Since much of the debate for Jersey up-thread seems to be based around Hughes' numbers as a 20 year-old, let's compare these 20-year-old seasons:
Games played:
- Hughes 82
- Power 79
- Nemec 60
- Byram 30 (concussion)
Goals:
- Hughes 9
- Byram 5
- Power 4
- Nemec 3
ES Goals:
- Byram 5
- Hughes 5
- Power 4
- Nemec 3
Points:
- Hughes 47
- Power 35
- Nemec 19
- Byram 17
ES Points
- Power 26
- Hughes 22
- Nemec 17
- Byram 16
Points/games played:
- Byram .57
- Hughes .57
- Power .44
- Nemec .32
ES Points/games played:
- Byram .53
- Power .44
- Nemec .28
- Hughes .27
Ice time/games played:
- Power 23:48
- Hughes 21:28
- Nemec 19:52
- Byram 18:48
ES ice time/games played:
- Power 20:44
- Hughes 17:56
- Nemec 17:44
- Byram 17:33
Hits:
- Byram 53
- Power 27
- Hughes 24
- Nemec 22
Blocked shots:
- Nemec 105
- Power 86
- Hughes 55
- Byram 26
Giveaways:
- Byram 11
- Nemec 25
- Power 52
- Hughes 69
Hits per 60:
- Byram 5.63
- Nemec 1.10
- Power 0.86
- Hughes 0.81
Blocked shots per 60:
- Nemec 5.28
- Byram 2.76
- Power 2.74
- Hughes 1.87
Giveaways per 60:
- Byram 1.16
- Nemec 1.25
- Power 1.65
- Hughes 2.35
5on5 SA for %:
- Hughes 54.5%
- Byram 53.2%
- Power 52.2%
- Nemec 49.7%
On-ice ES goal %:
- Byram 56.4%
- Power 53.4%
- Nemec 49.1%
- Hughes 43.0%
To me, it looks like any apparent upper hand Hughes may have among these 4 as a 20-year-old is pretty much solely a function of the points he collected running his team's top PP, an opportunity none of the others had available to them.
Looking through the rest of the numbers, I don't see a clear advantage to either team.
I take the quality of the Devils other high picks (Silayev, Casey) over the quantity of those in the Sabres' stable (Johnson, Samuelsson, Kleber, Strbak), with the caveat that Samuelsson is the only name in that group actually proven to be a capable NHLer.
But the fact the Sabres still can play the Dahlin trump card on top of the rest makes Buffalo the easy choice for me.
