Diving Deep Into Every Luke Hughes Shift in His First Two NHL Games

I take a look, with video, at every shift from 19-year-old Luke Hughes in his first two career NHL games.

**Heads up, this post may be too big to read in an email, so I suggest opening the link in Substack first.**

With the Devils off until Game 1 on Tuesday night, I decided to take a deep dive into each and every shift from Luke Hughes over his first two NHL games.

First, here is a quick summary:

3/11/23 vs Buffalo:

• 11:15 time on ice

• -1 rating

• 1 hit, 1 takeaway, 2 blocks

• Average shift length: 0:51

3/13/23 at Washington:

• 21:13 time on ice (2nd to Dougie Hamilton)

• 1 goal, 1 assist (first of both in career)

• +1 rating

• 1 block

• Average shift length: 0:47

Calm and confident: The first thing I noticed when watching Luke Hughes play is his confidence and calm demeanor.

This was evident in his two-year career at Michigan but to have it in your first two NHL games as a teenager is quite impressive.

When Luke goes back into his end to grab the puck for a breakout, he looks like an NHL vet, as he is able to get possession, often outdueling a forechecker, and either make a crisp pass on the tape or skate to create space for an easy exit. Here is a great example.

Not only does Luke make this smart pass, he shakes the forechecker and despite needing to circle around his own net, still has the speed to get up into the rush and nearly create a scoring chance.

That calm confidence does not just show in his own end though. Hughes was known to make elite plays along the offensive blue line all through his college career and he displayed that multiple times in his first couple of games.

This play is BOLD. Not only does he have a Buffalo skater right in his face, but he is also the last line of defense on that side of the ice.

But Hughes calmly takes the tough pass from Tatar, pivots hard off his left skate to open up to the middle of the ice, and then has the awareness to skate to his left, knowing that Tatar is coming with him and he should be able to create a mini 2-on-1.

Once he draws the Buffalo defender to him, he slips a nice pass to Tatar for the scoring chance.

Here is another that is almost identical but displays his elite vision to find Nico Hischier on the far side.

Smooth skating: This skill is becoming such a huge part of today’s NHL. Guys like Miro Heiskanen and Cale Maker make skating look so easy and that fluid motion allows them to cover tons of ground all while saving loads of energy to be able to play big minutes.

Luke Hughes has that skill. His long strides and elite edgework give him a chance to not only make great plays with and without the puck but also to recover if he or a teammate makes a mistake.

This play could have easily resulted in a scoring chance down the left wing.

After Hughes shot from the point is blocked, watch how quickly he realizes that he needs to get back. Before the Caps even get the puck up ice, Hughes is bailing and closing the gap on the forward.

Then, his skating puts him within a few feet of the player before he has any chance to take the puck to the net or make a decision. He is forced to drop it back to a covered teammate and the chance is gone.

This is elite on all levels. Hughes makes a smart read to show toward the puck carrier in an attempt to close him off along the boards and end the transition.

But even though the pass gets through him and looks like a 2-on-1 led by Tom Wilson, Hughes is able to swing to his left, draw even with Wilson with his skating, and use his long reach to knock the puck off his stick and not take a penalty. There is nothing more you can ask for from a D-man than that.

What you don’t see here is what could happen if he is not able to make this play. If Hughes does not get into position and begin to tie up Wilson, it forces Hamilton to fully commit to the puck carrier, leaving a wide-open forward on the backside. Because Hughes makes the play, Hamilton can slow-play it and still remain in the passing lane to end the threat.

Crisp passing: This was one of the things that impressed me most with Hughes.

Often, younger guys aren’t confident enough to make crisp plays with the puck. In the NHL, if you do not make quick, hard passes, the game is going to come at you with a lot of speed and you will end up on the wrong end of some odd-man rushes.

But Hughes not only makes these passes quick, he also shows his vision and puts most of them right on the tape in stride. I didn’t want to bore you with a bunch of clips of passes, so I decided to sum it all up with the goal by Erik Haula against Washington. Check it out:

Hughes retreats while being chased, continually checks over his shoulder to see what is available, turns to his forehand, and makes a rifle of a pass onto the tape on Yegor Sharangovich in the middle of the ice.

