Since Jonas Siegenthaler went down with an injury on February 4th, New Jersey Devils defenseman Luke Hughes has been awful on the blue line. Well, that's the assumption one could make if they look strictly at the numbers. Hughes has been on the ice for just 42 high-danger chances for at 5v5 since February 5th. Meanwhile, the other team has had 77 high-danger chances with Hughes on the ice. That's a dreadful number, and only one player in the entire NHL coming into Sunday had allowed more high-danger chances (New York Rangers' defenseman Braden Schneider).
Luckily for the Devils, the game isn't played on paper. Where the game actually matters is on the scoreboard; Hughes has been on the ice for 14 goals and 14 goals against. His team is shooting over 11 percent with him on the ice, and his ability to make incredible passes sure helps.
Sheldon Keefe still trusts Hughes, and that might be impacting his numbers negatively. Hughes has four more defensive zone starts since Siegenthaler went out. With no Siegenthaler or Dougie Hamilton, Keefe is treating Hughes and Brett Pesce as his top unit. He probably thinks he has bigger fish to fry than Hughes' play as of late, but finding the place where Hughes can add offense at 5v5 is important.
Hughes has eight 5v5 points since February 5th, which is second to Jesper Bratt on the Devils in that time. Half a point per game is not great, but the Devils have no offense coming, and the number jumps to 14 points in 16 games when jumping to all strengths. Now that's impressive. With how putrid the Devils' offense is with Jack Hughes on the shelf, his younger brother is definitely helping the cause.
So, then why are Hughes' high-danger chances different so stark? For one, the Devils in general have been giving up way too many HDCA. When looking at the Devils' chances per 60 minutes, Hughes isn't even at the top of the list for the Devils. In fact, since February 5th, he's 7th.
Luke Hughes has some questionable stats, but the important numbers tell his story
Some say numbers don't lie, but they seem to tell a different story here. Hughes hasn't been a bad defenseman by any means, but his end-of-the-year numbers are going to be skewed. We've talked before about how much better Hughes has been defensively this season. He's using his speed to stop chances instead of making them.
He's also getting much better offensively, finding a good balance between his new defensive responsibility and his natural offensive ability. As long as Jake Allen and Jacob Markstrom are making saves, Hughes will be just fine.
Data via Natural Stat Trick.