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C Jack Hughes - USNTDP (2019 Draft)

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2 assists last night vs Canada Black, USA 3-0 in the preliminary round at the U17s. They play Sweden in the quarter finals tomorrow.
 
Pavel Buchnevich said:
Do we think he'll stay at center?
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Very hard to tell, his size isn't optimal. Barring him somehow getting himself to an OHL team he likes (aka London) and leaving the program, he will probably be the first kid to ever go from the USNTDP straight to the NHL. I can't see a guy of his build getting started at center, and if they ever move him back will be interesting.

I'll say this, he gives me McDavid and Patrick Kane vibes. I didn't expect to say this so soon, but I think he is tracking to be a better prospect than both Marner and Keller. Now, he's 19 months away from his draft, but I can see him ending up in that Stamkos, Tavares, Matthews, Eichel tier of prospect even if he doesn't stay at the dot. His combo of elusiveness, puck control, speed, and vision is unreal. He reminds me of Marner with McDavid speed and a better shot, and I'm talking about 17 and 18 year old Marner against a 16 year old Hughes.

The real interesting thing is if they can bump him up this year. I'd love to see him at the U-18's centering the Farabee/Wahlstrom line. Or at least just a line with Wahlstrom while Farabee carries the other line.
 
He reminds me a lot of Kane with a small chance to be better defensively, and stick at center. If he does, he's an easy 1OA, and probably will be one of the very best players in the NHL. If not, he opens the door for others to challenge him for 1OA who possibly could be 1D or 1C's, which teams might assess is a more valuable skill-set than getting the next Patrick Kane. I think he's definitely better than the Keller's and Marner's, just a matter if he's McDavid, Eichel, Matthews franchise center minus a few inches or a Kane type of winger. There's a big difference between these two categories. Kane is a great player, but I think there's no doubt that the first category is way more valuable to NHL teams.
 
Pavel Buchnevich said:
He reminds me a lot of Kane with a small chance to be better defensively, and stick at center. If he does, he's an easy 1OA, and probably will be one of the very best players in the NHL. If not, he opens the door for others to challenge him for 1OA who possibly could be 1D or 1C's, which teams might assess is a more valuable skill-set than getting the next Patrick Kane. I think he's definitely better than the Keller's and Marner's, just a matter if he's McDavid, Eichel, Matthews franchise center minus a few inches or a Kane type of winger. There's a big difference between these two categories. Kane is a great player, but I think there's no doubt that the first category is way more valuable to NHL teams.
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The interesting thing about Patrick Kane, is coming out of London he wasn't held in very high regard (like Stamkos and JT were). The most hyped wingers in recent memory have actually been Laine, Hall, Marner, Drouin, and Puljujarvi, with Patrick Kane among them. Probably in that order, although Marner and Drouin were drafted with some hope of them being centers.

It will be interesting, 2019 looks to have a lot of good forwards. The promising big centers at the moment are Dach, Beecher, and Cozens. Guys like Ryan Suzuki and Turcotte are smaller but have a chance to stick at the dot. This draft looks way better at center ice than 2018. I simply haven't seen enough of the Euro's to comment on any of them yet, but to the best of my knowledge, there is no big elite center on the way at the moment, or at least projected as such.
 
Jack has passed the scoring totals of Matthews and Eichel with the U17 team before they got sent up to the U18 team. 8 less games than Matthews and 20 less than Eichel. Both Matthews and Eichel got sent up around the 33/34 point mark

Jack Hughes: 16GP 11G 26A 37Pts 2.31 PPG

Auston Matthews: 24GP 12G 21A 33Pts 1.38 PPG

Jack Eichel: 36GP 19G 15A 34Pts .95 PPG
 
Kid is an absolute stud. Even if he just becomes a winger at the NHL level he will be among the elite.
 
Hughes at 16 is a better defensive player than Kane has ever been. Hughes has more than a "small chance to be better defensively" than Kane. It would be a huge disappointment if he didn't end up better defensively as he already plays the entire ice at 16. He has an uncanny ability to strip opposing players of the puck when he's on the backcheck, similar to Matthews except Jack's skating is much better.
 
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Moistro said:
Jack has passed the scoring totals of Matthews and Eichel with the U17 team before they got sent up to the U18 team. 8 less games than Matthews and 20 less than Eichel. Both Matthews and Eichel got sent up around the 33/34 point mark

Jack Hughes: 16GP 11G 26A 37Pts 2.31 PPG

Auston Matthews: 24GP 12G 21A 33Pts 1.38 PPG

Jack Eichel: 36GP 19G 15A 34Pts .95 PPG
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Matthews was coming off a broken femur (broke it in the 2nd game). Although, I doubt even fully healthy he would have hit 2ppg.
 
