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LD Luke Hughes (2021, 4th, NJD)

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Bonin21 said:
Yes. Mittelstadt did not dominate college hockey until the last two weekends on the season. We all knew he should not have left the moment he signed.
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Yep, one of Botterill's many, many mistakes. Hughes is so far ahead of where Mitts was. It doesn't seem like Hughes stays in Michigan but he could. I doubt it, but he could.
 
Chainshot said:
The difference though is that Mittelstadt had a pretty pedestrian year at UM, sandwiched around over-performing at his only U20's in front of the GM who thought so highly of him. He came nowhere near what Hughes did all season in Michigan. If he'd been crushing it and you drew that parallel, sure, but he didn't and then they kept him in Buffalo, not getting reps or game experience that he desperately needed, for nearly 18 months before finally figuring that they had wasted enough time and sent him down. The AHL actually helped him, his time in the NHL initially was a mess.
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I understand and in hindsight Mittlestadt was a poor example by me since he did play in the NHL and not the AHL, I think usually if a guy is going to play in the NHL he should go, but in the case of Mittlestadt that was obviously not the right play, but either way I think we could all agree he warranted another year for the Gophers. Hughes has had a way better year than either Mittlestadt or Turcotte as freshman so the case can be made that he should jump, and again I think if he is going to play in the NHL he should go, but the post I was replying to suggested that Hughes would be playing in Utica next year, which I think would be a huge mistake. Just to much proven success (especially with d-man) in returning for that second year and taking your play to another level as opposed to riding busses in the AHL.
 
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Bonin21 said:
Yes. Mittelstadt did not dominate college hockey until the last two weekends on the season. We all knew he should not have left the moment he signed.
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NHL teams are stupid a lot of times in situations like this, they either get overly excited when a guy does well and want to promote him to the AHL or they get worried when he has a down year and think the college team is screwing with his development. I think thats happened with Mittlestadt and Turcotte, no other reason to explain why either guy went pro. Mittlestadt was medicore most of the year and Turcotte had 1 goal in Big Ten play.

If the Devils and the Hughes family truly believe he will be in Jersey next season then I think he should go, if not I think he should return.
 
Herby said:
The history of pulling prospects from the NCAA to ride busses as teenagers in the AHL is not a very good one. Everyone always thinks "our system will be different" when they pull kids to soon, that is what the Kings thought with Turcotte and Buffalo thought with Mittlestadt and look what happened.

The Makar, Werenski and McAvoy path is going to work out much better for Hughes. He can join the Devils at the end of next year and step right into the NHL after a dominating sophomore year, just like those three did. It's a proven path to NHL success for high end NCAA players.
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I agree that it is the best path, what I don't like is the Michigan staff.
 
Herby said:
NHL teams are stupid a lot of times in situations like this, they either get overly excited when a guy does well and want to promote him to the AHL or they get worried when he has a down year and think the college team is screwing with his development. I think thats happened with Mittlestadt and Turcotte, no other reason to explain why either guy went pro. Mittlestadt was medicore most of the year and Turcotte had 1 goal in Big Ten play.

If the Devils and the Hughes family truly believe he will be in Jersey next season then I think he should go, if not I think he should return.
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Fitzgerald has already said he's staying at Michigan next season.
 
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With laws changing regarding college athletics I wonder if Luke would be able to attend Devils training camp and decide from there.
 
Are there any concrete quotes or sources indicating Luke is contemplating coming to NJ next season? Everything I’ve read makes it seem like it’s always been a forgone conclusion that Luke is spending two years at MI.
 
Power looks exhausted and Hughes has looked way better since taking over at the Olympic break.

They have even gone to a 4-1 set on the 1st unit PP with Hughes on more occasions.

Even Randall has noticed Power just looks spent lately.
 
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Breakers said:
Power looks exhausted and Hughes has looked way better since taking over at the Olympic break.

They have even gone to a 4-1 set on the 1st unit PP with Hughes.l on more occasions.
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Power looked a lot better in the B10 final than he has since the travel began for him. If he's playing well, it provides Hughes more mis-match opportunities Luke exploits so well.
 
Ok here's my question: Does Luke translate the same way Quinn did to VAN? Idk honestly, Luke's growth spurt has him still sort of trying to figure out his size and his body a little bit, and he's got longer limbs than Quinn so skating-wise and player-wise he reminds me more of a Miro Heiskanen than anyone else. I still think he'll translate and the offensive upside is surely elite, but I'm really curious if he does translate similarly to Quinn, or if he'll need more time to adjust. Cause with Quinn it looked seamless right away.
 
WhiskeyYerTheDevils said:
Is it?

Power only played 29 games with much worse counting stats.

Hughes 37gp 17 goals 36 points +25
Power 29gp 3 goals 27 points +21

Power is pretty clearly the better player but I can understand why he lost out to Hughes.
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Curious what you perceive separating them? I haven't seen Power or Hughes anywhere near enough to have an opinion, but Hughes skating and production as a freshman are crazy.
 
Ed Ned and Leddy said:
Clearly? Hmm, not for me at this stage. Love both players but I think it was quite close on draft day, and I think Hughes has probably had the more impressive D+1 so far.
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FLYguy3911 said:
Disagree.
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Yeah I think he's just a better overall defenseman. I'm a big fan of Luke and think he would definitely go first in this year's draft, but today I would take Power.

That said, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Luke ended up being the better player in the long run. He's definitely the more dynamic offensive player between the two. But he's got a lot of work to do on his defensive game and puck management in his own zone (and overall physical maturity) which is reasonable to expect given Quinn and Jack's development.
 
WhiskeyYerTheDevils said:
Yeah I think he's just a better overall defenseman. I'm a big fan of Luke and think he would definitely go first in this year's draft, but today I would take Power.

That said, it wouldn't surprise me at all if Luke ended up being the better player in the long run. He's definitely the more dynamic offensive player between the two. But he's got a lot of work to do on his defensive game and puck management in his own zone (and overall physical maturity) which is reasonable to expect given Quinn and Jack's development.
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Power also has to improve his defensive game and he'll have to do it without the athletic gifts Hughes has. I find his overall lack of quickness concerning and the speed of the NHL game is really going to challenge that. Power is extremely gifted offensively and may be a more productive PP guy, but I don't see the self creation skills that Hughes and most top tier defensemen have.

Hughes' puck management (or lack thereof) comes with the territory of being a dynamic, push rushing defenseman. He's very bold. Like his brother, he's going to give some away, but he's going to create a lot more for his team.
 
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FLYguy3911 said:
Power also has to improve his defensive game and he'll have to do it without the athletic gifts Hughes has. I find his overall lack of quickness concerning and the speed of the NHL game is really going to challenge that. Power is extremely gifted offensively and may be a more productive PP guy, but I don't see the self creation skills that Hughes and most top tier defensemen have.

Hughes' puck management (or lack thereof) comes with the territory of being a dynamic, push rushing defenseman. He's very bold. Like his brother, he's going to give some away, but he's going to create a lot more for his team.
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Power will sign once his season is done. Will Luke also be looking to go pro after this season?
 
ReginKarlssonLehner said:
I had Hughes first on my list for last year's draft for majority of the season until I saw Edvinsson at the last 3rd of the season.

Then it was Edvinsson 1st, Hughes second but both being interchangeable. 1st and 2nd in the entire draft.
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I had the two neck and neck for top player in the draft as well. Haven't seen enough of Edvinsson this year to comment but Hughes is a special player, I will leave it at that.
 
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