Quinton Hughes vs. Adam Boqvist vs. Evan Bouchard vs. Noah Dobson vs. Ty Smith

[Zaddy]

Fact is that it's still too early to tell. I think everyone knows this deep down. Hughes has made the biggest impact offensively, but at the same time he also deeply struggles with play in his own end. Smith and Boqvist are both coming into their own and Bouchard has barely made the league yet. Dobson is having a great year too. We can be patient before making proclamations about who is best, because to me it is clear that every defenseman listed has fundamental things to work on (which is completely fair at this stage of their careers).

Yep, it's going to take a long while before we know who is the best of these guys. Hughes obviously established himself first but there are definite concerns about his defensive game. The other guys are just getting their feet wet now and are showing promise. Definitely going to be interesting to see who ends up the best of them. I have no idea right now.

 

[Woncka]

Dobson looking like the worst of the lot so fad, which I wouldnt have guessed

still early

 

[Critical13]

Dobson
Hughes
Boqvist
Bouchard
Smith

Interesting to look back on these. Seems no one was high on Smith.

Offensively, 5v5 Hughes seems to be the runaway winner. ^

Boqvist seems to have the most intrguiging numbers compared to his teammates. ^

These #s are 5v5, and Boqvist is kind of shockingly good. Smith also very strong 5v5.He does have by far the smallest sample size, though. ^

Q.Hughes is easily the best PP player, top 2-3 in the entire league, and that holds a ton of value as well.

As of right now, I would rank them:

Studs:
1. Hughes
2. Boqvist
3. Smith

Good:
4. Bouchard

Depth:
5. Dobson

 

[voxel]

Dobson looking like the worst of the lot so fad, which I wouldnt have guessed

still early

Still early but Dobson is basically what I projected him to be at the draft. An offensively challenged good-skating NHL D-man.

 

[Critical13]

Still early but Dobson is basically what I projected him to be at the draft. An offensively challenged good-skating NHL D-man.

He looked much stronger offensively at the start of the year (eye-test), so I expect him to be better long term. May be a Toews situation, where a really good defenceman is hidden behind Pelech-Pulock.

In his last year in junior, when everyone was fawning over him, I did have some pretty strong reservations about his game. I am not sure his offensive IQ is at a top 4 NHL dman level, but the physical skills seem to be there.

 

[voxel]

He looked much stronger offensively at the start of the year (eye-test), so I expect him to be better long term. May be a Toews situation, where a really good defenceman is hidden behind Pelech-Pulock.

In his last year in junior, when everyone was fawning over him, I did have some pretty strong reservations about his game. I am not sure his offensive IQ is at a top 4 NHL dman level, but the physical skills seem to be there.

The two NHL games I saw him in (in the last week or so) he played PP1. Maybe he's sheltered a little bit at even strength but I don't see the offensive IQ to be an elite point producer. His idea of a breakout pass is a ring it around the boards.

If you want to talk about a buried D... that's Bouchard. He plays sparingly on the bottom pair with the offensively inept bottom 6, with almost zero PP time compared to Dobson, Boqvist, Smith who all get 2-3mins of PP per game. Hughes averages 4:30min of PP time per game.

 

[Critical13]

The two NHL games I saw him in (in the last week or so) he played PP1. Maybe he's sheltered a little bit at even strength but I don't see the offensive IQ to be an elite point producer. His idea of a breakout pass is a ring it around the boards.

If you want to talk about a buried D... that's Bouchard. He plays sparingly on the bottom pair with the offensively inept bottom 6, with almost zero PP time compared to Dobson, Boqvist, Smith who all get 2-3mins of PP per game. Hughes averages 4:30min of PP time per game.

5 minutes PP TOI is hilariously too small for me to really make a call on, but I will say that in Bouchard's teeny tiny sample, he's been worse than his compadres on the Oilers. I am guessing this is due to Nurse being PP1 and racking up a ton of secondary assists?

Boqvist also doesn't get a lot of time but it kind of looks like that will change in the future.

 

[voxel]

5 minutes PP TOI is hilariously too small for me to really make a call on, but I will say that in Bouchard's teeny tiny sample, he's been worse than his compadres on the Oilers. I am guessing this is due to Nurse being PP1 and racking up a ton of secondary assists?

Boqvist also doesn't get a lot of time but it kind of looks like that will change in the future.

Bouchard's PP time is basically garbage PP2 time after McDrai has been tired from 3-4min shifts.. lol. Bouchard gets to play with elite PP2 types like Ennis, Turris, and Kahun for the final 20 second of a PP.

Boqvist has quite a bit of PP time for a player with 9GP

 

[Dominance]

Pretty funny to see Dobson being criticized for being the only player here known to always make the safe plays. I think he could easily develop into the best of the bunch, in the Pietrangelo mould.

 

[nowhereman]

Pretty funny to see Dobson being criticized for being the only player here known to always make the safe plays. I think he could easily develop into the best of the bunch, in the Pietrangelo mould.

No one's criticizing him for making safe plays. He just hasn't proven to be dynamic enough to move the needle on his stock over a guy like Hughes who is a superstar (and unfairly maligned by an off start).

Dobson would have to have a pretty significant (i.e. massive) uptick in his play, if he wants to become a Pietrangelo-level player. Pietrangelo was the best young talent in the world at one point and a top 5 pick in one of the best defensive drafts of all time. Dobson may play like Pietrangelo but he's tracking to be more of a #2.

 

[Critical13]

Pretty funny to see Dobson being criticized for being the only player here known to always make the safe plays. I think he could easily develop into the best of the bunch, in the Pietrangelo mould.

