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LD Luke Hughes (2021, 4th, NJD)

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mphmiles said:
One of the crazier stats i've seen this year.


Luke Hughes xGF% with Brendan Smith in 128 minutes at 5v5- 39.48%

Luke Hughes xGF% without Brendan Smith in 98 minutes at 5v5: 70.73%
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The Hughes-Smith pairing should have worked IN THEORY. It would give Luke license to move around the ice while Smith takes care of the defensive responsibilities... but it was evident right away it wasn't goin to work. Smith has been terrible.

Ruff even pretty sternly defended Smith after the Blues game last week.

Hopefully he will finally be forced to change things up because Colin Miller came back last night, was great, and his pairing with Hughes was I think the best if someone wants to look up those numbers in chances for and against.

Luke has been great.


If Meier or Hughes aren't ready for the Ranger game tomorrow, Ruff will probably go 11-7 again... but once they come back, he's going to have finally scratch Smith... unless he finds another player to scapegoat.
 
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njdevil26 said:
The Hughes-Smith pairing should have worked IN THEORY. It would give Luke license to move around the ice while Smith takes care of the defensive responsibilities... but it was evident right away it wasn't goin to work. Smith has been terrible.

Ruff even pretty sternly defended Smith after the Blues game last week.

Hopefully he will finally be forced to change things up because Colin Miller came back last night, was great, and his pairing with Hughes was I think the best if someone wants to look up those numbers in chances for and against.

Luke has been great.


If Meier or Hughes aren't ready for the Ranger game tomorrow, Ruff will probably go 11-7 again... but once they come back, he's going to have finally scratch Smith... unless he finds another player to scapegoat.
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There's always Holtz
 
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Holtz was 2nd among Devils forwards in ice time last night and had the game winning goal. I can't imagine he gets scratched. Probably will be Kevin Bahl, who only had 12 minutes of ice time against PIT, 5 minutes fewer than Smith.

Luke is just so dynamic with the puck on his stick, whether he's holding the line or in transition he almost always knows how to make the first guy miss. Sometimes he'll beat the first guy and hold on juuuuuust a little too long trying to make the perfect move, but Jack had a similar problem his first few years. Luke will learn.
 
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I think he’s one of the best d-men in the league in a few years and will be a perennial Norris candidate throughout his prime. Just ridiculous that NJ is going to have a franchise D of his caliber and a franchise C of Jack’s caliber at the same time. It’s like how you’d build a team in a video game. Makar-MacKinnon, Doughty-Kopitar, Hedman-Stamkos are the only modern pairings I can think of where you could build a franchise around either guy and both are Hart/Norris types. All won cups.

Becomes even more ridiculous and laughable when you factor in the fact they’re brothers. Hopefully NJD’s real peak comes when the Pens enter their rebuild.
 
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Early going still, but extremely promising underlying numbers. For all the hand-wringing about his defensive abilities before the season, he has the lowest xGA/60 of any defenseman on the team. (Not counting Colin Miller, as he's only played a handful of games)

His ability to retrieve the puck in his own zone has been one of the most impressive parts of his game so far.
 
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mphmiles said:
Early going still, but extremely promising underlying numbers. For all the hand-wringing about his defensive abilities before the season, he has the lowest xGA/60 of any defenseman on the team. (Not counting Colin Miller, as he's only played a handful of games)

His ability to retrieve the puck in his own zone has been one of the most impressive parts of his game so far.
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He’s still prone to the occasional really bad turnover, but that’s just a risk that you need to accept with his game. He’s a dynamic offensive talent who likes to have the puck on his stick and make plays. That said, he’s getting better and better at picking his spots on when to make a high risk play and when to make the safe play. I think in college, WJC, etc…he knew he was “the guy” and sometimes tried to force things. I think he’s got a different mindset now that he’s in the NHL.
 
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Getting rag-dolled out there on a daily basis. NJD might wanna get some heavyness in their lineup to protect these kids.

They were reportedly very much into Zadorov, theyve struck out on that, but they definitely need to get someone like him in the lineup. It would benefit Luke for sure.
 
UrbanImpact said:
Getting rag-dolled out there on a daily basis. NJD might wanna get some heavyness in their lineup to protect these kids.

They were reportedly very much into Zadorov, theyve struck out on that, but they definitely need to get someone like him in the lineup. It would benefit Luke for sure.
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Can’t hit ‘em if you can t catch ‘em. It took a 5 minute major and game misconduct on an obvious touch up icing for Luke to get ragdolled. He’s fine out there and will add strength over the next couple season.
 
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haak84 said:
Can’t hit ‘em if you can t catch ‘em. It took a 5 minute major and game misconduct on an obvious touch up icing for Luke to get ragdolled. He’s fine out there and will add strength over the next couple season.
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Actually he's not ok. On the job training is not the way to learn to play defense in the NHL (and it has nothing to do with the heaviness in the NJ lineup).

Last night was the second time in two weeks he went back on a puck casually and got pasted as a result. As a 20-year-old who has yet to mature physically he has to be much more aware of situations to avoid.

Further, as tonight's game with the Sharks shows he continues to be a liability in his own zone.

Highlight plays on the power play and in overtime are nice. But there's no 3 on 3 in the playoffs and relying on the power play to win games isn't the best course.
 
UrbanImpact said:
Getting rag-dolled out there on a daily basis. NJD might wanna get some heavyness in their lineup to protect these kids.

They were reportedly very much into Zadorov, theyve struck out on that, but they definitely need to get someone like him in the lineup. It would benefit Luke for sure.
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Actually it wouldn’t benefit him whatsoever. Like not in the slightest. Not sure why anyone still thinks having some heavy dude is gonna stop other teams from hitting their players. It doesn’t work like that.
 
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Luke is 25th in defenseman scoring. He's the youngest in the top 30 by at least a couple of years and is averaging 20 minutes a game vs. 25 minutes a game for the rest of the top 25. Very impressive rookie season-- he'd easily be the Calder favorite in almost any other season. He should still be heavily considered if he keeps trending upwards.
 
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haak84 said:
Luke is 25th in defenseman scoring. He's the youngest in the top 30 by at least a couple of years and is averaging 20 minutes a game vs. 25 minutes a game for the rest of the top 25. Very impressive rookie season-- he'd easily be the Calder favorite in almost any other season. He should still be heavily considered if he keeps trending upwards.
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