Jack Hughes: Discipline in Hip Pocket
It’s only fitting that after writing about Quinn Hughes, talking about Jack Hughes and the standout qualities in his goal made the most sense. Jack Hughes is obviously well known as one of the NHL’s best young playmaking centers, seeming to dazzle every night with the puck on his stick now. It has been a long time coming from his first NHL season to now, where we’ve only seen Jack continue to get better year after year in the league. That success has really allowed him to try new things and incorporate many new skills into his game, and layer upon other skills he’s already had and continue to bring those into constant effect.
One of the things I really like about Hughes is how he uses his hip pocket with the puck. When you think of the NHL’s premier young playmakers, Connor Bedard, the Hughes brother trio, Macklin Celebrini, Juraj Slafkovsky, Tim Stutzle, and many more, the commonality we see is how they really incorporate their hip pocket at higher speeds. This not only adds a deceptive layer to their puck skill, but allows them to keep their feet and hands in motion while making plays. Modern NHLers who are younger seem to have this knack for keeping the puck to the side of their body, in larger part due to exposure to player development tactics in the modern era. There’s a lot of emphasis in modern player development on puck protection, handling skill, using the hip pocket, and small area advantages when it comes to hockey sense. It makes sense why we see Hughes use his hip pocket as a habit so often, because he brings that ability to attack through and around pressure using it.
Using the hip pocket is a weapon for multiple reasons:
You can change the angle of the play so fast just by using the hip pocket when it comes to offensive skills off the rush, in the neutral zone, and cross seam in the O Zone, and you can really layer upon it and find ways to be creative with the hip pocket. When you add to the creativity that Hughes already has and someone on his line, Jesper Bratt, who is essentially a near clone of Hughes’ style offensively, that really works well for Hughes and his own offensive production.
The Devils at their best are a quick strike transition team with efficiency in their neutral ice regroups and exit - entry plays. Here we see that effectiveness in transition, negating some of the Rangers’ defensive impact with how many guys they have tracking back, some in the outside lane of the neutral zone. With that, the play from Hamilton to Hughes to skate with space up the middle in the neutral zone, and Hughes takes advantage of a 1v1 situation in the offensive zone. We see a few notable factors in how Hughes opens up to create the shot lane:
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Hughes did a great job holding the puck to the side to open the lane, and staying light on his toes to also simultaneously open the shot lane as well.