Is Quinn Hughes overrated?

[John Eichel da GOAT]

I guess they would be similar if your entire scope of evaluating a player is Position and Points Total.

I still dont see what youre getting at. I guess if the argument is Burns' Norris season was much better that what Hughes is doing now, then sure. Burns then at least attempted defense.

Burns 16-17
4.17 blocks per game
2.03 hits per game
.93 ppg pace
33% of points coming on the pp
+19
29g 26a1 20a2 (44% secondary assists)

Lets compare that to Hughes this season
1.01 blocks per game
.84 hits per game
1.06 ppg
53% points on the pp
-13 so far...
1g 6a1 10a2 (63% secondary assists)

As I stated earlier and was laughed at, Hughes now reminds me more of Barrie in his 2nd to last season in CO where the Avs depended on Landy-Mac-Rants and the PP to survive games. He was useless defensively, but still helped drive one of the best PP's in the league. Barrie at least still blocked a shot here or there though

Barrie 17-18
3.07 blocks per game
1.55 hits per game
.84 ppg
53% points on the pp
-15
14g 24a1 19a2 (44% secondary assists)

 

[Voight]

Last year he was the second coming of Bobby Orr, now this year we have to excuse him because it’s his second year in the league and he’s very young. No one is denying his talents , he is a special player and will get better with age but he’s nowhere near what people were claiming him to be. To be up there top 10 in scoring for a d man is an insane accomplishment but he’s sacrificing defense for offense and that is ok just don’t expect him to be in Norris discussions for the best defensman in the league.

Karlsson managed to win 2 of them.

Burns won a Norris and was nominated another year or two.

 

[Mrb1p]

Karlsson managed to win 2 of them.

Burns won a Norris and was nominated another year or two.

Both those guys offensive impact were much greater than Hughes though.

Burns had some of the craziest offensive production ever for a Dman, in shots, goals, points and % compared to his team.

Karlsson was a bit "worse" offensively but he was actually pretty good defensively in those years, Ive watched him completely shut it down vs the Habs in two playoffs, guy was good.

The problem with Hughes is his lack of goalscoring ability. These two guys have 30 goals potential, Hughes is looking at ten and even that seems far. Can you really post 70 assists a season as a defender ?

 

[gianni]

Tyler Myers never topped his rookie season either. People tend to forget that progression is not guaranteed.

Obviously, but it's still premature to call anyone drafted in 2018 overrated.

 

[Jimmy Firecracker]

The kid is in a terrible situation. He’s young and needs to learn and grow to be better defensively, but the Canucks are a tire fire in that area and have no way to insulate him. If they could’ve only brought back one player from last years team it should’ve been Tanev if only to help protect and develop Hughes. As it stands now this getting his ass kicked every night is not good for his development.

I think he can still at least be a key guy on the top pair, but I don’t think he can become a premier two way guy. Still though he’s young and extremely talented, so he could prove us wrong.

 

[The Beyonder]

He's still young. You can't teach the skill sets he has but he obviously needs to be better defensively in his own zone and with his decision making.

 

[nowhereman]

Apparently, Tanev carried Hughes last season. And, yet, Tanev's analytics took a sharp drop every time he played away from Hughes. Hughes' metrics, on the other hand, did not see the same drop away from Tanev. Overall, Hughes was a possession monster who dominated teams when he was on the ice.

But, this season, he's been atrocious in all areas outside the offensive zone and is bobbling the puck even on simple zone exits, something that was his bread and butter last season. Alas, the narrative has now changed to reflect Hughes as being a defensive tire fire this entire time in the NHL (rather than the more realistic explanation that he is just struggling at the moment), a fact that that neither Canucks fans, other coaches/GMs, nor professional analysts were aware of. Only fans of other teams could see through the oh so obvious smoke and mirrors that were evident all this time.

Funny how that works...

 

[HockeyVirus]

As someone who has seen Hughes' last 3 games, he is not overrated. He's an excellent offensive dman who needs to learn to be a little more relaxed in his own zone. The biggest issue I've noticed is he plays with garbage partners, he needs a good stay at home partner who can actually get the puck out when he goes D-to-D behind the net. Hughes will win a Norris in his career, and I wish the Leafs had a guy like him (Rielly is close but Hughes is going to be a tier above)

A partner doesn't stop you from being walked several times a game though. To me, his man on man defense and IQ in the D zone are in question. I think these things can be coached, and he will get stronger and stronger to help with his play. However I'd say it's pretty rare for a player to completely transform who they are like that. Chances are, he improves but knows what butters his bread.

He'll put up 60(+?) point seasons in his career. He will be a massive contributing piece in any playoff runs they have. But he will never be the guy out there defending the lead in the final minute or being given D heavy starts. And that's ok. Lots of successful players (in playoffs too) don't play a complete game but are still massive parts of their team (P.Kane, Karlsson, Draisatl, etc)

 

[Slurpeelover27]

I don't know how to say this any more clearly: we know he has defensive struggles. We still think he's an elite talent.

How many defencemen right now have the skillset to put up PPG?

Benning needs to surround a player like that with players to balance his flaws and use his game breaking skill properly. He's not a more well-rounded player ala Jones or McAvoy and that's okay.

If more dmen cared as much about putting up points as Hughes does and ignored playing hard defensively I believe they would be able to pad their stats as well. If Hughes actually tried to focus more on defense his numbers would no doubt suffer. The argument that he can continue to rack up the secondary power play assists and eventually he will improve his defense is what makes Hughes a superstar? Make no mistake, Canuck fans gush over him like he is the second coming of Orr. Close to half or more believe he is the most important player on the Canucks. If he is your best then you are in big trouble. Their record is 6 wins and 10 losses with 1 win coming in a shootout against Montreal which they should have lost and 3 wins against Ottawa. Take away the Ottawa games and they would be 2 wins 10 losses and 1 tie (if there were no shootouts). Hughes is a huge part of that. If he is so good he should not need a stalwart partner to clean up his mess.

