The consensus is that Hughes has the toolbox and stats, Makar has the better tools (skating, size, shot). Stats now favor Makar. Is the gap between college conferences really so big to make up for double the production?
Makar is most definitely not a better skater, he probably has better straight explosive-speed, but Hughes is so freakin' slippery that he simply cannot be hit (unbelievable west-to-east movement). Both of them have duds of shots (Ib4 Team Canada goal), but I do like Makar's shot in terms of heaviness potential, while Hughes is much better at accuracy shooting (choose whatever you deem fit). Makar is definitely thicker and will be able to withstand physicality, but you simply cannot hit Hughes as he's almost Datsyuk-esque.
Hockey East's winning percentage dropped from .600 something two seasons ago to .400 something percent last season and their teams have been getting abused by other conferences so far this season except for UMass (who are legitimately a good team). UMass hasn't played a ton of HE opponents yet; they've beat...
- A team called Royal Military (wtf is this?)
- Rensselaer x2 (It's an engineering school who has a very weak programme)
- Ohio State x1 (Did beat 1st ranked Ohio State in one match, but OSU got destroyed by Bowling Green last weekend, so they're not the best team in the country).
- Merrimack x2 (Not a very good team)
They play New Hampshire once this weekend on the third of November who suck, but the true test is in two weeks against Providence who crushed BU, Miami, and barely lost to Notre Dame. Providence is probably the best team in Hockey East and could very well be a top 5 ranked team by the end of November.
