It’s no secret that Jack Hughes is a talented hockey player. It takes a special kind of player to get drafted with the #1 overall pick in an NHL Entry Draft, as Hughes did when the New Jersey Devils selected him in 2019.
While the talent is clearly there, Hughes didn’t quite have the start to his career that Devils fans were hoping for. While he showed flashes of high-ceiling potential, 52 points over the first 117 games of his career wasn’t exactly eye-popping.
Year three for Hughes has been a little different, albeit in a very, very small sample size. After scoring twice in the season opener (including THIS), Hughes recorded an assist during the 1st period of the Devils second game before getting injured. Hughes only managed 7:49 of ice time in that game.
While points are the flashy stats, Hughes is also impressing in another way. A known pickpocket that trailed only Mark Stone last season in takeaways, Hughes has been back at it early in the season. Through a mere four periods of play, Hughes has managed to take the league lead in takeaways with 10.
To put into perspective how impressive this is, Hughes’ 10 takeaways are three more than the three-way tie for second in the league. Connor McDavid, Artemi Panarin, and William Nylander each have seven thus far, but they’ve played WAY more minutes.
Jack Hughes: 10 takeaways in 26 minutes on the ice.
Connor McDavid: 7 takeaways in 73 minutes on the ice.
William Nylander: 7 takeaways in 79 minutes on the ice
Artemi Panarin: 7 takeaways in 82 minutes on the ice.
Essentially, Hughes has racked up three more takeaways than the next three on the list while playing approximately one third of the time.
THAT… is pretty nuts.
(H/T Corey Masisak)
