Kirby Dach vs Jack Hughes

[viper0220]

Who will be the better player?

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[Pavel Buchnevich]

They’ve both been disappointing so far, given what I think could’ve been expected.

At the draft, I would’ve said flip a coin, but probably Dach. I would’ve given Hughes the first 6 years after being drafted and Dach the next 12. I thought Hughes would’ve had a big offensive advantage early on, and then Dach becomes the better player because he plays a two way game.

So far, I think Hughes is better offensively, but not by as much as I would’ve thought. Still Dach and the gap has slightly widened, but more due to Hughes lack of scoring than Dach doing extremely well.

 

[Xirik]

They’ve both been disappointing so far, given what I think could’ve been expected.

At the draft, I would’ve said flip a coin, but probably Dach. I would’ve given Hughes the first 6 years after being drafted and Dach the next 12. I thought Hughes would’ve had a big offensive advantage early on, and then Dach becomes the better player because he plays a two way game.

So far, I think Hughes is better offensively, but not by as much as I would’ve thought. Still Dach and the gap has slightly widened, but more due to Hughes lack of scoring than Dach doing extremely well.

So you thought he smaller skinnier guy would do better in the beginning compared to the big and heavier player.

Going against the grain cotton. I like it!

 

[CraigsList]

I like Dach’s upside more as an impact player. I think Hughes will have more points career wise, but I think Dach will have more success with the team(s) he’ll be on. Can’t go wrong with either vote.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

So you thought he smaller skinnier guy would do better in the beginning compared to the big and heavier player.

Going against the grain cotton. I like it!

I expected Hughes to be a first line offensive player right away, like a Kane. I thought his offensive skills were too good not to, even with the size disadvantage. He wasn’t his first two seasons. I believe now and also did so before either was drafted that Dach will have the advantage later on due to size and position. Dach should be an effective two way center. I think Hughes will struggle to win FO’s and with the defensive game at the position.

 

[bigbabybuda]

Hughes will breakout this year and make this comparison look silly. His underlying numbers have been very good for stretches last year on a horrible team. Many, many games where he was the best player on the ice.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Tough to say since Dach was out for most of the season.

Jack Hughes is the safe bet.

 

[Hisch13r]

One of the biggest question marks with Hughes was going to be his defensive game and then he came in last season and was phenomenal. He was great last year even with the lackluster pt totals. The production will come and he's already a play driving force at both ends

 

[snipes]

Dach all day long.

Too bad he got injured, I think he’ll be the best forward from that draft class. Dach seems like a big game player who will excel in the playoffs once the Hawks are finished their rebuild.

Dach has a real chance of being a perennial Selke candidate.

 

[Kaners Bald Spot]

This is your classic Toews vs Giroux debate from 2014, where Dach=Toews and Hughes=Giroux.
They're both going to be great players. It's going to be a matter of opinion.

 

[Nico Hughes]

Dach all day long.

Too bad he got injured, I think he’ll be the best forward from that draft class. Dach seems like a big game player who will excel in the playoffs once the Hawks are finished their rebuild.

Dach has a real chance of being a perennial Selke candidate.

And Hughes has a real chance of being a top point getter in the league

Hes already up there with McDavid and Barzal in multiple transition stats, so its only a matter of time. And Barzal didnt even start until he was Jacks age now.

Dach is an incredible talent as well. But Hughes has the higher upside to be elite IMO

 

[snipes]

And Hughes has a real chance of being a top point getter in the league

Hes already up there with McDavid and Barzal in multiple transition stats, so its only a matter of time. And Barzal didnt even start until he was Jacks age now.

Dach is an incredible talent as well. But Hughes has the higher upside to be elite IMO

Transition stats =/= him becoming a top point getter like a McDavid, Draisaitl, Marchand, Kucherov, Kane, etc.

I do think Hughes has a lot of potential to be clear though, he’s a good player but I just prefer Dach. I’ve been a Dach fan for a number of years.

 

[Nico Hughes]

Transition stats =/= him becoming a top point getter like a McDavid, Draisaitl, Marchand, Kucherov, Kane, etc.

I do think Hughes has a lot of potential to be clear though, he’s a good player but I just prefer Dach. I’ve been a Dach fan for a number of years.

