Canucks prospect Hughes in fine form at world juniors
Prospect Quinn Hughes has shown glimpses of potential at World Juniors
As we ready to ring in the new year, here are the good-old Monday morning musings and meditations on the world of sports.
Quinn Hughes hasn’t exactly dominated the World Juniors to date but you only have to watch the Vancouver Canucks’ prize prospect for a minute to understand he’s a unique talent.
Saturday night’s memorable 5-4 overtime win for Sweden over the States was a microcosm of Hughes’s tournament. In the early going, he forced the action and committed a couple of glaring turnovers, the second leading to Emil Bemstrom’s goal which gave the Swedes a 3-0 lead. When Swedish defenceman Erik Brannstrom, who’s been the best player in the Victoria draw, scored in the third to up that advantage to 4-0, the States looked dead in the water.
A pair of power-play goals would give them life before Ryan Poehling, miraculously, scored twice in the last minute to force overtime. Sweden’s Adam Boqvist then potted the gamewinner but, for Canucks’ fans, the larger story was Hughes in the third.
He played 10 minutes in the frame and led all skaters with over 27 minutes for the game.
And he was everywhere, making plays, keeping pucks alive, driving the offence with his magical skating.
The States have just been so-so thus far but Jack Hughes, Quinn’s brother and the projected first pick in this summer’s NHL draft, is expected to return either Monday against the Finns or for the playoff round.
Wouldn’t count the young Americans out just yet.
As for Quinn, the only criticism is he’s tried to do too much when his team has trailed.
He’s also trying things here he’ll never get away with at the NHL level but he’ll figure it out because, on top of everything else, he’s a smart kid.
The larger impression of the University of Michigan defenceman, in fact, is a blue-chip talent who already carries himself like a pro. The minute he joins the Canucks he becomes one of the best skaters in the NHL. And the faithful can start getting excited about a power play that has Hughes up top feeding Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson on either side with Bo Horvat working down low.
Very excited.
Judd Brackett, the Canucks’ director of amateur scouting, might not be the most objective source on the subject but he’s been evaluating players for a while. Here’s what he says about Quinn Hughes: “He’s the best skater I’ve ever seen.”
One more entry from the Hughes’ file. During a quiet chat with Hughes we talked about his two years living with Keith and Brady Tkachuk at the U.S. National Team Development Program.
In another life, I covered Keith in Winnipeg and once visited his parents’ house in Boston for a feature.
His mother, Geri, told me about a time when Keith and his cousin Tom Fitzgerald, now the New Jersey Devils assistant general manager, were playing ball hockey in the family basement and managed to put a hole through the dry wall.
The pair dragged a couch in front of the hole but were busted when Mrs. Tkachuk investigated why her basement was so cold.
“We’ve done that a couple of times,” Hughes answered.
“Jack (his younger brother) and I were playing mini-sticks with Nick Canade (now with Mississauga in the OHL). We pushed him into the wall and left this huge hole (at the family home in Mississauga).
“So we hung up jerseys, like three different jerseys to cover up this hole. My mom came down and asked what the jerseys were there for.
“We said we thought the wall was kind of plain and they’d make good decorations. It took her about three seconds to figure it out.”
I knew if I lived long enough I’d see a member of Monty Python knighted. Happy New Year to Sir Michael Palin. Nice one centurion.
And finally, Tomas Monten, the coach of Sweden at this year’s World Juniors, coached Elias Pettersson at two WJCs and last year’s world championship. He was asked if he saw a player who might score 40 goals in his rookie NHL season while exciting comparisons to the best-ever Swedish players.
“Not really,” Monten said.
“A lot of us thought he was going to be an impact player but it was going to be three, four years down the road.” Nailed that one. Monten did, however, see something inside Pettersson that made him think the kid might be special.
“He doesn’t talk much and he’s shy but he’s really competitive,” Monten said. “If people tell him he can’t do something he gets really grumpy. I think that’s what motivates him.”
(Hughes) was everywhere, making plays, keeping pucks alive, driving the offence.