People seem to forget what Nico looked like his first year. Falling all over, weak on faceoffs, etc. It's an adjustment. Others said we botched the Nico pick blah blah, now look at Nico 3 years later. Turning into a STUD.
Having MVP Taylor Hall next to him helped him big time as well with his point totals that year. Hughes is playing with Simmonds and Zacha. I like Zacha with him, but take Simmonds off asap. They need someone else on that line(who is probably either in the minors, another team, draft etc). Would love Gusev, but looks like that won't happen.
Hughes will be fine, not worried, but he does have things to work on. You don't want a kid like that not confident though. Be humble, sure, but I'm glad he is still confident and not walking around with his head down based on his current point totals. This thing about his personality and all of that, you're going off sound and video clips etc, no one around here knows the kid personally.
Like someone else said, probably the first time he's facing adversity like this, which will be good in the long run.
The bigger issues though going forward; GM, coaching staff, more talent, goaltending, fixing the terrible defense