Quinn Hughes isn't just about offense; his elite puck possession and zone-exit dominance redefine how the Wild break out and generate attacks.
ST. PAUL, Minn - The Minnesota Wild made a blockbuster trade with the Vancouver Canucks on Friday for superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes.
Minnesota gave up Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren and a first round pick.
So far it is proven to be possibly a win-win trade. Buium recorded two points in his Canucks debut and Hughes scored in his Wild debut.
We all know how good Hughes is offensively and what kind of game he can bring to the Wild's lineup. It was a huge trade to say the least.
But what I think people don't realize is it is more than just goals and points. He is so good at the other things that make your team good. On Sunday, he showed why.
One big thing that stands out is how Hughes leads the NHL in many little micro stats. According to Sportlogiq, Hughes ranks first among defensemen in puck possession, zone exits and zone entries. He is second in turnover rate and third in scoring chances.
"Yeah, you can give him a half good pass and he handles it and breaks it out super easily," goaltender Filip Gustavsson said on how nice is it to have someone who can break the puck out so well.
I decided to track some data in Hughes' Wild debut. I tracked zone exits and entries for Hughes' himself but I also wanted to track zone exits as a team with Hughes on the ice.
As you can see from the graphic, Hughes went a perfect 9-for-9 on zone exits. Which means he exited the zone cleanly. He went 5-for-5 on zone entries as well.
"Well it’s a huge value. We always talk about you want to be able to get out of your zone. And I think he’s a guy that can play, like the thing that’s dynamic about him is that he can play within structure but also even within that structure there’s a A, B and a C play, and a lot of times he hits the A play, which then I think allows the secondary attack," Wild head coach John Hynes said on Hughes ability to posses the puck and exit the zone.
"And I think in that situation, getting out of your zone is very important. But I think also what occurs in the offensive zone or coming up even through the neutral zone where there’s plays to be made, he can execute those plays at a high level. I think also in the offensive zone, just the movement and the possession that he creates in those situations as well."
With Hughes on the ice, the Wild exited the zone cleanly, 32 times. They went 32-for-34 on zone exit attempts for a 94% success rate with him on the ice.
As you can see, with Hughes on the ice, the whole Wild team just plays better. Even his defense partner, Brock Faber touched on how much Hughes' presence just took pressure off himself.
"Yeah, I think so. How good he is at breaking the puck out and using his feet, I think obviously it’s my job to be an option for him but playing with a guy of that caliber, you get caught in I feel like your zone a lot less because he’s able to break pucks out when he’s tired or when he’s 100 percent so easily. Obviously, no one’s perfect but I definitely think in that aspect it definitely takes pressure off everyone on the ice. That’s just what an all-star like that brings."
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