Player predictions--Adam Hughesman

If you were expecting mention of the last two Ray/Jays games, tough. Last night's game went on for over 4 and a half hours, I stopped caring in the 4th inning. Today's game, I was pulling for Doc, apparently no one else in a Jays uniform was. Besides, I was really distracted listening to the game today, so no post-game update for y'all. I know you're terribly upset. Let's talk hockey, shall we?

Oh the conundrum that is Adam Hughesman. His rookie season he was pretty good, I (and many others) had high hopes for his sophomore season, especially it being his draft year. We were all quite disappointed.



He didn't necessarily regress, per se, but didn't develop either. It seemed coach wasn't sure what to do with him either, he was sorted around on different line combinations to try to get him going.

Mike Remmerde over at NHL Draft Notes says:

Strengths: Good shooting touch.

Weaknesses: Skating is rough. Not sure there's a lot of hockey sense. One dimensional. Bad second half.

Summary: Is not really a 7 round interest for me. Skating seemed to regress a bit this year. He's got a nice shot, but just doesn't get himself into position to use it much.

Remmerde is a scout and I'm just a fan. So what do I have to add? very little, but we'll give it a shot.

Strengths: I agree with Remmerde, Hughey's not afraid to shoot and when he's in the right spot he can get some goals. He's got good size, showed how gritty he can be in the playoffs. He was great in the playoffs. That was the Adam I'd hoped to see all season (but add in some goals).

Weaknesses: He'll go like 10 games with nothing then get a hat trick. It's bizarre. And frustrating to watch. His skating is not very good at all. I don't remember noticing his defensive abilities, and that stuff usually stands out to me, I love me a good two-way forward.

Prediction: uhh...can I refuse to predict? Who knows where Adam's going to be. He could get his shit together and have a breakout season. Or he could have peaked already and will continue to disappoint. Look, I love the kid, but he's let me down. I'm doubt Bob Tory would argue, but then again, who ever knows what Bob thinks.

His stats from last year don't indicate how his season went since it went in spurts (srsly, hat tricks and shit--sure, your goal total goes up, but it's misleading when you don't score for the next 10 games). They're decent stats. It's the inconsistency that needs work.

I'll predict roughly what he had last season, 16 goals. I think that will depend a lot on how he's coming along which will directly translate into more or less ice time. Less ice time means less opportunity to score. He did have 32 assists which is really nothing to scoff at, and actually more than I would have guessed, thank goodness WHL.ca has those stats. Also he was a +28 which is pretty sexy.

Ok, can I have a do-over? Not really. But I guess what needs to be said is that perhaps instead of the sniper he was supposed to be, maybe Adam's meant to be a Drew Hoff type. Gritty, works hard, getting points through setting guys up. I dunno. His skating is still a glaring weakness, even to be 3rd line grinder.