Does the NHL have a new superstar? Sure looks like it!
Back during the 2018-19 season, Jack Hughes was the projected #1 overall, but throughout the year the projections for his talent changed frequently. At first he was considered to be a generational talent "the next McDavid" then it turned into he is just going to be a "good player" then at points he was considered no where near ready for the NHL and watching 2nd overall pick Kaapo Kakko preform very well against men, there was debate whether or not he should be the #1 overall pick.
But come the draft the New Jersey Devils liked what they saw in this young center and took him with the #1 pick.
Now look forward to his rookie season, Hughes did not live up to the expectations of fans, only producing 21 points in 61 games. You need to go all the way back to the Patrik Stefan draft of 1999, who was the last 'player' who was selected first overall to produce less points in his rookie season than Jack Hughes. Fast forwarding to his second season in the NHL, he produced a bit better than his rookie season with 31 points in 56 games, but this was still not what the Devils were hoping for when they took this young player, especially when we started to see players like Zegras and Byram excel at the World Juniors.
But now in his 3rd season in the NHL we are finally starting to see what Jack Hughes is capable of. At the time of writing Jack Hughes has 54 points in 46 games. Which at the age of 20, is he currently in the top 30 for best under-21 seasons in the NHL of all time. With a 1.16 points per game, it equals Jaromir Jagr's 20 year old season, which is definitely good company to be in.
Also to give you perspective on how good this season is, he is doing better than what Mark Messier, Evgeny Malkin, Steven Stamkos & Steve Yzerman all did in their 20 year old seasons.
Was looking something else and stumbled upon this ...
Jack Hughes is up to 1.14 pts/game in his age-20 season. How many guys in the past 30 years have had 1.10+ per game at 20 or younger?
McDavid
Stamkos x2
Crosby x3
Ovechkin
Lindros x2
Jagr� Corey Masisak (@cmasisak22) March 23, 2022
Jack Hughes is in some elite company.
| POLL | ||
29 MARS | 146 ANSWERS Does the NHL have a new superstar? Sure looks like it! Is Jack Hughes a top 20 NHL player? | ||
| Yes | 81 | 55.5 % |
| no | 65 | 44.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
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