LD Luke Hughes (2021, 4th, NJD)

[Hansen]

Is there any update on his injury? Sounded like a pretty horrific injury for a prospect whose skating is their number one attribute

 

[Gliff]

Is there any update on his injury? Sounded like a pretty horrific injury for a prospect whose skating is their number one attribute

Was there ever a confirmation as to what the injury was? I saw one vague tweet that said it was ligament damage that was going to take 6+ months to heal and then the next I heard was 8 weeks.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

My top 2 hopes for the Sens are Beniers and Hughes. Watched a lot of Sanderson this year. Hughes is in that mold . The skating separates them. They can defend , move the puck with the pass or their feet and have growing offensive games. Sanderson had dominant games late in the year for UND.. next year will be ridiculous. The skating, decent size and IQ alone are worth the high picks.

And no U18s for LH is a shame

 

[Kevin Musto]

EliteProspects now has the lowest ranking I've seen for Hughes. 11th.

 

[William H Bonney]

EliteProspects now has the lowest ranking I've seen for Hughes. 11th.

They will be wrong.

 

[simonedvinsson]

EliteProspects now has the lowest ranking I've seen for Hughes. 11th.

Is this the same Elite Prospects that listed Trevor Wong as a first rounder in their previous ranking?

 

[Gliff]

Him slipping to 11 would be like Fowler slipping when he did.
Anyone getting him that late should be ecstatic. I would be totally happy with the Ducks taking him with their pick.

 

[Brodeur]

Him slipping to 11 would be like Fowler slipping when he did.
Anyone getting him that late should be ecstatic. I would be totally happy with the Ducks taking him with their pick.

Their ranking isn't necessarily a mock draft. EP's Rachel Doerrie mentioned that they had heard some character concerns so that may have been a contributing factor is where they have Hughes ranked. Context of the conversation was the Canucks options if they are picking #9 and she didn't think Hughes would be available.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

EliteProspects now has the lowest ranking I've seen for Hughes. 11th.

Their ranking isn't necessarily a mock draft. EP's Rachel Doerrie mentioned that they had heard some character concerns so that may have been a contributing factor is where they have Hughes ranked. Context of the conversation was the Canucks options if they are picking #9 and she didn't think Hughes would be available.

JDBurke was also the one with snarky Mukhamadullin takes IRC. EP Rinkside seems largely driven by amateurish and childish bids for attention, I don't get who would ever pay for their analysis.

 

[goonybird]

I'd be shocked if the Devils don't take Hughes if he's available no matter where they pick.

 

[Poppy Whoa Sonnet]

I'd be shocked if the Devils don't take Hughes if he's available no matter where they pick.

At this point this seems to be the favored result for the Devils board, with a few who see Clarke as a RHD being a better fit.

 

[Eggtimer]

Their ranking isn't necessarily a mock draft. EP's Rachel Doerrie mentioned that they had heard some character concerns so that may have been a contributing factor is where they have Hughes ranked. Context of the conversation was the Canucks options if they are picking #9 and she didn't think Hughes would be available.

Good for me as a Devils fan so other teams hopefully pass him over for this and the Devils draft him and continue on the rebuild with adding a #1 Dman .
For me , this should have zero impact on his draft ranking.
BTW , who does character investigations on 16 -17 year old kids...
Nothing to see here.

 

[JiggsNY]

Good for me as a Devils fan so other teams hopefully pass him over for this and the Devils draft him and continue on the rebuild with adding a #1 Dman .
For me , this should have zero impact on his draft ranking.
BTW , who does character investigations on 16 -17 year old kids...
Nothing to see here.

Not to blindly dismiss it, but how many people could she have even contacted for "character recon". I'd imagine if she has contacts they're in NHL teams, and they haven't even done draft interviews yet. "Have not heard a good thing from a single person who isn't related to him or has something to gain." If NHL teams haven't spoken to him yet, and his family/ NTDP I imagine fall under the "something to gain" category then who is she talking too, the Waterloo penalty box official?

 

[Hisch13r]

Their ranking isn't necessarily a mock draft. EP's Rachel Doerrie mentioned that they had heard some character concerns so that may have been a contributing factor is where they have Hughes ranked. Context of the conversation was the Canucks options if they are picking #9 and she didn't think Hughes would be available.