Im not arguing which you prefer, was just countering the Selke comment as Jack has Art Ross potential

and transition stats dont equal becoming those guys, but its a very good outlook to be compared to them in these categories before he turned 20 (and after losing eight pounds to covid, he was ppg pace before that).

I have Jack as going to be better than Barzal but obv worse than McDavid; and he will be NJs first 100pt player I think. McDavid-lite

I can agree with the sentiment that Dach will be more 'critical' to a Cup run, while Jack will be more 'critical' to being a contender.. if that makes sense? Lol

Dach probably does better in the PO while Jack destroys the reg season

 

[MitchMurphy]

“You mean when you run this show? You ain't got no future, Jack! You're an A-1 nut boy and hfboards knows it!”


Hughes for me.

 

[Devils Army]

People really are so committed to hating and downplaying Jack Hughes. I really don't get it. A well-spoken good kid who wants to win and is a great hockey player. Doesn't whine and complain, loves to play the game.

He was the best Devils forward almost all year on a shitty team with meh linemates at 19 years old. He's probably 3 years from being physically mature and he is going to set the league ablaze. His skating and hockey IQ are among the best I've seen. He also is super underrated defensively, generated a ton of takeaways. He'll still get caved in along the boards but his positioning and stick work are excellent. Hughes >> Dach.

 

[Xirik]

Im not arguing which you prefer, was just countering the Selke comment as Jack has Art Ross potential

and transition stats dont equal becoming those guys, but its a very good outlook to be compared to them in these categories before he turned 20 (and after losing eight pounds to covid, he was ppg pace before that).

I have Jack as going to be better than Barzal but obv worse than McDavid; and he will be NJs first 100pt player I think. McDavid-lite

I can agree with the sentiment that Dach will be more 'critical' to a Cup run, while Jack will be more 'critical' to being a contender.. if that makes sense? Lol

Dach probably does better in the PO while Jack destroys the reg season

Luckily we Have Hischier to be Critical cup run guy/Selke candidate.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Jack Hughes is quickly becoming the most underrated player in the league

 

[ted2019]

Hughes due to the fact that Dach basically missed all of last season except for 18 games.

 

[bsu]

Jack Hughes is quickly becoming the most underrated player in the league

Yep he's gonna blow up this year or next.

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

They’ve both been disappointing so far, given what I think could’ve been expected.

At the draft, I would’ve said flip a coin, but probably Dach. I would’ve given Hughes the first 6 years after being drafted and Dach the next 12. I thought Hughes would’ve had a big offensive advantage early on, and then Dach becomes the better player because he plays a two way game.

So far, I think Hughes is better offensively, but not by as much as I would’ve thought. Still Dach and the gap has slightly widened, but more due to Hughes lack of scoring than Dach doing extremely well.

What exactly were you expecting from Hughes out the gate? I can concur that his 19-20 was bad but his 20-21 was fine considering the situation that the league and the Devils themselves were found in with their roster getting ravaged with covid and arguably burning down the roster of any veteran asset in his second year in the league. Not to mention he didn’t have the opportunity to run away from matchups without having Hischier behind him. Ruff threw him to the fire and yeah there were some rough nights last year in that respect, it’s gonna make his game for 2021 and beyond even better. Hopefully Holtz can become what the Devils envision on his wing too by picking him 7th last year.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

What exactly were you expecting from Hughes out the gate? I can concur that his 19-20 was bad but his 20-21 was fine considering the situation that the league and the Devils themselves were found in with their roster getting ravaged with covid and arguably burning down the roster of any veteran asset in his second year in the league. Not to mention he didn’t have the opportunity to run away from matchups without having Hischier behind him. Ruff threw him to the fire and yeah there were some rough nights last year in that respect, it’s gonna make his game for 2021 and beyond even better. Hopefully Holtz can become what the Devils envision on his wing too by picking him 7th last year.

Exactly what I mentioned. I expected him to be Patrick Kane. What you said does not explain why he hasn't been Patrick Kane so far. All of what you said may explain the difference between another 10-15 points. I expected a lot more than that.

