3. Toronto Marlboros Club
Throughout his minor and junior career, Jack applied for exceptional player status to enter the Canadian Hockey League a year early. His application was denied and as a result he played his final year with the Toronto Marlboros. This is one of the most renowned youth hockey organizations in the world. According to ESPN, Quinn also played for the Marlboros.
4. Performance Sessions - Dan Ninkovich
One again according to the same ESPN article, the Hughes family shared a performance coach named Dan Ninkovich since Quinn was 13 and Jack was 12. This becomes even more apparent when looking at Ninkovich's Instagram profile — the Hughes brothers, especially Jack and Quinn, are all over his feed. Ninkovich is currently the Director of Player Development for Driven Sports Group.
While training the Hughes brothers, it can only be expected that Quinn and Jack underwent many, many sessions together and acted as teammates throughout.
“His elusiveness, compete level, and passion for the game,” as Ninkovich explains young Jack Hughes to SportsNet. “With the latter two being my main prerequisites when selecting players I want to invest my time with. He was one of those kids that always wanted to one-up you, no matter what activity we played, and I feel without that compete level you cannot become an elite athlete in any sport.”
5. Family Practices
Jack and Quinn Hughes come from a hockey family. Once Luke was drafted in 2021, the Hughes family made history as the first American family ever to have three players taken in the first round of the NHL Draft. This is even more expected when one looks at their parents. Ellen Weinberg-Hughes was a three-sport athlete at the University of New Hampshire-soccer, lacrosse, and hockey-she went on to play for Team USA at the second IIHF World Women's Hockey Championship in 1992. She taught all three sons to skate and was her sons' first coach. Their father, Jim Hughes, was also star defenseman at Providence College before embarking on a coaching career.
The brothers grew up sharpening each others' skills on driveways, in basements and on the ice. Hockey is a part of their blood and its unfathomable to think they didn't look at each other as teammates during their shared hockey experiences growing up.