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Player Discussion Quinn Hughes, Pt. VII

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So, I was watching the Isles feed.

The were droooooooling over Hughes the entire game. They had a highlight package in the 1st period and another one in the 3rd.

They had a live interview with hi on the bench and spent 2 minutes btwn periods talking about him. He is a legit start in the NHL now.

Maybe it was just me but he was spinning around more than usual tonight, lol
 
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If there ever was a guy to handle obscene minutes it's this guy. I'm curious to know how much time/gp he spends nearly stationary in the d-zone on a breakout observing the landscape. He can just wait there indefinitely while the team changes lines, find open lanes or stagnate the opposition defence while our forwards circle to generate speed. When anyone bothers to forecheck he circles back to square one, makes an easy outlet or leaves the forechecker in the dust.

His minutes aren't grueling. Most of the time he's just skating around playing keep-away until he sees an opportunity he likes.
 
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CanucksMJL said:
If there ever was a guy to handle obscene minutes it's this guy. I'm curious to know how much time/gp he spends nearly stationary in the d-zone on a breakout observing the landscape. He can just wait there indefinitely while the team changes lines, find open lanes or stagnate the opposition defence while our forwards circle to generate speed. When anyone bothers to forecheck he circles back to square one, makes an easy outlet or leaves the forechecker in the dust.

His minutes aren't grueling. Most of the time he's just skating around playing keep-away until he sees an opportunity he likes.
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Because his skating is so effortless, and he himself isn't very big, I bet he leaves a lot of games feeling gassed than less gifted players guys who played 15 minutes. Less "wear and tear" on your muscles, bones, joints, tendons, if you are moving efficiently and gracefully.
 
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I think when people start quoting those assists stats through 300 games for Orr, Leetch and Hughes, even the most jaded and tuned out members of the media have to sit up and pay attention.

I mean we're talking two Hall of Famers here, who set the bar impossibly high. Not even guys like Denis Potvin, Ray Bourque, Nick Lidstrom, Larry Robinson, or Serge Savard ever put those kind of numbers in their first 300 games.

And those guys are basically worshiped in the Eastern Conference and in the HOF. Hughes has arrived.
 
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ChuckFanForever said:
Well, Quinn's fastest to 200 assists record didn't last long...



Admittedly, Makar has had a more successful team to work with...
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this’ll hopefully be a fun and bonkers norris race. credit where credit is due, makar with six apples in two games to pull within four pts and one assist of hughes is not only impressive but really puts our early season hot streak in perspective.
 
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vadim sharifijanov said:
this’ll hopefully be a fun and bonkers norris race. credit where credit is due, makar with six apples in two games to pull within four pts and one assist of hughes is not only impressive but really puts our early season hot streak in perspective.
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Brian Leetch held the record for 30 years before that, and then bang-bang, consecutive record breakers in 2 consecutive seasons...
 
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Leading the league in scoring now, and the first player to reach 30 points, after his goal and assist tonight. The incredible season continues! If he's healthy for the entire rest of the season just going PPG would net him 93 points,
 
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Leading the league in scoring and leading the league in plus/minus. He’s been stellar defensively.
 
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Bertuzzzi44 said:
Leading the league in scoring and leading the league in plus/minus. He’s been stellar defensively (Makar made some boneheaded blunders tonight to give Nashville the win late, Hughes would’ve been crucified had he done that).
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Curious to get other people's take on his defensive ability alone?

I hate to say that I have noticed some poor defensive play from him over the past 3-5 games (not the Sharks game).

I would not be ready at all to put him on the same level as Makar or Heiskanen defensively.

He's certainly improved in that area, but I don't have him anywhere near the top defensive players in the league.
 
SillyRabbit said:
Curious to get other people's take on his defensive ability alone?

I hate to say that I have noticed some poor defensive play from him over the past 3-5 games (not the Sharks game).

I would not be ready at all to put him on the same level as Makar or Heiskanen defensively.

He's certainly improved in that area, but I don't have him anywhere near the top defensive players in the league.
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I think he's been great defensively this season. To be honest the past 3 to 5 games the whole team has been in disarray. Hughes included. Once Soucy went down Hughes assignments greatened.

I would have agreed with you that Hughes hasn't been on the same level as Makar or Heiskanen defensively, but this season Hughes certainly can be named in the same breath as them.

Hughes has been spectacular.
 