Rachel is consistently the worst

 

[BondraTime]

JDBurke was also the one with snarky Mukhamadullin takes IRC. EP Rinkside seems largely driven by amateurish and childish bids for attention, I don't get who would ever pay for their analysis.

By far the worst scouting service (not an actual service in reality)

 

[ReginKarlssonLehner]

There is no way he's passing Ottawa. Their rankings are terrible.

 

[Brodeur]

There is no way he's passing Ottawa. Their rankings are terrible.

There's a distinction between rankings and a mock draft. They're just saying they would take 10 other players before Hughes if they were a hypothetical 33rd team rather than saying they expect Hughes to 11th in reality. Doerrie fully expects Hughes to be a top 5-6 pick, she/EP just have him ranked lower.

 

[405Entrance]

At worst he goes 5th. Clarke, berniers, eklund and maybe power could go ahead of him but I can also see him going as high as 3rd if a team already has a RHD

 

[Gliff]

There's a distinction between rankings and a mock draft. They're just saying they would take 10 other players before Hughes if they were a hypothetical 33rd team rather than saying they expect Hughes to 11th in reality. Doerrie fully expects Hughes to be a top 5-6 pick, she/EP just have him ranked lower.

That doesn't change the fact that it is a terrible take having him raked outside the top 10.

 

[BondraTime]

That doesn't change the fact that it is a terrible take having him raked outside the top 10.

I’m sure there are multiple teams that have him outside the top 10. You’d be surprised how low some teams had Zadina his draft year, he was more of a sure thing, top 5 pick than Hughes is. Guys every year are ranked lower and higher on actual lists than what we have on the internet.

I don’t care about EP’s rankings, that’s perfectly fine, personal rankings are personal rankings. Listening to their reasoning for their rankings on the other hand, last year at least, was absolutely terrible. Not hard to tell there wasn’t/isn’t much actual scouting background there.

 

[goonybird]

At this point this seems to be the favored result for the Devils board, with a few who see Clarke as a RHD being a better fit.

he may or may not be the best fit, but I just don't see them passing on him given everything else.

-almost a 2022 draft pick
-brother plays for Devils
-other brother plays for a team who could conceivably get him at a bargain

he'll take a couple years or so to get NHL ready anyways, as I think all the defencemen this year will, so I think you go with the one with the upside + extra time to develop.

 

[sammystl5]

So does anybody have any idea where this character concerns thing even comes from? Maybe somebody closer to the USNDP would know but she said that he was worse than Merkley. Merkley was getting benched mid game, clashing with teammates and suspended for slashing guys out of frustration. Haven't seen that with Hughes. So either he is just a 17 year old dick (most hockey players probably are) and its blown out of proportion or there is something dark lurking off the ice.

 

[Hisch13r]

So does anybody have any idea where this character concerns thing even comes from? Maybe somebody closer to the USNDP would know but she said that he was worse than Merkley. Merkley was getting benched mid game, clashing with teammates and suspended for slashing guys out of frustration. Haven't seen that with Hughes. So either he is just a 17 year old dick (most hockey players probably are) and its blown out of proportion or there is something dark lurking off the ice.

I have an incredibly hard time believing it's close to Merkley. Everyone knew about those issues and everyone knew it was going to cause him to slip big time. There's been next to nothing that has come out about Luke. I wouldn't be surprised if he's a bigger dick than most prospects but not Merkley level

 

[JiggsNY]

So does anybody have any idea where this character concerns thing even comes from? Maybe somebody closer to the USNDP would know but she said that he was worse than Merkley. Merkley was getting benched mid game, clashing with teammates and suspended for slashing guys out of frustration. Haven't seen that with Hughes. So either he is just a 17 year old dick (most hockey players probably are) and its blown out of proportion or there is something dark lurking off the ice.

Yeah saying worse than Merkley is very stupid thing to say. Like you said, Merkley's issues were visible and tangible. It's irresponsible to say something like this and not even explain the general source or general details. I still don't get the character recon thing, is she digging into every first round draft eligible player snooping around for dirt? If there's smoke then by all means dig in, but this seems so out of the blue, so much so that the responsibility should be on her to offer some sort of proof or explanation.

 

[JiggsNY]

This is literally the first time I have ever heard anyone bring up character concerns for Luke Hughes, and that is saying something for a prospect who has had a big spotlight for a while considering who his brothers are.