Prospect Info: Luke Hughes - part IV (final)

[Jason MacIsaac]

Yep, I’ve been one of Luke’s biggest supporters since before we even drafted him and people were pounding the table for Brandt Clarke instead. He’s going to be very special, better than Quinn.

With that said, he has a lot to clean up in his game, and everyone wants to act like one performance in a rout on Sunday was conclusive evidence that he’s a complete NHL package as of today.

Everyone has areas they have to clean up, all our defensmen have warts. Some much much worse than others. Why would a 19 year old be any different.

 

[Unknown Caller]

Goal one, Hughes with an absolutely beautiful breakout pass in stride on the tape, if McLeod chips it deep Hughes is off the ice and it is no longer an issue. He still shouldn't have made the change until he saw it go deep.

Goal two, entry is on the opposite side Luke Hughes is in good position and takes the pass, unfortunate bounce right to a Cane who hits the point for a Pesce goal.

Goal three, after a long shift Hughes made a play up to Bratt in the neutral zone, Bratt missed the puck then the Canes flipped it into Hughes corner. Hughes is sticking with his man and Severson hits the guy, disloging Hughes stick in the process. Severson takes himself out of the play instead of marking his man who pucks up the puck, two quick passes and Burns slaps it in. That goal is on Severson
View attachment 705948

Goal 4 Hughes pinched, which is fine because they are down by 4 goals and Hamilton is back to play it one on one. Hamilton is passive allowing Martinook to wire it. Schmid has to make that save but he is cold.

Why are we only breaking down shifts that resulted in goals against and not every shift of the game? Basing an entire evaluation off the end result of whether the puck wound up in the net is about 5% of the game. In the offseason we can go shift by shift.

 

[NJDevs26]

Anyone who thought this guy was gonna be perfect from minute one just because Makar did it and because of his first three no pressure games was clearly kidding themselves

 

[Jersey Fresh]

Anyone who thought this guy was gonna be perfect from minute one just because Makar did it and because of his first three no pressure games was clearly kidding themselves

I can’t imagine playing college hockey and being parachuted into meaningful playoff hockey. I have nothing but confidence in him going into next season. People just need to accept he’s a player that needs to grow in certain areas, but his potential is through the roof.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Why are we only breaking down shifts that resulted in goals against and not every shift of the game? Basing an entire evaluation off the end result of whether the puck wound up in the net is about 5% of the game. In the offseason we can go shift by shift.

You aren’t coming in here saying I told you so if the plays didn’t result in goals. He was not notably worse than anyone else, the entire team was dominated. It was really the Jack and Timo line getting destroyed whenever they were out there.

 

[Unknown Caller]

My only fault with Luke through two games is his unwillingness to sneak in from the far point for a backdoor play. Everything I have seen has confirmed he will be a superstar.

Nobody has disputed that he’ll likely develop into a star. You’re not going on some crazy limb saying that after the kid broke NCAA records for defensemen for two years and has a skill set similar to Niedermayer.

The point is that he is not a star defenseman yet and still has a gap in his defensive game and decision making that needs development. He’s 19 years old, it’s not a knock.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Why are we only breaking down shifts that resulted in goals against and not every shift of the game? Basing an entire evaluation off the end result of whether the puck wound up in the net is about 5% of the game. In the offseason we can go shift by shift.

Get me full game film and I will do that as well. I already mentioned his 6 rushes from his own end. In total I counted 5 negative plays from him tonight.

- I think his first shift he turned the puck over when Carolina sent two heavy forcheckers on him. Nothing resulted from this.
- Maybe his 3rd or 4th shift he lost his man in front and Vanacek made a good save. I don't think he was even supposed to be in front with the swarm system but hopfully that gets shot into the moon with Ruff.
- Poor time to take a line change but I put that on McLeod as well.
- Bad rush on the PP where he tried to do it himself, nothing resulted other than the puck being dumped.
- Bad rush 5 on 5 in the 3rd when NJ was way down.

Anything else? I just don't see the negatives. He gapped up really nice on two rushes, something that surprised me. His passing, while not as good as last game, was still by far the best on the Devils. He rushed the puck out of danger 2 times that very few in the NHL could do against this Canes team.

I understand he isn't perfect but someone really needs to show me these bad defensive plays.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

When he is talking about playing ping pong he was talking about Bahl and Siegenthaller who both had their minutes chopped substantially in the 2nd and 3rd. Siegenthaller was f'n playing blind this whole game just firing it with no sense of support.

As I said, NJ the turnovers in the neutral zone were quite obviously my biggest issue and Ruff agreed. Stagnant, no support. A lot of no look fancy plays that were turned over.

Graves - Hamilton
Hughes - Marino
Smith - Severson

This is what I suspect they go with.

 

[Blackjack]

I wouldn’t specifically fault Luke for any goals against. He was on for 4 of 6 goals against and had a 21% xGF%.

Kid is going to be special, but also shows how ridiculous the takes are when people watch one 8-4 win that was never close and immediately determine that he should have been in the lineup.