Crazy how far he’s come. Some of the takes on him as a player after 2021 bubble were horrendous. I can’t believe anyone could have ever entrained the idea that Rathbone could end up a better player than Hughes.
 
canuckking1 said:
Crazy how far he’s come. Some of the takes on him as a player after 2021 bubble were horrendous. I can’t believe anyone could have ever entrained the idea that Rathbone could end up a better player than Hughes.
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i never thought this but my point at the time was that it was definitely questionable as to whether he would be able to handle top four leverage defensively and if he'd have to be really sheltered at es like barrie (but obviously more offensively talented)

and then it's a team building question where if you want to allocate x money to that guy or would you benefit more from spending "glorified barrie" money for that role or a bottom pair pp specialist and then contributing that cap to guys who could handle that defensive leverage

like even when you factor the way hughes spoke about where his defensive game was like he knew he was getting rinsed and there hadn't been growth there... and now you look at where he is and you'd say he's in the 99th percentile of best possible outcomes from the time he was drafted so idk i think it's easy to hindsight

like evan bouchard is the same guy as when he was drafted and if he was to randomly put it together in two years out of nowhere and reach the absolute best 1% of what people hoped for then yeah the takes now would be stupid too idk
 
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Peen said:
i never thought this but my point at the time was that it was definitely questionable as to whether he would be able to handle top four leverage defensively and if he'd have to be really sheltered at es like barrie (but obviously more offensively talented)

and then it's a team building question where if you want to allocate x money to that guy or would you benefit more from spending "glorified barrie" money for that role or a bottom pair pp specialist and then contributing that cap to guys who could handle that defensive leverage
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I was referring to @Get North's post on the first page of this thread lol

I still think it was a bit outrageous to think that when he had success in a top 4 role with Tanev as a 20-year-old rookie and was doing things unheard of for a rookie defenseman if Makar didn't exist. The labels that were being thrown around after he was forced to be stapled next to Benn and Myers on the worst defensive team in the league with absolutely atrocious coaching felt like crazy talk to me. He showed how far ahead of the curve he was at age 20 and then had a huge regression as a sophomore in the absolute worst scenario he could be put in. I think people should've seen the talent and ability he displayed in year 1 and taken a step back and said, 'Hey, maybe if he wasn't put in the worst possible position on the most dysfunctional team in the league, maybe he could improve on what he showed as a rookie, and what we saw as a sophomore was the outlier?
 
SillyRabbit said:
Curious to get other people's take on his defensive ability alone?

I hate to say that I have noticed some poor defensive play from him over the past 3-5 games (not the Sharks game).

I would not be ready at all to put him on the same level as Makar or Heiskanen defensively.

He's certainly improved in that area, but I don't have him anywhere near the top defensive players in the league.
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Have you watched Makar play? He's not that great defensively. QH is, IMHO, at least as effective defensively as Makar and I'd argue he's moreso.

As far pure defensive abilities, that's not Miro Heiskanen either. He's more of a great all-round dman with excellent mobility and goalscoring ability.
 
Diversification said:
Have you watched Makar play? He's not that great defensively. QH is, IMHO, at least as effective defensively as Makar and I'd argue he's moreso.

As far pure defensive abilities, that's not Miro Heiskanen either. He's more of a great all-round dman with excellent mobility and goalscoring ability.
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I mean, all three of Makar, Heiskanen and Hughes are elite because of their all-around play.

None of them are tops in the league in terms of pure defense.

I would have them as such (not just this season, but taking into account body of work as well):

Heiskanen - Very good defensively
Makar - Good defensively
Hughes - Average defensively

For this reason, even if I thought Hughes was on par with Makar offensively (which I do not think, although the gap is quite small now), I would still have Makar ahead.

Heiskanen is a much closer battle, given that Hughes is clearly superior offensively, while Heiskanen is clearly superior defensively. I think it's a coin flip between them.

I do not think Hughes is on the level of Makar or Heiskanen on the defensive end, however the advantage they had over him at one point has narrowed. I do think he has more room to grow in that area however.

On the offensive end, I think he's clearly above Heiskanen now (remember, Heiskanen finished 3 points behind Hughes last season and also has a 26-point playoff run to his name), and still slightly behind Makar, but adding a shot to his arsenal has made it very close.

Hughes is leading the league in scoring, but Makar is only 3 points behind him with 2 games in hand.

Anyway, none of this is meant to dump on Quinn, he's taken a big step forward this season in all areas of the game and it's extremely fun to watch. I was resigned to the idea that he would top out as a top 10 defenceman in the league but he's smashed right through that and solidified himself a spot in the top 5. I would love to see him win the Norris this season.

I just try to look at things objectively and based on what I've seen, I think he has room to grow on the defensive end.
 
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