Will Luke Hughes drop in NHL draft like his brother in 2018?
‘When he’s at his best he really impacts the game’
Luke Hughes cut to the chase like he was pursuing the puck. No hesitation. No doubt. When the highly-touted National Hockey League draft prospect, who has benefited from a rich family sporting lineage and considerable confidence, was asked to describe strengths that have cemented his status as a first-round selection Friday, the defenceman offered a rapid-fire response.
“I can play in all situations, power play and penalty kill, defend the cycle and the net front and I’m really poised with the puck in my transition game,” said the 6-foot-2, 184 pound defender. “A big part are my exits out of the D-zone and entries into the O-zone. I think I’m pretty deceptive with the puck and can make things happen.
“My three biggest strengths are my hockey sense, my skating and my compete level.”
Quinn Hughes would salute that moxie in his younger sibling because he sounds just like the Vancouver Canucks blueliner in advance of the 2018 draft. Quinn told anyone within earshot that he had an elite and transferable skill set.
“With the way the game is going and being played, everybody needs one or two guys who can do what I can do,” Quinn said before that draft. “I can really help a team. I feel very confident in my abilities and I’ve taken the size question out of the mix.”
Quinn knew if he was going to play in The Show, he had show up at every development level and exude an abundance of bravado because draft-day dominoes could fall a number of ways.
“We don’t really talk about it (draft),” said Luke. “It was me watching him transition to the NHL and that’s shown me what’s going on. One area he told me was that it’s a man’s league and you’ve got to be super strong and ready.”
Luke doesn’t match Quinn’s sublime skating and edge work — the youngest of the Hughes brothers compares more to Morgan Reilly of the Toronto Maple Leafs because his head for the game — but his straight-line speed is strong and that aids in puck retrieval to trigger the transition.
Luke’s ability to make nolook or one-touch passes, while walking the offensive blue-line to get passes or shots through traffic, speaks of power play quarterback potential. But like any prospect, he’s a work in progress and risk-reward puck management is a concern, but not his ability to close on the opposition and overpower forwards along the boards. Matching that compete level with better offensive production is the goal when he joins the University of Michigan next fall.
“I’m really focusing on scoring so I can impact more games — I had a ton of chances this year,” said Luke, who had 34 points (6-28) in 38 games for the U.S. National Team Development Program team.
He missed the world under18 tournament with a toe injury that required tendon surgery, but will be ready for the U.S. summer evaluation camp for the world juniors.
Like Quinn, Luke transitioned from centre to defence in bantam. He cites Miro Heiskanen’s ability to apply skating and size, while also using his stick to an advantage with the Dallas Stars. And he likes how deceptive Shea Theodore is for the Vegas Golden Knights.
So, what does all this mean come Friday?
Quinn could have been selected third, fourth, fifth or sixth in 2018. However, Jesperi Kotkaniemi surprisingly went third to Montreal, Brady Tkachuk fourth to Ottawa, Barrett Hayton fifth to Arizona and Filip Zadina sixth to Detroit. Hughes slid to seventh, much to the joy of the Canucks.
Luke could be chosen fourth overall and join brother, Jack, with the New Jersey Devils. Or, if a run on defenceman has consensus top pick Owen Power followed by wingers Matthew Beniers and Dylan Guenther — and then blueliners Brandt Clarke and Simon Edvinsson who some scouts have ranked ahead of Luke — then Luke could slide.
If he’s there at No. 9, do the Canucks bite on the left-shot defender if coveted centres Kent Johnson and Mason McTavish are still available?
That would be a riddle for the hockey operations department to solve. And it’s not that Luke’s stock has fallen, it’s that rankings are often trumped by a team’s needs. If that is combined with the best-available player mantra, then it’s a home run. It happened with Quinn. It could happen with Luke.
“At one point this season I was the scout on our staff that liked him (Luke) the most,” said Mark Edwards of HockeyProspect.com, an independent scouting service. “I cooled on him slightly as the season progressed but there is still a lot to like.
“When he’s at his best he really impacts the game and is very involved. If he gets more consistent with his decision making he’ll outplay our ranking (11th). He’s at the bottom of a group of very tightly ranked players.”