Luke Hughes game breakdown - Part 2

I dove deeper into his January 18th performance vs Muskegon.

May 28, 2021

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With Draft SZN upon us, I’m going to be using this space quite a bit to cover prospects I like; and prospects with a realistic shot of becoming New Jersey Devils.

Luke Hughes fits both criteria so I decided to breakdown another of his games; this time his January 18th showing vs Muskegon. You can watch it in full – thanks to Devils in the Details – here.

I’m told this is nearing the ‘email length limit’ – I might’ve gone a tad GIF heavy! – so let’s dive right into it.

Luke Hughes vs Muskegon. No. 6 in white. Enjoy.

The Good

• Luke Hughes is a wonderful skater and extremely poised with the puck on his stick. He’s quite adept at putting himself in position to put those skills to use. On his very first shift of the game, he pulled away from the covering forward to create some space and isolate. Hughes fakes one way, steps around the other, and drives the puck deeper into the offensive zone. Hughes showcases his excellent vision, throwing a beautiful backhand feed through traffic for a tap-in on the doorstep.

• Hughes is so good at making something out of nothing in the offensive zone. In the clip above he receives a pass at the blueline vs a set defense and turns it into a goal. He didn’t do that here, however, he lured two forwards into pressuring him, protected the puck, and passed his teammate into the open space to walk into a good shot.

• Hughes, like Jack, is fantastic in transition. He’s a zone exit machine, which I’ll get to shortly, and a walking zone entry. Here, Hughes dances around F1 before taking the play wide and gaining the blueline. A couple Muskegon players close on him but it’s no problem at all. Hughes pivots, shifts backwards, and creates a lane for himself to get the puck to an open teammate. Many players would simply dump the puck in after getting around the first player; especially in an extra-man situation. Not Hughes; he has the poise and confidence to make plays while pressured and ensure his team maintains possession.

• If you haven’t picked up on this already, Hughes can create offense out of nothing in a hurry. He retrieves the dump-out and fires a quick pass to a teammate at the line. USA gets the puck deeper into the offensive zone and Hughes attacks the space created in the middle of the ice, setting up shop to get a good shot off (he hit the post). In ~5 seconds the puck went from Hughes’ stick behind center ice to on his stick in the high slate for a scoring opportunity.

• This kid is a one-man breakout. He was responsible for 12 zone exit attempts at 5v5. A whopping nine (75%!) resulted in USA leaving the defensive zone *with* full control of the puck. He’s a great skater and can beat opponents in one-on-one situations so he’s more than capable of carrying the mail up ice himself. He’s also a fantastic passer and has the ability to hit teammates in stride – regardless of the pressure faced – to quickly transition from defense to offense.

• Hughes’ gap control is a truly wonderful thing. He is an effortless skater and has long reach, which makes him nearly impossible to get by. He immediately closes on his man, forcing him to try and make a play that’s not there. Hughes retrieves the puck and fires it up to an open teammate, once again flipping the script of the game in a hurry. USA went from setting up defensively to attacking on the rush in just a few seconds.

• That was the lone clip I made of Hughes’ zone entry defense, but there were numerous examples of him successfully defending the blueline. In this sequence, Hughes left a decent-sized gap to try and tempt the Muskegon player to take the ice before closing and forcing a dump-in. Hughes’ defense partner easily gets the puck and clears the zone (this was a PK situation).

• On the ensuing breakout Muskegon gets the puck to Hughes’ side of the ice again. The forward retrieves the puck and is closed off quickly by Hughes. He is forced to turn to protect the puck, and fires an inaccurate rink-side pass. Muskegon did get the puck back but had to regroup, not attempting to enter the zone again for another 10 seconds.

So, Hughes was responsible for 25 seconds of wasted time solely off entry denials and the pressure he put on opposing attackers.

• Hughes is a willing and able shooter. He fired four pucks on net at 5v5, picked up a PP assist on a deflection, and also scored a goal of his own in the dying minutes of the game. Hughes is left essentially unmarked, takes the open ice available to him, and fires off a powerful half clapper to join the goal party.

The Bad

• Hughes likes to get up in the play often, which is fine! That helps generate a lot of offense that wouldn’t come from conservative play. But sometimes he gets caught even though he skates so well. As a byproduct of Hughes being, you know, near the opposing hashmarks when Muskegon gained possession, the opposing attacker had a leg up on him in transition. Hughes did close the gap fairly well because of his skating ability but it still led to a zone entry and a Grade A chance. Again, Hughes did get back and make it *somewhat* difficult on the opposing forward. But had Hughes been back and defended the rush from in front, as he normally would, he could have forced a dump-in or a turnover rather than an entry that led immediately to a dangerous opportunity. I love the aggressive thought process but it’s already 4-0. Maybe tone it down just a tad.

• In this clip we just see poor defense all around. This was not an overly dangerous situation. At least it shouldn’t have been. Hughes’ partner gets the party started with a half-ass challenge where he doesn’t even get a body on the attacker. Hughes didn’t exactly make up for the mistake, though. He comes over to the puck carrier and leaves the trailer open in front of the net for a goal. Should one of the forwards have realized No. 21 flying to the net? Sure! But I just don’t think Hughes pressuring there was the optimal play. I get wanting to close off No. 17 but he could have shot whether Hughes cheated that direction or not. He didn’t have a great angle, either, so a shot probably gets stopped rather easily in most cases. Instead of taking away the pass, and letting his goaltending square up to No. 17 without any other worries, Hughes comes over and leaves the backdoor open for an easy marker.