Hughes is not the only high pick who has struggled. I think it's getting harder for high picks to impact the NHL right away, so my initial expectations may have been wrong in hindsight, but I still think if I'm giving Hughes the first six years and Dach the next 12 that Hughes is losing ground compared to Dach because there's a mostly negligible difference between the two through two seasons. I expected a significant gap. I wasn't even sure Dach would play his D+1 in the NHL, and I expected that Hughes should've been about 1PPG by his second season.

 

[Ainec]

Dach

 

[ZachaFlockaFlame]

Exactly what I mentioned. I expected him to be Patrick Kane. What you said does not explain why he hasn't been Patrick Kane so far. All of what you said may explain the difference between another 10-15 points. I expected a lot more than that.

Hughes is not the only high pick who has struggled. I think it's getting harder for high picks to impact the NHL right away, so my initial expectations may have been wrong in hindsight, but I still think if I'm giving Hughes the first six years and Dach the next 12 that Hughes is losing ground compared to Dach because there's a mostly negligible difference between the two through two seasons. I expected a significant gap. I wasn't even sure Dach would play his D+1 in the NHL, and I expected that Hughes should've been about 1PPG by his second season.

This still makes no sense though, it should be reversed. Dach is still gonna be playing with the studs while Chicago has in Kane or DeBrincat next year while the Devils are still in their rebuild. Hughes in year 7 should which apparently is your cutoff to where Dach takes over is when the Devils should compete for the playoffs and Chicago’s superstars will slow down a bit and thats even if Dach progresses enough to warrant playtime with them. If Dach is still better points wise, either Hughes completely busted or he left NJ via trade in RFA because they were struggling to surround him talent. And Kane was his stylistic comparison, I don’t think most Devils fans were expecting him to put Kane numbers right away. You might have a point about how hard it is to adjust but that could do more with social media hyping these guys as McDavid and Matthews types when they’re not on that tier. Wright, Bedard and Michkov will be fine when they enter the league in a year and two years time respectively because they’re in that super elite tier of prospect that fans call “generational” every year lol

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

This still makes no sense though, it should be reversed. Dach is still gonna be playing with the studs while Chicago has in Kane or DeBrincat next year while the Devils are still in their rebuild. Hughes in year 7 should which apparently is your cutoff to where Dach takes over is when the Devils should compete for the playoffs and Chicago’s superstars will slow down a bit and thats even if Dach progresses enough to warrant playtime with them. If Dach is still better points wise, either Hughes completely busted or he left NJ via trade in RFA because they were struggling to surround him talent. And Kane was his stylistic comparison, I don’t think most Devils fans were expecting him to put Kane numbers right away. You might have a point about how hard it is to adjust but that could do more with social media hyping these guys as McDavid and Matthews types when they’re not on that tier. Wright, Bedard and Michkov will be fine when they enter the league in a year and two years time respectively because they’re in that super elite tier of prospect that fans call “generational” every year lol

The 6 years/12 years is approximate. My point was that if you split their careers into three segments, pre-prime, prime, and post-prime that I think Hughes strengths and weaknesses suit pre-prime the best, and Dach’s strengths and weaknesses suit prime and post prime the best. I’m not considering team factors much because that’s volatile. One second a player plays for a terrible team, and the next year the team is great. I think this should be viewed almost entirely on the ability of the players.

I think Hughes is going to be a very incomplete player, like a Kane. He’ll score a lot, but he’ll be a net negative outside of that. I think it’s potentially heightened even more compared to Kane with Hughes having center responsibilities. Kane can float off the puck more as a winger, and doesn’t need to enter the middle of the ice as much or win face offs.

I believe once Dach completely bulks up and is playing all situations 20+ minutes a game that his ceiling is a two way 1C. I believed Hughes potential was a PPG forward that adds little else. Both have disappointed, in my opinion, since being drafted so they may be less likely to reach their ceilings, but even if they only reach their floors I think Dach’s game has more longevity and variety to it. I thought Hughes pure scoring advantage would give him the initial advantage that Dach would eventually cut into once they both reach their prime ability.

 

[ricky0034]

Hughes, he's gonna just explode at some point and make anyone doubting him look really dumb

not to downplay Dach though I still think he has a decent shot at ending up the 2nd best player in the draft class