Since the season really started to get going last fall, it has been obvious that the New Jersey Devils are a good team again with a really bright future. Everything has been clicking going into the All-Star break. A big reason for that has been the play of Jack Hughes.
Of course, when the Devils took him with the first overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, they were only able to hope that he’d be as good as advertised.
Well, we are seeing it now. His goal-scoring is actually better than most people thought it would be and his playmaking ability is as good as advertised. As a result, he is one of the most dangerous threats in the league now.
Here we are at the 2023 NHL All-Star Weekend and Jack Hughes is the lone representative. Guys like Nico Hischier, Jesper Bratt, and Dougie Hamilton are all deserving of being there but nobody comes close to Jack Hughes if you could only have one.
Jack Hughes got some pretty high praise from the game’s greatest player.
On Friday morning ahead of the skills competition, Julie Stewart-Binks, who has covered the NHL for a long time, tweeted a quote that she got from Wayne Gretzky the night before saying that Jack Hughes is the only player that might be able to catch Connor McDavid.
I spoke with Wayne Gretzky last night about Jack Hughes. He told me, "I think he's the only one who can catch 97 [Connor McDavid]." #NJDevils #NHLAllStar @NJDevils
— Julie Stewart-Binks (@JSB_TV) February 3, 2023
That is some of the highest praise that any player in the league can get. The Great One doesn’t spew out comments like this for just anyone.
You might remember that time that he said nice things about Nico Hischier and rightfully so because he is a sensational player. However, he never said his name in the same breath as Connor McDavid or anyone like that.
Jack Hughes may never catch McDavid in terms of his production of effect on a game but he can certainly come close. He already has come close at this point in the season. The Devils are where they are because he is so outstanding.
McDavid is probably going to win the Hart Trophy once again this year but Hughes is hoping to get one or two in his life. He is on pace for 50 goals and 100 points which would both break single-season Devils records.
Hearing Wayne Gretzky praise a player like that on this team is big news. We all remember the Mickey Mouse comment all those years ago so this is huge.
There are other guys in the league like Auston Matthews, Leon Draisaitl, and Nikita Kucherov trying to be the second-best player in the league too so there is plenty of praise to go around. With that said, it is nice to see Hughes in the conversation.