Devils fans should be excited about Jack Hughes thanks to Kirby Dach.
Kirby Dach has been amazing in his return to the ice with the Chicago Blackhawks. He has four assists in three games and his Hawks have a chance tonight to upset the Edmonton Oilers tonight. Dach looks bigger, stronger, and more developed since the last time we saw him play. This should really make New Jersey Devils fans excited about what the future holds for Jack Hughes. He had even more time off, and if he has been taking advantage of it, he could really benefit like Dach did.
Hughes and Dach were both taken in the top-three of the 2019 NHL Draft. The Hawks took Dach with the third-overall pick that they won and the Devils took Hughes with the first pick. Kaapo Kakko went in between them to the New York Rangers. Kakko wasn’t that noticeable in the New York Rangers’ series against the Carolina Hurricanes but Dach has been awesome.
Hughes is going to have had a lot of time off in between the start of the pause and the first Devils game of the season. If he gained some man muscle and worked a lot on his craft, 2020-21 could be a big year for him. He is an offensively gifted young man and they brought in a coach that is known for historically getting his star players to produce offense.
Jack Hughes and Kirby Dach were similar in the regular season. Hughes had seven goals and 14 assists for 21 points in 61 games, was -26, and had a 45.7 CorsiFor. Dach had eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points in 64 games, was -1 and had a 48.4 CorsiFor. As you can see, they had similar seasons offensively but Hughes had a way worse plus-minus.
A lot of things could go into the reason those statistics were the way they were. The Blackhawks, for one, were a slightly better team and they have more experience around Dach. That is probably why his plus-minus is way better and he was a tad more efficient at generating shots at even strength.
For Hughes, he still was probably more dangerous offensively if you had to compare them. He was one of the most efficient puck carriers, according to multiple advanced stats, in the league but he was on a bad line on a bad team. With better coaching, better linemates, and better decision making, he is going to be able to turn that fact into lots of offense.
As Dach proved so far in these playoffs, when you are a teenager a lot of time off can really help you. Hopefully, that is the case for Jack Hughes because the Devils need him to provide a lot of offense as they look to take a major step towards becoming a perennial playoff contender. At the end of the day, the league is better if both of these players are awesome.