Why wouldn't I have seen him play? I much rather watch most given U20 and U18 tournaments there is than WHC (unless there's someone like Kakko or Laine in the Finnish team). I've seen numerous of games by Hughes on the international level, mostly against kids obviously. Do I watch USHL? Not anymore than you watch FEL.
People here like to assume things, that much is granted. Yeah I'm aware that he played against elders during the season but saying he played vs men, like seriously? Maybe you mean't to say he played vs amateur hockey players? Seems like we have a little bit different standards for what comes down to actually playing versus men. At least for me it normally has the word "professional" tagged along in the context. Otherwise he wouldn't have seen so much ice surface in the Worlds', or how else would you explain how a 1,6 ppg player (against men) almost falls out of the map when playing against grown ups in the World Championships?
I don't even have anything against Hughes. Actually he does seem like pretty talented prospect and if he had more weight/height I might even view him on the same level as KK. Promising and extremely gifted (like someone you can hardly find any faults from) are two different things however, and I'm not at all certain if he has what it's expected after seeing him just some week ago. Kakko was on a different stratosphere and by the time Hughes reaches the level Kakko is now, who knows how good the latter will already be.
