Analytics: The Hughes Brothers Are Making The NHL Their Bitch
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.There have been plenty of great families throughout the course of American history. You have the Rockafellers, the Kennedys, the Kardashians. The list goes on and on, and it continues to grow. The latest family to add to that list would be the Hughes brothers, who are currently making a mockery out of the entire NHL.
For starters, we have Jack Hughes. Superstar forward for the New Jersey Devils. He was leading the league in points, with 20 points in 10 games, until last night when Elias Pettersson passed him. Unfortunately Jack got hurt in his last game, and he's going to miss a bit of time. But he damn near hit 100 points on the season last year, and was playing at a 2 point-per-game level to start this season. So chances are that when he comes back to playing, he'll continue to look like he's playing a video game out there.
Then you've got older brother Quinn, who is wearing the 'C' on his sweater for the first year in Vancouver. There have been some dark days in Vancouver. The team missed the playoffs in each of the past 3 seasons. And unless we're counting the bubble in 2020, the Canucks haven't won a playoff series since the team went to the Cup Finals in 2011. The man has a lot on his plate to turn an entire franchise around, plus he's a defenseman. So surely nobody would expect him to be filling up the stat sheet every night this year.
But the Hughes family ain't a bunch of bums. They're all built different. And now there are only 3 defensemen in league history who have ever been sicker bastards to start the season than Quinn Hughes in Vancouver.
20 points in 12 games. It has him tied with his younger brother for 2nd in the league in scoring. And the only other guy with more points so far this year is his teammate Elias Pettersson.
The Canucks are currently on Wagon Watch this year. They're 9-2-1 to start the year, and last night they bullied the shit out of the Oilers.
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A goal and 3 assists on the night for Captain Hughes, and the most degrading of them all had to be the last. The Canucks already had the Oilers tapping out. 5-2 in the final 2 minutes of regulation, the Oilers already had their coach get tossed from the game, Darnell Nurse takes another penalty, and the Canucks make them pay with a final minute powerplay goal to really drive in the dagger.
All starts with a nasty pass from Quinn Hughes through the middle.
40 points between the 2 brothers. Another 7 points added if we want to throw Luke Hughes into the mix.
I'd imagine that the Sedin twins have probably had the most points scored by a pair of brothers in a single season. They came close to putting up a combined 200 points in both 2010 and 2011. Obviously Wayne Gretzky and Brent have the record for most career points scored by brothers, but Brent Gretzky didn't play in any of the seasons Wayne put up 200+. The Sutter brothers definitely have had to set the record for most points scored out of a set of brothers in a single NHL season. Especially considering that 6 of them were all in the NHL at the same time. I'd have to actually do some research to pull up the numbers, and I'll save that for later in the season. All I'm saying is that the Hughes brothers have a chance to make some hockey history this year. As long as Jack Hughes doesn't miss too much time, he could put up 110-120 points. Quinn Hughes could definitely have a 70-80 point season. Again, I don't know know exactly how many times this has ever happened or if it ever happened at all--but the Hughes Brothers could without a doubt put up a combined 200 points this year. Especially if we add Luke in there. That's the Royal Family from here on out.