Player Discussion Quinn Hughes, Pt. V

[Hyzer]

the weird thing watching hughes is that he is an undersized 19 year old dman in his first 3 games who to me plays like a veteran. he is right in the play and reacting to it. he looks calmer and better composed than hutton. it's weird to watch.

pettersson is like that too, especially defensively, playing a game years ahead of his age, but offensively pettersson still seems young and awkward a lot with bursts of passion that often turn out to be overreach. quinn so far just looks poised in both ends.

i've seen teenaged rookies before and even very good ones and they all looked like teenagers with immature often awkward games and were succeeding on sheer effort and talent with the polish and maturity to round out their game come. these guys are something different. it's like hughes and pettersson are both old souls. the canucks have never had guys who look like that as teenagers. when their physical maturity catches up with their brains it could be truly amazing.

We've never seen something like this because we haven't seen players this smart as rookies, in like... 20 years. These top ends kids are so smart, they were just destroying their competition.

Now they come to the NHL with other top end talented minds and they can do so many more things they couldn't do at a younger level because their teammates were always worse than them

 

[Shareefruck]

There is so much hype about his skating. Everyone is raving about how he is one of the best skaters in the league. How is his skating compared to speedsters like Horvat or JV18, or past canuck Pavel Bure?

Speedsters like Horvat?

 

[Fatass]

Speedsters like Horvat?

Bo is fast in a straight line when at top speed. Hughes is way quicker, and is a phenomenal guy at accelerating, changing speeds, turning, stopping, and pretty much all other aspects to of skating than Bo.

 

[Shareefruck]

No I’d gast in s straight line when at top speed. Hughes is way quicker, and s phenomenal guy at accelerating, changing speeds, turning, stopping, and pretty much all other aspects to of skating than Bo.

...?

 

[Motte and Bailey]

Citing pettersson is moronic. For every pettersson, there's hundreds that don't. terrible bs argument.

Show me the hundreds as skilled as Pettersson and Hughes that never became real good players, I don’t think you can.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

i have to admit, when i saw him at the wjc he would separate himself so comically much from defenders that i thought, kid will never have enough space to operate like that in the nhl at nhl speed against nhl competition.

i was wrong. what looked like an unrealistic amount of space was really just him being so much better of a skater than his competition. he can wheel in the pros, that’s for sure.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

So far Boeser, EP and Hughes have all stepped into the NHL and made an immediate impact after having a great post draft year.
While I think it’s true that fanbases in general over hype their prospects, I also think it’s time to acknowledge that a lot of the hype for the high end skilled guys is warranted.

 

[Zombotron]

mmm, zone exits

 

[LordBacon]

mmm, zone exits

Son of a gun has 99 skating at the age of 19.
Clone this guy!

 

[Bankerguy]

His skating is insane. Watching him is a pleasure

 

[GetFocht]

Son of a gun has 99 skating at the age of 19.
Clone this guy!

Watching these highlights and his college highlights, He's playing the exact same way. This is absolutely insane.

 

[polarbearcub]

Quinn is a special talent. I cannot wait to watch him grow.

Dmen that skate like this and control games IE karlsson are probably my favourite type of players to watch. There’s something mesmerizing about watching guys like this.

 

[JumpierPegasus]

Son of a gun has 99 skating at the age of 19.
Clone this guy!

His skating isn't even the most impressive part for me, and it is impressive

It's his 99 agility. The guy has some insane edgework, and his ability to change direction on a dime absolutely confuses forecheckers at the blueline. That skill alone will make it tough for coaches to adapt. You can adapt and snuff out a Boeser by playing man-to-man at the hashmarks, you can adapt to Pettersson by cutting off lanes to his side of the ice. But Hughes agility will be a factor that is hard to defend against because it is so unpredictable

It is an incredible skill set he has there. His zone entry is amazing. I'm in love.

 

[Raistlin]

I remember when we drafted juolevi, it is for his breakout and zone exits. Now I don't really know what his forte is anymore. Juolevi is the D that eluded us for these past 40 years, it's such a pleasure to see these prodigys excel in their skillsets.

If I am Green, I will assign a consistent set of high IQ forwards who plays with him to learn his unpredictable tendencies, and we will be that much closer to having a Washington level PP.

 

[Melvin]

mmm, zone exits

Thanks for this. I didn't get a chance to watch any of his games because I've been busy. Pretty impressive stuff.

 

[F A N]

I remember when we drafted juolevi, it is for his breakout and zone exits. Now I don't really know what his forte is anymore. Juolevi is the D that eluded us for these past 40 years, it's such a pleasure to see these prodigys excel in their skillsets.

If I am Green, I will assign a consistent set of high IQ forwards who plays with him to learn his unpredictable tendencies, and we will be that much closer to having a Washington level PP.

Juolevi is more of a transitional defenseman. That should still be "his forte." I think you mean "Hughes is that D that eluded us..."

 

[Raistlin]

Juolevi is more of a transitional defenseman. That should still be "his forte." I think you mean "Hughes is that D that eluded us..."

Whoops that's what I mean.

It was rhetorical, but yea, been so disappointed with OJ's lack of development, that he's almost an afterthought now. Haven't given up on him completely yet, but never thought a prospect can exhibit such advanced hockey sense, but demonstrate such a lack of compete.

 

[Phenomenon13]

Surprised no one has brought up Benning's high praise for Hughes. Expecting him to have a similar impact that Pettersson did for the forward group.

 

[Zarpan]

Vancouver has lacked a good playmaking defenseman for a long time. The last time one of our D hit 30 assists was Edler back in 2011-12. That's the longest streak in the league by three years and most teams have at least one D that reaches 30 assists in any given year.

 

[Nick1219]

I honestly think there’s a lot of people who are underestimating how big of an impact Hughes is going to have next year. If he’s out there 25 minutes a night, that’s nearly half a game of improved breakouts and offence from our back end. Like others have said we haven’t had this type of defenseman... ever?

 

[Gaunce4gm]

Who is the better Hughes in 5 years? Serious question.

 

[Hit the post]

I remember when we drafted juolevi, it is for his breakout and zone exits. Now I don't really know what his forte is anymore. Juolevi is the D that eluded us for these past 40 years, it's such a pleasure to see these prodigys excel in their skillsets.

Paul Reinhardt.

 

[Hit the post]

I honestly think there’s a lot of people who are underestimating how big of an impact Hughes is going to have next year. If he’s out there 25 minutes a night, that’s nearly half a game of improved breakouts and offence from our back end. Like others have said we haven’t had this type of defenseman... ever?

Erik Karlsson only had just over 20 minutes. Expecting to be playing 25 minutes would be probably wishful thinking. That and he's never played more than 40 games in a season. Give him time for his body to mature and handle the grind of a marathon NHL season.

 

[Nick1219]

Erik Karlsson only had just over 20 minutes. Expecting to be playing 25 minutes would be probably wishful thinking. That and he's never played more than 40 games in a season. Give him time for his body to mature and handle the grind of a marathon NHL season.

25 is probably an over exaggeration for a full season average, but he’ll certainly eclipse that mark in a few games next year. Heiskanen and Chabot were around 24min/game while Dahlin was right around 21. I expect he’ll settle somewhere betweeen them at 22/23. Most college guys struggle in the second half of the season after making the leap. It’ll be interesting to see how Hughes handles it.

 

[Phenomenon13]

My expectations are 30 points and at least 20 mins a game.