New Jersey Devils Top-10 prospects under 24
By Ed Stein
Jack Hughes (18), Center, 2019 1st round (1st overall)
It feels like Handel’s Messiah should be playing in the background of any writeup about Jack Hughes. Before the draft, he was hyped up the same as Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, and Auston Matthews were. Experts believed the center is a franchise defining, player.
When reading scouting reports there are certain keywords fans should look for in regard to their top prospects. For example, elite, dynamic, gifted, and/ or explosive are at the top of the list. Read about Jack Hughes and in one form or another those words will pop up.
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To get the negative out of the way, there is one drawback to Hughes as an NHL player right now. He needs to physically mature. At 5-10, 175 pounds, the Orlando native will be a target for physical opponents. Aside from hitting the weight room, he has to be able to slip past checks and make would-be defenders look like they are standing still with his top-shelf skating ability.
Hughes can fly on the ice. It takes him just a few strides to get to full speed, which is fast than most everyone else in the game. Then he has an additional gear which literally leaves defenders in the dust. If he just had speed alone it would be one thing, but Hughes can cut, juke, move, and change speeds in a flash. It’s almost impossible to square up on him. Now add in off the charts hockey IQ, incredible vision, and tremendous patience with the puck, its a recipe for tremendous success.
He was a staple of the USNDTP since 2017. As a matter of fact, Jack Hughes is the all-time leading scorer in USNTDP history. With the USA U-18 team, he played in 54 games and scored 34 goals with 78 assists in 2018-19. Additionally, Hughes played in the U18 WJC, the WJC, and the World Cup for the United States last year scoring 27 points in 18 games across all competitions.
It’s cliché to say the sky is the limit, but his ceiling is so high, it’s hard to tell where it is.
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