Hughes gets walked more than a dog during the pandemic.

 

[thebigbea]

He tries to do too much out there.

 

[Kaner9]

Hes great at offense and terrible at defense. A lil overrated right now but at his age he can prove any doubters wrong.

 

[notsocommonsense]

You really want to talk about terrible fanbases?

As a vancouverite, please keep sharing and shaming tools like this one here. One of many complete and utter losers that night

 

[Duodenum]

This idea that Hughes cheats defensively to put up points is completely incorrect.

He's been weak 1-on-1, made some mental mistakes, and hasn't had any help from his teammates who have been just as bad defensively.

He's not being caught up ice or turning the puck over trying to pass through players constantly, which is what you would expect if he's cheating offensively.

That's a narrative that should die as it's an outright lie.

 

[NuxFan09]

Canucks fans really shouldn't give a damn what anyone else thinks. We know this player better than anyone.

 

[jackjohnson]

If more dmen cared as much about putting up points as Hughes does and ignored playing hard defensively I believe they would be able to pad their stats as well. If Hughes actually tried to focus more on defense his numbers would no doubt suffer. The argument that he can continue to rack up the secondary power play assists and eventually he will improve his defense is what makes Hughes a superstar? Make no mistake, Canuck fans gush over him like he is the second coming of Orr. Close to half or more believe he is the most important player on the Canucks. If he is your best then you are in big trouble. Their record is 6 wins and 10 losses with 1 win coming in a shootout against Montreal which they should have lost and 3 wins against Ottawa. Take away the Ottawa games and they would be 2 wins 10 losses and 1 tie (if there were no shootouts). Hughes is a huge part of that. If he is so good he should not need a stalwart partner to clean up his mess.

Hughes gets walked more than a dog during the pandemic.

Not sure why Avs fans like you are so insecure that need to write an essay regarding how bad Hughes has been defensively like Canucks fans can't see that he is struggling. Also you are isolating one player, Hughes for all the teams problem which stems from management, coaching, lack of depth on D, terrible bottom 6 etc. Take out Hughes and insert Makar in and I would bet the team record stays the same. Canucks have way more problems than Hughes struggling defensively. Just look how Miller has been playing defensively, how Pettersson has struggled offensively. Look at Canucks defense with Myers and Edler playing like pylons and having partners like rookie Joulevi or Chatfield as partners. Then we have an AHL player in Benn paired up with Hughes and is playing on the same shift as Miller who was so lazy coming back in his own zone to get the puck that Holtby was bashing him on the ice. Also this thread was made exactly when Hughes has been struggling defensively like the rest of the team which is pretty funny. I will probably make a thread once Makar struggles and or Avs choke in playoffs again, see how Avs fans like it. Plus the fact that you are nitpicking on their 6-10 record is hilarious. So they didnt deserve the Habs win because it was a shootout, the Ottawa wins don't count and I bet you make excuses regarding their wins against the Jets, maybe the Jets didn't play good. I could also nitpick Avs record so it looks more like 0-10 vs. what it is now. Please Avs fans, just admit you are insecure with regards to Hughes having more points than Makar, because there is no 27 page threads talking about Makar's weaknesses.

 

[jackjohnson]

Canucks fans really shouldn't give a damn what anyone else thinks. We know this player better than anyone.

Yes, I think Canucks fans know what the main problem is and it isn't Hughes. They know Hughes will eventually play better defensively. I think what is funny about this thread is there are more posts made by insecure Avs fans regarding Hughes than Canucks fans. Also there is another thread made by insecure Leafs fans regarding Pettersson and how much better Matthews is. It is really funny to see these fans make threads trashing Canucks players during this bad stretch, just so they can validate that their own players are better. Any GM in this league will give up a lot for either Hughes and Pettersson, that is just facts because GMs have long term memories unlike rival fans. Also if Hughes is playing so bad and getting these so called "secondary assists", yet leads the league in defenseman scoring, I want to know what will Hughes look like once he plays better.

 

[jackjohnson]

This idea that Hughes cheats defensively to put up points is completely incorrect.

He's been weak 1-on-1, made some mental mistakes, and hasn't had any help from his teammates who have been just as bad defensively.

He's not being caught up ice or turning the puck over trying to pass through players constantly, which is what you would expect if he's cheating offensively.

That's a narrative that should die as it's an outright lie.

So true, people just forget that he is paired with an AHL defender. What would Makar look like if he was paired with Benn on defense. It wouldn't look pretty at all, especially if both are playing 25 minutes. Benn shouldn't even be in the NHL, nevermind being on a 1st pairing on a team that employs weak bottom 6 forwards and plays a terrible defensive structure that is taught by non other than an AHL D man, Baumgartner.

 

[PromisedLand]

Makar >>>> Hughes

no you cannot change my mind

 

[jackjohnson]

As a vancouverite, please keep sharing and shaming tools like this one here. One of many complete and utter losers that night

Who is that person, did they identify him? would like to read if he was charged or not. Also he looks like a bandwagon fan, probably only cheers Canucks when they are popular and a cup contender, doesn't look like your typical NHL fan.

 

[jackjohnson]

Makar >>>> Hughes

no you cannot change my mind

This isn't about Makar vs. Hughes. This thread is about how overrated Hughes is when he is struggling now. Although its funny you have to write that as if the 1 million posts in this thread talking how Makar is better than Hughes was not enough. I mean there was a heated race for Calder between Hughes and Makar last season and that done. Its pretty much finished and Makar won. Am not sure why Avs fans are still insecure though?