1. He’s one of the NHL’s most elite power play specialists
If there is a single element to the Vancouver Canucks overall product that improved the most this season it has to be the effectiveness of the power play. With the arrival of Hughes as a full-time defender of Vancouver, head coach Travis Green keened in on his incredible instincts and was able to inject the defender beyond his years into the team’s first man-advantage unit.
The power play quarterback went to work, took over for long time top blueliner, Alex Edler and never looked back. Using his incredibly quick feet, superb vision and superstar passing ability, he turned the Canucks’ 22nd place power play of 2018-19 into a very serious top-five threat of 2019-20.
The predictable Elias Pettersson to Brock Boeser set up before Hughes arrived was exactly that, but when Hughes took over the PP1 in mid-October, he was able to use his skills to elevate the game of the team’s top two snipers (Pettersson and Boeser) all while also bringing out the best in J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat.
The entire five-person unit benefitted greatly from the addition of Hughes and they all had career special team numbers because of him. Miller and Hughes were tied at 25 for the team lead in power play points. Horvat scored the most man-advantage goals (12) on the team and of his seven-year career. But most importantly, Hughes was able to create time and space for Pettersson to get open and unleash his incredible Ovechkin-like one-timer.
Amongst NHL blueliners, Hughes ranked third in overall points and that’s just another reason why the NHL can’t sleep on the incredible impact he made in Vancouver. A rookie dominating his class, but also more than proving he can put up points just like the best of the best can across the league.