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Leafs lost to Vegas tonight - make that 6 in a row.

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It had been a while since I had checked to see how Jack Hughes is doing. His stat line doesn't look too good. Anyone watched any New Jersey games, and have an opinion on his progress this season?

Just not sure it was a good idea for them to have Hughes play in the NHL this season. It seems every number 1 overall pick is expected to play in the NHL right away, but this kid didn't look physically ready to me.

I am glad Turcotte is at Wisconsin, and I hope he stays for one more year after this one. Young players need to be prepared and experience some success in their first NHL season in order to gain confidence.
 
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KINGS17 said:
It had been a while since I had checked to see how Jack Hughes is doing. His stat line doesn't look too good. Anyone watched any New Jersey games, and have an opinion on his progress this season?

Just not sure it was a good idea for them to have Hughes play in the NHL this season. It seems every number 1 overall pick is expected to play in the NHL right away, but this kid didn't look physically ready to me.

I am glad Turcotte is at Wisconsin, and I hope he stays for one more year after this one. Young players need to be prepared and experience some success in their first NHL season in order to gain confidence.
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New Jersey is a train wreck. Schneider sent down, PK is struggling, Simmons in struggling-I thought they would be an exciting team to watch this season but they are a mess.
 
I don’t doubt Hughes skills, he can play at the nhl level but he’s not mature enough at this level to produce what’s expected of him I think it just kind of snowballed on Hughes.

The life of an NHLer can be overwhelming for an 18-19 year old, or a tough transition to being a pro with sky high expectations. You can’t exactly go out and drink with the guys or go to the club go let off some steam.

So many things are happening at once and you are on the road more often. We’ve seen it happen to many times in sports where players aren’t ready but the team forces the issue.
 
DryIslandBartender said:
I don’t doubt Hughes skills, he can play at the nhl level but he’s not mature enough at this level to produce what’s expected of him I think it just kind of snowballed on Hughes.

The life of an NHLer can be overwhelming for an 18-19 year old, or a tough transition to being a pro with sky high expectations. You can’t exactly go out and drink with the guys or go to the club go let off some steam.

So many things are happening at once and you are on the road more often. We’ve seen it happen to many times in sports where players aren’t ready but the team forces the issue.
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Yeah, this is why I would be perfectly fine if Turcotte stayed at Wisconsin until after he finishes his sophomore season. At his age I want to see him experience success and build his confidence. His presence next season on the Kings isn't going to matter in the least.

The Wisconsin record is only 6-6 on the season. In The Athletic article I read Turcotte indicated one of the reasons he went there was to return the program to its traditional winning ways, and change the culture. I think it would be good if he stayed there for at least one more season and do just that.

After all, he is going to need plenty of experience in that vein when he shows up in LA.
 
KINGS17 said:
It had been a while since I had checked to see how Jack Hughes is doing. His stat line doesn't look too good. Anyone watched any New Jersey games, and have an opinion on his progress this season?

Just not sure it was a good idea for them to have Hughes play in the NHL this season. It seems every number 1 overall pick is expected to play in the NHL right away, but this kid didn't look physically ready to me.

I am glad Turcotte is at Wisconsin, and I hope he stays for one more year after this one. Young players need to be prepared and experience some success in their first NHL season in order to gain confidence.
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went to the devils vs flmaes and he was the best devil on the ice (didn't take much). scored a highlight real goal but was noticeable outside of that too
 
Hughes looks like he needs to bulk up a bit. The few games I've watched him you can tell he is highly talented, but he gets knocked off the puck pretty easy. Being new in the league and first overall you know guys are gunning for him a little more, so there is that much more he has to overcome.
 
KINGS17 said:
It had been a while since I had checked to see how Jack Hughes is doing. His stat line doesn't look too good. Anyone watched any New Jersey games, and have an opinion on his progress this season?

Just not sure it was a good idea for them to have Hughes play in the NHL this season. It seems every number 1 overall pick is expected to play in the NHL right away, but this kid didn't look physically ready to me.
Click to expand...

They tried to shield him early on with 3rd line minutes plus PP time. But an early injury to Hischier gave them the opportunity to play him on the top line which produced for a few games before going cold. Not surprisingly, strength wise he's at a disadvantage. It took him awhile to get going and people were freaking out that he went pointless in his first six games, but he has 10 points in the next 14 so at least he's been improving along the way.

He's going to learn that he doesn't necessarily need to be at full speed all the time. Sometimes the speed has worked against him as it has put him out of position defensively by overcommitting to where the puck is. Almost by trial by fire, he's been learning what he can and can't get away with against NHL defenders. Some of those early games he was trying to make some fancy no look 360 passes that maybe worked against lesser competition but were being picked off quite easily against pros.

The biggest problem to me is that he hasn't had consistent linemates as the coaching staff has seemingly shuffled lines every few games trying to find a combination which sticks.
 
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KINGS17 said:
Young players need to be prepared and experience some success in their first NHL season in order to gain confidence.
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Have to disagree with you here. Essentially every star player in the league experienced little success in their first NHL season.

Crosby - 22-46-14. Ovechkin - 29-41-12. McDavid - 31-43-8. Doughty- 34-37-11. Kopitar - 27-41-14.

I would argue that a star player coming into the league and having success in their 1st NHL season is extremely rare and has no impact in their overall development. Hughes is doing fine, he is 3rd on the team in scoring and learning how to play at the highest level. I don't think him going back to a lower level would benefit him in any way and I would argue it would have had a negative impact on him. I look at Schenn and I believe Lombardi negatively affected his development by sending him back to juniors. Spinning your tires in place can lead to bad habits and cost players valuable further development in their prime development years.
 
kingsboy11 said:
I don't dislike the Leafs, but seeing them struggle like this puts a smile on my face
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I do.

I loathe the fact that their entire fanbase and media in Toronto thinks and assumes the entire world revolves around them. It's f***ing annoying every. damn. day.

Toronto Maple Leafs have been my 2011 Vancouver Canucks.

Besides, it's really hard to hate on these throwbacks. Thank God they brought them back this year.

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savemefromtears said:
I do.

I loathe the fact that their entire fanbase and media in Toronto thinks and assumes the entire world revolves around them. It's ****ing annoying every. damn. day.

Toronto Maple Leafs have been my 2011 Vancouver Canucks.
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try living in Canada and having them shoved down your throat even more. TSN sportsdesk used to show leaf practice highlights and interviews during days when the leafs do not play before showing Kings highlights. PISSED ME RIGHT OFF
 
Keefe's a good hire.

I don't particularly hate TO, but watching people in total denial of team needs completely mock two-way guys like Doughty and Kopitar while getting rocked in the GA department for years and years makes it fun to watch them squirm and maybe finally hit that self-realization like the post-2011 Canucks did.

It's the Bergeron/Toews/Kopitar thing. I don't need my guy to score 90-110 points. I just need him to keep being a 70-80 point guy while rendering your 100-pt scorer into a 50-pt scorer head to head.
 
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I'm intrigued to see how the rest of the season goes with Keefe. I imagine there may be a slight bump just do to regression, players coming back from injury and the natural response when a coach gets fired. However, I still believe the team is flawed and I can't imagine that Keefe has some magical recipe to extract even more out of this team that Babcock couldn't.

People bring up the Blues last year and the 2012 Kings, but the coaches hired were completely different styles. Both Sutter and Berube were no nonsense, hard nosed coaches who had previous head coaching experience in the NHL. They both played and were tough guys on the ice in the NHL. They basically brought accountability and got the team going. By all accounts Keefe does not fit that mold.
 
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