Big sensation is small, slick, speedy
American defenceman Hughes has created enough pre-draft buzz to go in the Top 4
Everything has gone so right for Quinn Hughes that it’s fair to ask how the highly touted, size-challenged, puck-rushing defenceman for the 2018 NHL Draft will react when something goes wrong?
What will happen when a forechecker beats him to the puck or wins a boards battle? How is he going to recover if his turnover results in a goal?
It’s a stretch to suggest abnormality in his play because the shifty Hughes is associated with making things happen, rather than having things happen to him. He has poise and maturity beyond his 18 years and his head for the game and speedy transition have been compared with Bobby Orr. And even the legend made the odd error.
“The biggest thing I learned is once you make a mistake, don’t let it define you,” said the 5-foot-10, 175-pound Orlando, Fla., native, whose family relocated to Toronto when he was young. “Brian Burke said when you give one (goal) up, go and get one.
“The worst thing I’ve seen happen to players is that you make a mistake and you fall apart — which is just unacceptable. I don’t make a lot of mistakes as is, but if I do, that’s my mentality. And with the way the game is going and being played, everybody needs one or two guys who can do what I can do.
“I can really help a team. I feel very confident in my abilities and I’ve taken the size question out of the mix.”
The question now is where will Hughes be selected Friday in Dallas? He has created the most pre-draft buzz — outside of consensus top pick Rasmus Dahlin — and could go in the Top 4. He was interviewed by 18 teams at the recent NHL Scouting Combine and had a followup visit with the Ottawa Senators, who select fourth overall.
With 29 points (5-24) in 39 games last season at the University of Michigan, Hughes was named to the Big Ten allrookie team. He then made a seamless transition in 10 games at the world championship with the U.S. as the tournament’s youngest player.
“He does things that are so special it’s so hard to compare him to other players,” said former Vancouver Canucks winger Jeff Tambellini, who served as a Michigan assistant last season before becoming general manager and coach of the BCHL Trail Smoke Eaters. “I’ve never seen a kid who can transport the puck and hold on to it for so long and make plays through people.
“When you’re picking in the top three, five or seven, you’re looking for guys with special characteristics and a real dynamic. He manipulates the other team and sets them up for where he wants to go and even when he’s making his move, he’s thinking two plays ahead.
“He makes people make bad decisions trying to jump in on him because he just accelerates. People are so surprised by his first two steps. And the fact he comes from such a strong hockey family — and the standard is so high in that household — I can’t see him not being an outstanding NHLer.”