Player Discussion Quinn Hughes, Pt. VI

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Chimpradamus

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Hughes will be just fine. Sure, he will never be a behemoth around the crease and he will always have as his weakness to defend, especially against bigger players moving in on him. He has to work on his positioning, agility and stick work to try to diminish that. Gaining more muscles isn't the answer, although more strength is always a good choice. It's not the same thing.

But, he's the epitome of a modern defenseman. He will create more goals than he will cause at the end of the day and he will cause more pucks to be and stay in the offensive zone than the other way around.

It's also the most difficult position to learn and hone in the game. Give him some time. Sure, he's struggling defensively, but he's also showing how much he can contribute in all other areas of the game. Pettersson and Hughes are the most talented and promising players on the roster (thank you Captain Obvious!).
 

BWJM

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This doesn't get old.
 

WTG

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Best 4 game stretch so far. Really felt over the 4 games only last game would I blame him for a goal against.
2nd in possession metrics only behind Edler, who had a hell of a series vs. Calgary.
Benn was the worst out of the 6 using advanced stats. Weird since they were partnered up so much.
 
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4Twenty

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Best 4 game stretch so far. Really felt over the 4 games only last game would I blame him for a goal against.
If his partner is Tanev and not Benn, Mangiapane gets stuffed coming across the crease.

Yeah Quinn got caught flat but I agree he’s playing better.
 
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PettersonHughes

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Anyone with ideas for who might fit the description of a player who would fit as his D-pairing partner (and who the team can realistically acquire)? Or is the stabilizing player already in our organization?
 

Callhee

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Anyone with ideas for who might fit the description of a player who would fit as his D-pairing partner (and who the team can realistically acquire)? Or is the stabilizing player already in our organization?
Its likely a pipe dream, but it would be great if Woo could grow into the role of Quinn's partner. He plays a simple defensive style, shoots right, is a decent skater, possesses the physicality to offset Hughes' lack thereof, and appears to think the game at a high enough level to complement Quinn.
 

4Twenty

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Anyone with ideas for who might fit the description of a player who would fit as his D-pairing partner (and who the team can realistically acquire)? Or is the stabilizing player already in our organization?
Right handed stabilizing right side defenders are very rare and very costly.

The guys I like for that spot cost a lot of $$ and would require a boat load of assets.

I think a guy like Ryan Pulock would almost be perfect, need to wait another season until he's UFA.
 

PettersonHughes

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Its likely a pipe dream, but it would be great if Woo could grow into the role of Quinn's partner. He plays a simple defensive style, shoots right, is a decent skater, possesses the physicality to offset Hughes' lack thereof, and appears to think the game at a high enough level to complement Quinn.

Wonder if they'll circle back to Myers this season then, though he's probably starting to gel well with Juolevi if the team lacks higher end defensive options he can probably take on some more of a defensive role (and put Benn or Hamonic with Olli for a short stint and see if that works).
 

Peen

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if his season continues at the pace he's at right now of being ppg but also being the worst defensive player in the league, what kind of contract do you even give that guy?
 

Peen

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This was from a Harman Dayal article about a week ago.

We saw Tanev’s defensive wherewithal on full display on this play, where he saved a goal from the blue paint in the first period.
You still might be side-eyeing that contract in the years to come, but Calgary’s short-term gain has clearly been Vancouver’s loss.
Naturally, this brings us to Hughes. How much of his defensive struggles can be attributed to Tanev’s departure? It’s clearly part of it, but we think the explanation for Hughes’ permissiveness goes deeper than that.
The truth is that Hughes’ slipping two-way results aren’t limited to this season, when he’s been without Tanev. It stretches back to the second half of last season.
During the final 35 games of the 2019-20 regular season, the Hughes-Tanev pair was outplayed by a decisive margin. They were outshot by 49, out-chanced by 39 and outscored by four at five-on-five. They controlled only 44.7 percent of expected goals and had many of the same defensive issues that we’re seeing from the Hughes pair this year.
Through the second half of last season, the pair surrendered a high volume of shots and quality chances against, while getting pumped for just over three goals against per hour. These own-zone issues aren’t just from this season, so narrowing Hughes’ defensive struggles down to “he’s a shell of himself without Tanev” would be an oversimplification.
The Tanev effect is real, but it’s burying the lede. The bigger story here is that the question mark around Hughes’ defensive game doesn’t just pertain to this season; it’s been a bit longer than that. It means that Vancouver’s star defenceman hasn’t been a two-way ace since the unbelievable first half of his rookie campaign.
If you look at the NHL’s last 50 regular-season games entering Thursday, Hughes’ 3.73 goals against rate is the highest among 181 defencemen who’ve skated at least 450 minutes. It’s not just the bounces going against him, either — he’s second to last in his expected goals against rate, too.

