There was one big mistake and other than that he was great. He needs to be given more time if anything.
Prospect Info: Luke Hughes - part IV (final)
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There was one big mistake and other than that he was great. He needs to be given more time if anything.
Definitely more than one mistake/misplay.
I would certainly keep him in the lineup though, as I said.
Goes without saying ALL of our defensemen in this series have made at least one big mistake per game.
Ripshot 43
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JimEIV
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- Feb 19, 2003
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Fair enough...I seem to have only heard the 2nd part where he said his ice was down because Luke and Smith played well...but he definitely said Bahl struggled. Thanks for getting the video.
Incharge1976
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The one pass that went off the boards that led to a scoring chance wasn't bad. The problem was the Devil, I believe it was Wood, wasn't looking for the pass. It will take some adjusting from our forward group too.
JimEIV
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Is this serious?
If you don't understand the difference between Will Butcher usage and say Brendan Smith usage as 6th Dman...you really don't know what you are watching.
- Jan 24, 2007
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I think he should play every game in this canes series, his skillset is sorely needed with the Canes' speed and forecheck. But I get why the team was not eager to put a 19 year old with 2 NHL games played into the postseason and give him 20 minutes+, especially in the Rangers series.
I don't get it. Even if you weren't fully convinced there was no reason not to go 11/7 with Luke in. We've seen guys like Makar and McAvoy step right into the playoffs and make big impacts. Both of them even did it with ZERO NHL games. Luke at least had the 2 games where he showed he can hang. You didn't even need to play him 20+ minutes because we have other guys. He should've been in from the start full stop. This wasn't a difficult decision to make.
MasterofGrond
No, I'm not serious.
It’s like some of y’all don’t even understand what constitutes good d play in 2023
- Jan 24, 2007
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11/7 is a less than ideal roster makeup. I don't know how long that will last with Luke Hughes before they trust him completely and go 12/6. Last game they won but had to play Bahl 6 minutes in place of another forward running 4 lines, which seems pointless.
So the team decided 12/6 without Luke was better than 11/7 with Luke (apparently considering 11/7 necessary to even risk putting Luke in) until the canes made it clear they had to get him into the lineup.
As to "well Makar and McAvoy looked great" idk all these guys are different, I don't remember exactly COL/BOS roster makeups but Ruff trusted Smith/Bahl over Luke based on what he saw and it's really not that crazy to me from a risk management perspective, especially if you think you have the better team (as NJ did over NY). The NHL is very difficult, Luke Hughes is a tremendous talent but it's a tough league and glorious scoring chances especially in OT can kill your entire season.
To be fair... McAvoy would've also been sitting in the press box during those playoffs if not for an injury.. he wasn't supposed to play
He got his opportunity in the same manner as Luke
Jersey Fan 12
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Not hardly. He's not ready and as someone mentioned above, his lackadaisical approach to defending will be costly in tight games.
SteveCangialosi123
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I’m very glad the marketing department inserted Luke into the lineup. This guy will be a hall of famer if that was him with a “lackadaisical approach to defending”.
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In 3 games, he positively affected the outcome in 2...
Eggtimer
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Meh. I am pro - play Luke but it wasmt exactly the same situation as Malay’s and McAvoy’s . They had no other options . With us , prior to the Graves injury , who would you have taken out of the lineup ? I guess you could have went with 7D but I dunno.
I said a bunch of times I would've went 11/7 because at the time I didn't really want to take Bahl out. I don't really care if Colorado and Boston were forced into it. Also IIRC Colorado wasn't really forced into it. Boston was forced and they threw him right into the fire. Regardless if either were forced into it because those guys were the only option we should've had Luke in because at worst he was a better option than a 12th forward. Going 7D and getting Luke in there is much better than 12F to make sure Wood/Lazar/Bo/Yegor are in the lineup. Luke really working out dramatically increases the ceiling of the team and his initial 2 games showed he wasn't going to lower the floor. I don't know about you but I want to play the best players and Luke is one of those best players.
And there is a GREAT value in knowing what we have versus hoping / guessing. It makes it possible to maximize the strengths while minimizing the weaknesses.
We know that Luke has great tools, but two NHL games wasn't enough to see how he would perform in all kind of high-pressure situations while playing our system. Our other defenders have been rotating, so we know how different pairs perform in diverse situations and we have analytics about them.
Now, with Graves being out and the Devils being down 2-0, suddenly the gamble made a lot more sense. It's just a matter of probabilities and risk/reward assessment. People often make the mistake of deciding whether a decision was good or bad base on its outcome, when it should be based on the information available when it was taken (same with drafts, that's why Nico was always the right choice). There is such things as good decisions with unlucky results, or bad decisions with a lucky result.
My point: Using words such as "obvious choice", or "easy decision" in this case shows a misunderstanding of the decision process.
PS: Some people also hated when we went 11/7 during the regular season, and criticized Ruff for trying it.
I'll take his "lackadaisical" defending over guys like Hamilton and Severson any day. In reality he's very obviously ready and is already our best defenseman on retrievals and controlled breakouts.
Zajacs Bowl Cut
Lets Go Baby
Answer the question and stop beating around the bush.
How many minutes does a player have to play at ES so that they can be rated properly? FYI Severson played like a minute more than Luke at ES last night. I guess we can't say he played well?
if I was sure of one thing in this thread, it was you making this type of post.
JimEIV
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So ridiculous. Severson played about the same time because he was tasked with baby sitting.
But here's a good rule, if your 6th Dman has played as much or less time than your 11th or 12th forward ES, that Dman ain't doing shit. He's there for the ride and hidden like a horrible pimple for yearbook photos
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Incharge1976
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I think 11/7 works better much better than 12/6 for this series and it's not even close. You have some backup for Luke should he need it and the team is super young and can handle additional minutes with ease.
The key moving forward is having Luke, Timo, and Jack out there at the same time. 34 year old Jordan Staal can only do so much.
I'd be interested in Mikey, Jack, Luke, Timo, and Damon on offensive zone starts, all game long as much as possible.
- Dec 20, 2018
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Posted this in April:
Makar was 20 during the 2018-19 Playoffs, almost a whole year older.
Their defensive pairs were Zadorov-Barrie, Girard-E. Johnson, Cole-Nemeth.
Makar didn’t play in the Game 1 (0-4 L) or Game 2 (3-2 OT W) vs Calgary.
Girard got injured so Makar replaced him for Game 3. Makar mostly played with Nemeth, the Avs won the series in 5 games.
Girard came back to play San Jose in the 2nd Rd and Nemeth was scratched. Makar played with Girard.
After the Avs went down 3-2 in the series, Bednar threw Nemeth back in there and went to 7-11. Makar still played with Girard though.
So Makar first got in due to injury and Colorado had a worse defensive core. I still think Luke will most likely play at some point, don’t underestimate how much elite skill levels the playing field.
Prospect Info: - Luke Hughes - part III
The Michigan goalie really wants to see Luke in the Devils lineup on Saturday.
Going by ice times it’s pretty clear Bahl would get scratched with Graves out.
Jason MacIsaac
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Well isn't this thread just a ball of sunshine. If you couldn't see the reads/touch passes he was executing all night I'm not sure what to tell you. You would think after seeing icing after icing or chips off the glass thru 9 games might give a little perspective.
