowess in the defensive end is extremely good to offset his lack of size and physicality. Aside from that, Makar is a better lateral skater and has a deceptiveness to his movement that I haven't seen from Hughes. Don't get me wrong. At the end of the day, production is paramount and at the moment Hughes is exceeding Makar by a fair margin. If that continues Hughes will win the Calder and will deserve it. But regardless, from what I've seen from both I'd still prefer the more complete, dynamic skillset that Makar provides in the long term.
Makar is a better lateral skater and has a deceptiveness to his movement that I haven't seen from Hughes.
I agree with a lot of what you said about the physicality, but it’s comments like these that make me wonder how much you have truly seen Hughes play. I consider your outlined weaknesses as some of Hughes strongest points.
Oh well... Two great young defensemen... I’m happy the Canucks have one of them.