Player Discussion Quinn Hughes, Pt. VII

[Flik]

Thought exercise type of question, but is Hughes a top 5 player in the league right now? I was thinking the other day about players I'd seriously consider trading Hughes for 1:1 (in an imaginary vacuum not considering the team they are on, roster configuration, salary cap, etc).

Off the top of my head I came up with this shitty list:

1) McBaby - Yeah, he's a whiner, entitled, whatever, but also so good.
2) Draisaitl - A monster you want on your team
3) McKinnon - Another game breaker monster
4) Shesterkin - The kind of goalie that should be able to win you cups.
5) Makar - Obviously in the same tier as Hughes

But out of those 5 players, I'm not sure if a Hughes swap for Makar or Shesterkin even changes things, or if I'd even do it outright.....

All this to say, he's pretty aight.

 

[rypper]

I'm completely biased but I consider Hughes to be one of those "cheat code" players who just dominate a game and make opposing players look foolish.

 

[Coffee]

I'm completely biased but I consider Hughes to be one of those "cheat code" players who just dominate a game and make opposing players look foolish.

Are you biased ? Yes
Are you full blown biased at times ? Yes

But you’re absolutely correct here. If Hughes was picked first overall, he would be considered one of the more prominent 1st overall picks of the last two decades.

Canuck luck , gotta love it. Everyone has their turn

 

[sandwichbird2023]

Thought exercise type of question, but is Hughes a top 5 player in the league right now? I was thinking the other day about players I'd seriously consider trading Hughes for 1:1 (in an imaginary vacuum not considering the team they are on, roster configuration, salary cap, etc).

Off the top of my head I came up with this shitty list:

1) McBaby - Yeah, he's a whiner, entitled, whatever, but also so good.
2) Draisaitl - A monster you want on your team
3) McKinnon - Another game breaker monster
4) Shesterkin - The kind of goalie that should be able to win you cups.
5) Makar - Obviously in the same tier as Hughes

But out of those 5 players, I'm not sure if a Hughes swap for Makar or Shesterkin even changes things, or if I'd even do it outright.....

All this to say, he's pretty aight.

I personally would replace Shesterkin with Kucherov. Goalies are not as consistent on a year to year basis, even a top goalie like Shesterkin has off seasons. And while Kucherov is not a center, he is probably the most dominant winger we've seen this generation.

 

[strattonius]

Would you guys even swap Quinn for Makar if you could? Just based on Quinn's leadership and role to the team I think if we had Makar instead we'd be worse off. Makar might be the best offensive defenseman in the history of hockey; But Quinn's defensive game has just exploded in to the elite category. I don't think there's a defenseman that dominates the ice like Hughes.

 

[Rowlet]

Would you guys even swap Quinn for Makar if you could? Just based on Quinn's leadership and role to the team I think if we had Makar instead we'd be worse off. Makar might be the best offensive defenseman in the history of hockey; But Quinn's defensive game has just exploded in to the elite category. I don't think there's a defenseman that dominates the ice like Hughes.

No, and not for leadership reasons. Hughes is legitimately a better player, the way he tilts the ice in his team's favour is basically unrivalled in the league.

Ready for Pierce Hawthorne to laugh react at my post.

 

[Regal]

Would you guys even swap Quinn for Makar if you could? Just based on Quinn's leadership and role to the team I think if we had Makar instead we'd be worse off. Makar might be the best offensive defenseman in the history of hockey; But Quinn's defensive game has just exploded in to the elite category. I don't think there's a defenseman that dominates the ice like Hughes.

I think Hughes is better at controlling the play and transitioning the puck, but Makar is better at creating and finishing high end chances. Both are probably best suited to their situations, as the Avs are currently super top heavy and their three big guns can combine to wreak havoc on teams, while the Canucks have more forward depth and Hughes provides a good backbone for them all to succeed. Hughes not being injured part of each year is also huge. And obviously the captaincy and familiarity would be hard to make a switch that isn’t an obvious upgrade.

The biggest benefit from Makar is probably being right handed. Seems like it’d be easier to find solid left handers to fill out the defense next to him and Hronek.

 

[cc]

I think Hughes is better at controlling the play and transitioning the puck, but Makar is better at creating and finishing high end chances. Both are probably best suited to their situations, as the Avs are currently super top heavy and their three big guns can combine to wreak havoc on teams, while the Canucks have more forward depth and Hughes provides a good backbone for them all to succeed. Hughes not being injured part of each year is also huge. And obviously the captaincy and familiarity would be hard to make a switch that isn’t an obvious upgrade.

The biggest benefit from Makar is probably being right handed. Seems like it’d be easier to find solid left handers to fill out the defense next to him and Hronek.

Agreed. I don't think Makar would produce nearly as well on the Canucks team. They don't have players at the same tier of MacKinnon and Rantanen or play in an offensive run and gun system like the Avs do

 

[Coffee]

Would you guys even swap Quinn for Makar if you could? Just based on Quinn's leadership and role to the team I think if we had Makar instead we'd be worse off. Makar might be the best offensive defenseman in the history of hockey; But Quinn's defensive game has just exploded in to the elite category. I don't think there's a defenseman that dominates the ice like Hughes.

Nope

 

[bossram]

I would certainly put Quinn as a top-five player in the league, and you don't need bias to reach that conclusion.

He tilts the ice for his team to a preposterous degree. The Canucks are two teams: An elite one with Quinn Hughes on the ice, and frankly a poor one without him. The on/off ice splits are ridiculous.

And qualitatively, we can see that he is the engine of the team. Getting back on retrievals, being a one-man breakout, firing crisp passes, and creating offense with his movement.

The only player I would put above him is McDavid. He should be considered in the Mackinnon, Draisaitl, Makar, Kucherov tier.

 

[vadim sharifijanov]

tbh i wouldn’t even trade him for mcdavid

part of that is because mcdavid gives me creepy serial killer vibes but i don’t even know if replacing the transition engine of the team with a generational scorer actually makes us a better team

 

[Flik]

Yeah, we're f***ing lucky to be watching this player. I hope he retires as a Canuck.

 

[Hodgy]

He tilts the ice for his team to a preposterous degree. The Canucks are two teams: An elite one with Quinn Hughes on the ice, and frankly a poor one without him. The on/off ice splits are ridiculous.

To be fair, this is partly due to the fact that the Canucks stack their number one pair with by far their two best defensemen, and the bottom two pairs, in comparsion, are pretty terrible at this point.