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C Jack Hughes - USNTDP (2019 Draft) Part III

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bigdog16 said:
I swear at this point you could write a 200+ page book about everything wrong with Hughes. Its honestly impressive that you take this much time out of your life to downplay a 17 year old
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To be honest he is right about almost everything in that post though...
 
You guys are so dramatic lol! I swear this happens every year. Hughes is a great player with a great attitude. He’s 17 and definitely has to get stronger and has to work on his shot. He is completely aware of what he needs to work on and has talked about it. He has an amazing skill set and is a very smart guy. The safe bet is that he will a great player in the NHL as will Kakko. Kakko is probably more NHL ready right now, but you just cannot pass up on a guy like Hughes in today’s NHL. The kid is nasty and has excelled at every level.
 
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I think his straight line speed is a little overrated as well as his hands and iq.
He loses the puck too often and holds on to the puck too long too often.

On the positive side he definitely has great acceleration and edge work, has very good vision, is not afraid to go to the front of the next, and is feisty.

Scale if 1-10, 10 being 95% in nhl...

Skating 9 (acceleration/edge work 10, straight line speed 8)
Vision 9
Passing 8.5
Hands 8
Hockey iq 7
Determination 8
Strength 2
Shot 4
Creativity/Unpredictability 9
 
danito said:
I think his straight line speed is a little overrated as well as his hands and iq.
He loses the puck too often and holds on to the puck too long too often.

On the positive side he definitely has great acceleration and edge work, has very good vision, is not afraid to go to the front of the next, and is feisty.

Scale if 1-10, 10 being 95% in nhl...

Skating 9 (acceleration/edge work 10, straight line speed 8)
Vision 9
Passing 8.5
Hands 8
Hockey iq 7
Determination 8
Strength 2
Shot 4
Creativity/Unpredictability 9
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Hands is a 10 but I mostly agree
 
I honestly swear to God how lucky Johnny Hockey is that he went in the 4th round...I could only imagine how many people would have trashed him, his shot, his size and strength if he was talked about as a top 3 prospect..it would have been hysterical..
 
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ijuka said:
It's not cherry picked at all. Just a good example. He does these pond hockey turns almost exclusively. It's an overarching playstyle, which you'll see if you watch any full match of his, or even a single period. If you watch the entire video, you'll see this very well - not sure how your analysis has anything to do with what I'm talking about. He specifically as his playstyle almost exclusively is constantly skating circles, stopping very rarely to react to a play.

In case you don't get what he's in my opinion supposed to do, it's instantly brake, instantly turn around and accelerate in the opposite direction. He could actually join all of these plays instead of going around in broad circles. Am I saying that's something he'll be unable to physically do when seeking to play in NHL? No. But it's still puzzling. Actually, this is something I've been paying plenty of attention to as it used to be a significant issue in Finland. But lately, I've seen many of the top prospects actually playing start-and-stop in even juniors, which is something I didn't see before. Usually, North American players don't pond hockey it up like this, they do proper turns.

But well, it still is something I greatly dislike. He can't play in NHL like this, he'll need to change it. Look at NHL teams after they get the puck, they turn around and instantly skate in the opposite direction, that's how most of the good chances on the rush are gained. A guy going around in wide circles will be very late and outside the play.


On your analysis, by the way, consider for a moment how the situation would have played out had his teammates not accomplished all they actually did. Remember he's a center and think about a center's role. For example, what if at the end, instead of his team winning the puck, the opposing team just attacked and scored? Well, he'd have been late from everything the entire sequence. There is not a single C in NHL who gets away with this sort of play.

The next time you watch any NHL match, see what they do on a broken play / possession change and how many centers do pond hockey turns instead of turning around instantly and actually joining the play. Especially defensively, think about the impact.
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You chose the example to illustrate your criticism of Hughes' play, not me. If I need to "watch any full match of his" to appreciate your criticism, then either your example was poorly chosen, or your underlying premise is flawed.

Some situations require a full stop, and change of direction from that stop. Others favor pivoting/circling. From my viewing over the years, the NHL game has transitioned from mostly the former to mostly the latter. That transition makes sense - stop/start skating is exhausting and, by definition, eliminates the momentum that facilitates regaining a favorable position as the play evolves.

As I tried to convey in my detailed description of the sequence you claim demonstrates his "pond hockey turns" approach, Hughes ended up in a favorable position at every change of possession. That results from the skating ability, vision, and anticipation of a superior talent like Jack Hughes.

I invite you to simply agree to disagree. You're not changing any minds at this point.
 
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So. I’ve said that ijuka has some fair criticism in his post, I don’t agree with all of it. Yes, I think Hughes will go #1 as he has maybe a bit higher potential, Kakko is the better player at the moment though. Both will be PPG players for career and will be centerpieces for the Devils and the Rangers respectively. I think Hughes has great potential, not in my opinion as a center though (at the moment).

The only criticism I’ve made has been that he plays sluggish, doesn’t have enough effort at the D-end, doesn’t go to tight spaces and has a weak shot. All can be easily fixed!

Literally have nothing against Hughes, just think praising him as the perfect prospect is stupid. Fair criticism is allright.

Saying ijuka and I are the same person is f***ing ridiculous and the mods should be doing something about it. Just because him and I share somewhat same criticism doesn’t necessarily mean that WE ARE LITERALLY THE SAME f***ING PERSON.

The end (hope you read this with no aggressiveness beforehand, by the way no way am I commenting on Hughes again after this clusterf***. Once again criticism is only fair, just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s wrong)
 
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