Not playing him until game 3 could end up costing us a cup. If we don't make it out of this series, we'll never know.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

Not playing him until game 3 could end up costing us a cup. If we don't make it out of this series, we'll never know.

Not playing him against Boston in a game that meant nothing was a stupid decision. Not playing him against the Rangers where he would have been as good as he is now was a mistake. Not having nearly a full month with him incorporated into the PP was a mistake. A team not playing arguably the top drafted prospect was a mistake.

 

[haak84]

He had one zone exit tonight and it was a thing of beauty just skirted past two heavy forechecking canes and then had full speed in the neutral zone with numbers.

Kid is special. Team is stacked.

 

[Jason MacIsaac]

He had one zone exit tonight and it was a thing of beauty just skirted past two heavy forechecking canes and then had full speed in the neutral zone with numbers.

Kid is special. Team is stacked.

Give him a full season of getting used to the size and speed of NHLers and how quick lanes close down, he is going to be a trap beater and a cheat code for entries on PPs for years to come.

 

[haak84]

Give him a full season of getting used to the size and speed of NHLers and how quick lanes close down, he is going to be a trap beater and a cheat code for entries on PPs for years to come.

I think that is the big misconception with Luke compared to other prospects. Some players get better with speed and skill and he is one of them. It’s like he has all these new tools at his disposal. He plays to his competition and to a certain extent his teammates. We all know Jack is going to push him as hard as possible x

 

[JimEIV]

I'm not sure if I'd talk about any individual after that game... honestly, that might have been the best team effort of the season when you think about it. Everyone certainly contributed to the end result.

 

[NJDevs26]

Not playing him until game 3 could end up costing us a cup. If we don't make it out of this series, we'll never know.

How the heck can you come to that conclusion after they got housed today with Luke playing just as poorly as anyone else? If they lose in five games, they'll have lost two of the three with Luke (assuming he actually does play in Game 5, after likely 'going rogue').

 

[JimEIV]

How the heck can you come to that conclusion after they got housed today with Luke playing just as poorly as anyone else? If they lose in five games, they'll have lost two of the three with Luke (assuming he actually does play in Game 5, after likely 'going rogue').

Was Lindy talking about Luke when he said "going rogue"?

 

[njdevils1982]

Was Lindy talking about Luke when he said "going rogue"?

he also said earlier in the playoffs in a roundabout way when asked about a goalie pull that there were other players that he would do the same if he could... he's sticking with the cryptic not to bury anyone by name game. i'm sure it's more than one player

as he should.

 

[JimEIV]

he also said earlier in the playoffs in a roundabout way when asked about a goalie pull that there were other players that he would do the same if he could... he's sticking with the cryptic not to bury anyone by name game. i'm sure it's more than one player

as he should.

It seemed as though when the game was way out of hand in the 3rd Luke was getting more playing time? I don't know the actual numbers but it just seemed to me that he was out there more in the 3rd?

 

[MadDevil]

It seemed as though when the game was way out of hand in the 3rd Luke was getting more playing time? I don't know the actual numbers but it just seemed to me that he was out there more in the 3rd?

He played 7:01 in the 3rd, most amongst all Devils defenders. Bahl was 2nd, with 5:54.

 

[NJDevs26]

he also said earlier in the playoffs in a roundabout way when asked about a goalie pull that there were other players that he would do the same if he could... he's sticking with the cryptic not to bury anyone by name game. i'm sure it's more than one player

as he should.

It's definitely more than one but there's only so many guys with 'lack of experience' so Luke was probably one of the targets at least.

 

[JimEIV]

He played 7:01 in the 3rd, most amongst all Devils defenders. Bahl was 2nd, with 5:54.

Thanks.

So I kind of don't think it was Luke who went rogue? I mean why would you reward him with more ice time as the game went on if he wasn't following the game plan?

 

[forceten]

If anything, Luke is trying too hard to do the right thing - the forced change that led to the tying goal I think was an example of that, knowing he has limited time and has to get off the ice. Maybe. I don't know. I know it wasn't a Luke Hughes problem last night. Team was absolutely flying until the first goal against, and that should've been saved, and it all fell apart from there.

 

[Omar Little]

Both Luke and Jack have a tendency to suffer from a little "fine I'll do it myself-itis" when there is adversity in a high importance game. They need to both be a bit more patient/disciplined

 

[Clam Jensen]

Both Luke and Jack have a tendency to suffer from a little "fine I'll do it myself-itis" when there is adversity in a high importance game. They need to both be a bit more patient/disciplined

100% fair. They have a lot of time to get better at that which is great.

 

[Homedresser]

Yep, I’ve been one of Luke’s biggest supporters since before we even drafted him and people were pounding the table for Brandt Clarke instead. He’s going to be very special, better than Quinn.

With that said, he has a lot to clean up in his game, and everyone wants to act like one performance in a rout on Sunday was conclusive evidence that he’s a complete NHL package as of today.

Asking a 19 year old with 2 career games played to step into the playoffs and contribute is asking alot. He's had some momemts but playoff games magnify mistakes. And he's had some big ones.