I mean, I could buy this if he was putting up the best defensive metrics but he's not, and they look even worse when you look at team relative. So I don't really get what point you are trying to make, and I definitely don't see any Pietrangelo in his game.

 

[FlyguyOX]

K'Andre Miller.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

K'Andre Miller.

I didn't see his name in the original post...

 

[Bank Shot]

5 minutes PP TOI is hilariously too small for me to really make a call on, but I will say that in Bouchard's teeny tiny sample, he's been worse than his compadres on the Oilers. I am guessing this is due to Nurse being PP1 and racking up a ton of secondary assists?
View attachment 399996

Oilers typically run 4 forwards on their PP. McDavid, Draisaitl, RNH, Random net front guy, and Tyson Barrie. They often play almost the entire 2 minutes if they don't score.

Nurse got some time there when Barrie was in a rut to start the season, and also gets second unit PP time.

Bouchard has essentially only played PP in the last 30 seconds of a PP on the second unit, or when the Oilers are clobbering someone, and Tippet rewards the 3rd and 4th lines with PP time.

Bouchard clearly has the tools to excel on the PP, and that will be evident when he gets his chance.

 

[Frobbo]

No one's criticizing him for making safe plays. He just hasn't proven to be dynamic enough to move the needle on his stock over a guy like Hughes who is a superstar (and unfairly maligned by an off start).

Dobson would have to have a pretty significant (i.e. massive) uptick in his play, if he wants to become a Pietrangelo-level player. Pietrangelo was the best young talent in the world at one point and a top 5 pick in one of the best defensive drafts of all time. Dobson may play like Pietrangelo but he's tracking to be more of a #2.

I would certainly slow down on denoting QH as a "superstar". His start this year has him trending in a Gostisbehere direction. Just don't get the fawning when he is so bad in his own end. He looks like he doesn't have a clue at times. When you get schooled by Mangiapane, well, that's brutal.

 

[nowhereman]

I would certainly slow down on denoting QH as a "superstar". His start this year has him trending in a Gostisbehere direction. Just don't get the fawning when he is so bad in his own end. He looks like he doesn't have a clue at times. When you get schooled by Mangiapane, well, that's brutal.

Did he forget to play defense during the pandemic or is he just off to a rough start, like Jones, Josi, Heiskanen or the entire Canucks team?

 

[TheHelmet]

No that would a guy by the named of Rasmus Dahlin
a Guy who you throw out every excuse in the book for.

How you going to do my boy Dahlin like that.
Didn't realize he was that bad.


I think neither player is as bad these boards makes them out to be in their own zone.

 

[Oneiro]

I like Dobson a lot. Think he's in the right environment to develop and the offense will come. At worst, a steady top 4 guy to complement a risk taking partner.

As a biased Devils fan, I think Smith evolves into a strong two-way guy who can make plays with the puck on his stick and play a steady Lidstrom-inspired position-first defense. His challenge is trying to balance creativity with safety and figure out how to defend against size.

Hughes is his own thing. Very interesting to see what happens to him, Makar and Dahlin. What's great about these guys is that they can be the 4th forward but they have the skating to recover.

Bouchard and Boqvist I don't think are nearly as impressive as those three.

 

[Hisch13r]

Pretty funny to see Dobson being criticized for being the only player here known to always make the safe plays. I think he could easily develop into the best of the bunch, in the Pietrangelo mould.

Wasn't Smith's whole thing that he was very smart and safe and played without flash?

 

[Szechwan]

Who are each of these guys partnered with? Curious to see how that helps/hurts their defensive or offensive output.

 

[Hisch13r]

Who are each of these guys partnered with? Curious to see how that helps/hurts their defensive or offensive output.

lol Smith went from AHL caliber Matt Tennyson to Severson who has been a legit #1 this year. He's been on both extremes

 

[Szechwan]

Alright I was curious so I just checked for myself

Boqvist - Duncan Keith
Smith - Mat Tennyson/Damon Severson
Dobson - Andy Greene
Hughes - Jordie Benn
Bouchard - Caleb Jones

Could play a role in Dobson not putting up numbers, and Hughes getting ventilated at the start of the year. Who thought Jordie Benn was a good idea?

 

[voxel]

Alright I was curious so I just checked for myself

Boqvist - Duncan Keith
Smith - Mat Tennyson/Damon Severson
Dobson - Andy Greene
Hughes - Jordie Benn
Bouchard - Caleb Jones

I doubt that is accurate since Caleb Jones hasn’t played in a while. I think Bouchard is with various vet scrubs like Russell or KKKK. He’s not playing prime minutes with McDrai nor on the PP. He’s basically playing defensive minutes which is a great learning experience for him.

 

[lawrence]

Since the 5-1 win against the flames , ive been seeing the best stretch Quinn Hughes have been playin. The 4-3 ot loss to the jets is the best game puck possession wise, play manipulation, and controlling the game ive seen Hughes play all season and quite possibly his best regular season game ever. Of course you clowns will counter argue saying he’s playing so bad he can easily improve upon that. You guys Also refuse to bring up the fact Hughes is somewhat of a victim of a struggling system/team right now, add to the fact bunch of - is via empty nets. Anyways I always liked Bouchard abs and smith. Where’s that youtuber that made videos on him outlining his flaws ?

 

[lawrence]

No that would a guy by the named of Rasmus Dahlin
a Guy who you throw out every excuse in the book for.

that user you are responding too has a history of indiscriminately trashing Quinn Hughes. it’s rather unfair and he pushes false headlines.