The Armies: The Chris Tanev effect and the end of the empire – The Athletic
 
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Icebreakers

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7.5m x 8years

I think him being atrocious defensively wont continue. He may not be ever good defensively, but likely wont be league worst. He feels like that he has to play that way since theres pretty much no other offense from the blue line. He wasnt a wreck defensively last season. Theres pretty much no way he or his agent would take less than 7.5m on a long term deal.

Few dman to get over 6.5m after ELC

Provorov 6.75m - Coming off of a 26 point season in 82 games where he was -16.

Aaron Ekblad 7.5m Coming off of a 21 point season in 68 games where he was -23

Thomas Chabot 8m Coming off a 55 point season in 70 games where he was -12.

Anything over 8 would be an overpayment.
 
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Javaman

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The thing about Hughes is that some of his best defensive plays don't show up as "defensive" plays. For example, in tonight's game against the Jets, QH chose to dive in at the offensive blue line to disrupt a breakout. Had he not done that, it would have led to an outnumbered rush by the Jets, even if QH had instead played it safe and backpedaled to be in a good defensive posture.

It just makes me wary of criticizing QH's defensive play based solely on stats. The fact remains that he's a very intelligent player. When you combine that with his skill, I'm pretty confident he'll end up being reliable on the defensive side of things.
 
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Raistlin

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For being such an integral part of the offensive he deserves the 7.5-8 million contract. But a lot of gains on offense is being squandered with his defensive permissiveness. So you give him a long term high AAV deal and hope that he tightens his defensive game. Make him watch women's hockey to see how their D plays without being physical like Karlsson did. If you give him 7-8, it better be for as long as that same amount. If it's a bridge, 6.5 million for 5 is probably the max he gets. I would not want to give him a bridge.
 

lawrence

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Anyone with ideas for who might fit the description of a player who would fit as his D-pairing partner (and who the team can realistically acquire)?

Yes.

His name is Luke Schenn and he was on waivers 3 days before the start of the season. His Salary cap is 800 000k, and he's a right shooter. Just won the cup, so he is playoff battle hardened. played for us previously, tough guy, not ideal for now, but a better option than Benn and a righty. I also think Hamonic is a decent option.
 
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Breakers

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Some of his underlying numbers are surprisingly stabilizing like WTG said. They still aren’t great, but they’re better with every passing game with Benn.
Hughes with Myers should never happen again.

Hanifin and Tanev were the talk of the league to start the season and playing amazing defensively and we’re top 3 in xGA per60.
Now among qualifying defense pairings they aren’t even Top 20 as the season has progressed.
 
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shottasasa

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Nov 16, 2011
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Hamonic should be back soon

Yeah, I think they should give that pairing another shot. I don't think Hamonic is as bad as he was in those handful of games before he got injured, at least there were enough extenuating circumstances to cloud that picture. He had a long layoff from hockey, no preseason, and the whole team system was a mess. I think if Hamonic comes back and shows he still has some value as defensive d-man that is good on the PK, he might be a cheap option for next year. They won't be able to splash cash to bring in another top end RD who can play with Hughes, and honestly I just think he needs someone competent in covering his weaknesses in the D-zone.

I'm interested at least to see what he looks like as there is a small chance he wasn't as bad as he looked in the last season in Calgary and we may as well find out. There is something weird with Calgary and I'm not a believer.
 

Bures Elbow

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Part of the GM's job will be to find the perfect solid defensive partner for him.

Someone like Tanev but younger or just entering their prime...how to get one with our current Cap situation will be the question.
 

canuckking1

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Feb 8, 2015
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Part of the GM's job will be to find the perfect solid defensive partner for him.

Someone like Tanev but younger or just entering their prime...how to get one with our current Cap situation will be the question.

You don’t find these player in FA. You either draft them or find a diamond in the rough. Perfect partner for Hughes would Slavin.
 

VanJack

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Part of the GM's job will be to find the perfect solid defensive partner for him.

Someone like Tanev but younger or just entering their prime...how to get one with our current Cap situation will be the question.
It's simple.....tank for Hughes, as in Luke. Then you're set for the next decade.
 
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