Because Hughes retreated and brought a defender with him while drawing the eyes of a few other Caps, Sharangovich is able to quickly toss a backhand to a streaking Haula, who puts the slapper through the net and into another universe. A beauty of a goal and an excellent first career point all started by Luke Hughes.

Reading it like a book: Hockey IQ at its highest level. Hughes displayed this over and over again.

Let’s start simple:

This may be a boring clip of an offside from the Sabres, but check out the smarts from Hughes here. He recognizes that the Sabres forward is all alone and that John Marino is using outside leverage to force him back to the middle of the ice.

Hughes reads the play, steps up, and once again uses that reach to force the skater to make one more move right at the blue line. If you grew up playing hockey, this was a big no-no when carrying the puck into the zone and almost ALWAYS resulted in an offside. It does here.

Somehow, I did not really recognize the significance of this play, and neither did the announcers.

After the Devils commit two guys to one Buffalo skater, who poses no threat at the goal (not ideal), Buffalo is left with a 2-on-2 in tight.

Rather than a golden scoring chance, however, Hughes gets a stick on the puck and forces it to dribble behind the net. Then, he is able to stay completely alert and in position to thwart another shot that very possibly could have beaten Vitek Vanecek inside the near post.

Young players often find themselves drifting, and while Hughes did that a few times early on (more on that below), he doesn’t do here and likely saves a goal.

One of my favorite plays of the Washington game. I know it is not the fancy OT winner, but the skating ability and hockey IQ here by Hughes are just ridiculous.

Hughes shows to the wing and turns his hips to the attacking Caps forward but quickly recognizes that he is not a threat AND that he is beginning to turn his hips to drop the puck back to a teammate.

Almost in sync, Hughes also flips his hips, spins his head around, and identifies precisely what Washington wants to do with this puck. By the time the Washington forward collects it at the top of the circle, Hughes has already closed down the passing lane and makes a beautiful intercept.

Not to be ignored is the fact that all in the same motion, Hughes picks off the pass and sends his brother Jack up the ice in transition.

Not all sunshine and rainbows: As expected, there were some bumps in the road during Hughes first two games. The reason I left these for the end is because the positives FAR outweighed the mistakes, which is excellent news for Devils fans.

One mistake that crept into his game often was the drifting I mentioned above.

In the college game, Luke was playing massive minutes. In order to do that, you need to be an elite skater, which we already decided he was, and sometimes, you have to coast.

When you coast rather than stop and start, it is far easier to get caught out of position. Just go back and watch any long offensive zone shift in hockey, and you will see exactly what I am talking about. Here are some examples from last week:

Yes, I know Luke falls down, but the mistake is the reason why.

While the puck looks to be heading out of the zone, defensemen are taught to stay home until the threat is gone. Instead of staying as the last man back, Luke drifts up towards the top of the circles. Once the puck is turned over, the Buffalo forward is able to back cut him, causing him to fall down as he realizes he is beat. Luke does do a nice job recovering to push the rebound out of danger.

This one is very similar.

Here, Hughes loses his position on the ice with the puck behind the Buffalo net. He is also unaware of exactly where his man is. Because he drifts up to center ice, Buffalo is able to beat him with one pass and spring a 2-on-1. Again, he recovers very well after.

The final area that Luke can really improve on (and most young players struggle with) is matching the intensity level of the NHL. On this play, Hughes is in position with his stick in the passing lane. But because he is not hard on his stick, the veteran Nicolas Backstrom is able to quickly lift his stick and get a golden scoring chance.

Here, Hughes is again in position, but rather than standing up the forward and using his body, he swings his stick at the puck, misses, and gives Buffalo a scoring chance.

Overall, Luke Hughes overachieved in his first two games. His play was excellent, he did not look overmatched or out of place, and the more trust he received from Head Coach Lindy Ruff, the better he played.

One last thing. I don’t even need to break this one down for you. Just watch it…on repeat.

The Shift: