Pure projection. If you had followed the Devils at all this past season you would know that Hughes was used almost exclusively on the wing, especially in the second half of the season, with Haula centering him. Not only is Hughes incapable of fulfilling the defensive zone responsibilities of a center, he is literally too physically weak to take faceoffs. 35.7% in the dot for his career.
They both can play C and be successful scoring a lot of points. My take is the neither Bedard or Hughes are able to be the best C on their team. I would say the same for Will Smith and possibly even Matthews. This archetype can not be the best C on a team that will win the cup. Each team needs a C that can influence the game on both sides of the ice. Hughes has Nico so he can be a scoring 2nd line C allowing Nico to eat up all the hard matchups.
| Player | 95% Potential | 80% potential | 70% potential | Bust Potential |
| Hagens | Hughes | Point | Larkin | 5% |
| Martone | M. Tkachuk | Landeskog | Meier | 10% |
| Schaefer | Heiskanen | Hanafin | Ekblad | 25% |
| Frondell/Rybakin | Kadri | Granlund | Stephenson | 30% |
You think Jack Hughes is a more valuable player than Matthew Tkachuk and Miro Heiskanen?
I think Martone plays more like a Rantanen (95% potential, by which I mean this is basically his ceiling) -- he's big, he's not a body banger though, and he's creative offensively and responsible defensively, at least from my limited watching. So, different than Tkachuk and Meier as a style comp.
But he didn’t. His most common linemates were Bratt, Toffoli. Neither are Cs. Unless you’re talking about Haula that played on the LW to help with faceoffs.
Aside from the fact that you can ask any Devils fan to confirm, there's this:
Hughes injured his shoulder early in the season so it’s not surprising he was shifted over to wing for most of the season. I’m not saying he’ll be a center long term, just that he was hurt.
Sure, but I was responding to the claim that Gecklund was making that Hughes has never played wing. Easy debunk.
The game is a lot different than it was in the 90’s. There just aren’t many sub 5’11” centers that are more than just scoring wings who play center.
Trying to avoid becoming Toronto 2.0. ~4 high end forwards (including Eklund here) with 0 high end D. Looks great in the regular season. Not so much come playoff time.
You take BPA and figure it out later imo. You can always trade from a position of strength and acquire defensemen via trade too. Having Hagens, Smith, and Celebrini would be insane. Toronto's mistake was spending 18M a year on Rielly and Tavares on top of having their big 3 of Nylander, Marner, and Matthews.
The 1st overall pick will have more value before the draft than at any other time. If done days or weeks before the draft the team trading for the first overall would get a huge marketing boost. Also players aren’t traded immediately after they are drafted. If the Sharks win the lottery and Hagens is the consensus #1 but Smith and Celebrini look legit then it would benefit the Sharks to trade back to get a ransom. Trade back to 3 and get a late first in 25 and then possibly a protected 1st in 26.
Somebody feed those guys, FFS!!!