93LEAFS said:
Very hard to tell, his size isn't optimal. Barring him somehow getting himself to an OHL team he likes (aka London) and leaving the program, he will probably be the first kid to ever go from the USNTDP straight to the NHL. I can't see a guy of his build getting started at center, and if they ever move him back will be interesting.
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Size isn't important anymore in the NHL barring you're at Grimaldi or Dhoogie level, especially considering that IQ and good defencive stick trumps anything else. Both Hughes have displayed thus far.
 
S E P H said:
Size isn't important anymore in the NHL barring you're at Grimaldi or Dhoogie level, especially considering that IQ and good defencive stick trumps anything else. Both Hughes have displayed thus far.
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Size absolutely matters when considering keeping guys at center at the NHL level, as the amount of down low battles in the defensive zone. The only small and slight center to be elite in the NHL in recent years in Giroux. Crosby is sub-6 foot, but has always been very stocky. There are guys like Point and Johnson, but neither are #1 centers, or at least currently are.

Most of the smaller high-end young guys are moved to the wing and never moved back. Example of them are Kane, Marner, most likely Keller, etc. Most teams number one centers are over 6 feet and 190 plus. That is unlikely to be Hughes frame at the next level barring a massive growth and filling out.
 
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William H Bonney said:
Hughes at 16 is a better defensive player than Kane has ever been. Hughes has more than a "small chance to be better defensively" than Kane. It would be a huge disappointment if he didn't end up better defensively as he already plays the entire ice at 16. He has an uncanny ability to strip opposing players of the puck when he's on the backcheck, similar to Matthews except Jack's skating is much better.
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5'10 forwards who weigh less than 160 pounds usually aren't the best defensively. Some of that isn't even down to fundamentals, players who are bigger and stronger have a built in advantage defensively.

So yes, we are talking about a small chance that he ends up a good enough defensive player to remain at center. Whether he's better than Kane defensively is largely irrelevant. You took that part of what I said out of context. It won't matter if he's an okay defensive winger compared to bad, I think Keller's okay defensively, but ultimately he's not going to stick at center for defensive reasons. Hughes will have to demonstrate uncommon defensive qualities for a player his size to stick at center. Some have, but not many have, statistically its unlikely he will remain at center. Right now, he looks to have a solid defensive foundation, way too early to say he'll be one of the few his size who bucks that trend.
 
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Not to derail the thread but my excitement for 2022 is through the roof (rip 2018)
Young stars for 2022 China Olympics:

Forwards: Matthews, Eichel, J. Hughes, Gaudreau, Keller, Boeser, Tkachuk, Trochek, Connor, Mittelstadt, Wahlstrom

Defensemen: Jones, Werenski, Hanifin, McAvoy, Slavin, Pesce, Carlo, Q. Hughes, Wilde
 
Pavel Buchnevich said:
5'10 forwards who weigh less than 160 pounds usually aren't the best defensively. Some of that isn't even down to fundamentals, players who are bigger and stronger have a built in advantage defensively.

So yes, we are talking about a small chance that he ends up a good enough defensive player to remain at center. Whether he's better than Kane defensively is largely irrelevant. You took that part of what I said out of context. It won't matter if he's an okay defensive winger compared to bad, I think Keller's okay defensively, but ultimately he's not going to stick at center for defensive reasons. Hughes will have to demonstrate uncommon defensive qualities for a player his size to stick at center. Some have, but not many have, statistically its unlikely he will remain at center. Right now, he looks to have a solid defensive foundation, way too early to say he'll be one of the few his size who bucks that trend.
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That wasn't your original argument. I brought up his defensive prowess compared to Kane because you made the original comparison yourself:

Pavel Buchnevich said:
He reminds me a lot of Kane with a small chance to be better defensively, and stick at center.
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Hard to say I took that out of context. It's a legitimate argument as to whether Hughes will have the preferred size in the NHL to play center, and how effective his defensive play would be at center if he were to stick there in the NHL. I don't disagree with you there. But his defense compared to Kane has nothing to do with why he may or may not play center in the NHL, and that's the argument you made. Jack's already a pretty good defensive center at 16. Kane didn't know where the defensive zone was at 16. If Hughes sticks at center, it won't be because he's better defensively than Kane.
 
Any thoughts/theories/speculation on the lucky team Jack may commit to next season ? He sure was fun to watch at the U17 !
 
Pavel Buchnevich said:
The NHL, I don't think he'll be playing in the CHL or NCAA's.
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Can’t. Unless he pulls a Matthews and goes to Europe, he’ll be playing in the OHL (Steelheads own his rights but they’re tradeable), NCAA (U of Michigan makes sense) or USHL
 
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