Elias Pettersson

Pretty much. Which means there is going to be a huge problem in the dressing room moving forward. The captain and their star player both said everything was fine, now we find out the "kids" didn't like it. So, who will be running the dressing room, the adults or the kids? Big problems coming with Columbus, regardless of whether they fire Babcock or not.

Jack Hughes started playing in the NHL as an 18 year old. By the time he was 20 he was already in his 3rd year. Petey didn’t even enter the NHL until he was 20. So it’s not a fair comparison when you are using what they did at a certain age. Even so, at age 20 Petey’s numbers as a pure rookie in the NHL were almost the same as Hughes who was already playing in his 3rd year. Petey also had to deal with a concussion in his rookie year or his numbers would have been even better. And then at 22 he had that wrist injury that screwed up his age 22 year and the beginning of his age 23 year. Only last year did we see a fully heathy ready to go Petey. Also, Hughes gets close to 66% ozone starts while Petey is at 53%. That’s a huge difference. If Petey had 66% ozone starts last year he probably gets 120 points. Petey is relied on defensively as well as offensively. Hughes is not. Hughes is basically a glorified winger. He’s the equivalent of Pavel Bure while Petey is more like Steve Yzerman or Sergei Fedorov. That’s the difference. If I am starting a team from scratch I am taking Yzerman or Fedorov over Pavel Bure. And that’s coming from someone who loves Pavel Bure. My second favourite player of all time after Wayne Gretzky. Speaking of Wayne Gretzky, Gretzky himself said Elias Pettersson reminded him of himself. I’ll take a Wayne Gretzky lite over Jack Hughes any day.

We’ll need close to $17 million just to sign Petey.

Meh, too much work for me. I’m satisfied with the results of this poll….

Total votes for far: Elias Pettersson - 41 Jack Hughes 10

Yes, he said they are equal based on those beautiful WAR cards that he so generously donates to CDC...

Oh @Bob.Loblaw, you already knew what the results would be, but you dared me anyways...

Petey is easily a top 5-6 centre in the NHL. McDavid, MacKinnon, Draisaitl, Point, Crosby. Would there be anyone else ahead of him? If Petey puts up another 100+ point season then I am putting him ahead of Crosby and Point as well. Petey is on a similar trajectory as Steve Yzerman. Yzerman was drafted 4th overall, Petey was 5th. Yzerman played on a shit Detroit team for his first several years and was around a point per game for his first 4 years. In year 5 he broke out with 102 points and Detroit became a powerhouse at that time. Yzerman went on to get 100+ points 6 years in a row. Petey is in a similar situation. Shit team for his first 4 years, but still averaging close to a point per game. Finally breaks out in year 5 with the exact amount of points as Stevie Y in his 5th year in the league. Vancouver is now positioned to be a playoff team with cup winners and hall of famers running the team now. Petey looks poised to get 110-120 points this season. He may never get to 155 points, but the game has changed since the 1980's. Petey at 120 points is the same as Yzerman at 155 points in the late 1980's. Jack Hughes is like Pavel Bure. Great offensive player who is not really a centre. Doesn't get alot of dzone time and is terrible at faceoffs. May get to 50+ goals this year, so he is definitely one of the more dynamic players in the game, ala Bure. So, the question then becomes, who are you taking, Steve Yzerman or Pavel Bure? I know these comparisons are not like for like, but it's the closest I could find to make sense in this scenario. I'm taking Stevie Y 10 times out of 10 and it's not really close to be honest...

Of course I'm taking Petey...

This debate is for my friend, @Bob.Loblaw. If you had a choice and the cap numbers didn't matter, which player are you taking? Elias Pettersson or Jack Hughes? Simple. Straight forward. May the best man win. Have fun...

The 2019 draft class. So, you are comparing Jack Hughes to Kaapo Kakko, Kirby Dach, Alex Turcotte, Dylan Cozens, Trevor Zegras and Vasili Podkolzin and saying that it's unfair to compare him to his peers? Like none of those guys are even elite players. It's like comparing Petey to Boeser. Such an awful draft class in the top 10. I don't use WAR cards to compare players, I use them only for information purposes to acquire data. So those numbers mean nothing to me. Do those WAR cards show the difference in faceoff %, hits, blocks, scoring chances, between these two players? Who is on the ice in the last minute of the game? Hughes or Hischier? Petey or Miller? Does Hughes even play in his own end? Does the WAR card track that? They are definitely not toe to toe in terms of the value they bring to their teams. Hughes has to rely on Hischier and to a lesser extent McLeod for any defensive faceoff or dzone coverage for every single game. He has to be monitored for who is on the ice for the other team and making sure he has the right matchups. Vancouver doesn't have to worry about this with Petey as he is a complete centre. He can be on the ice at any point in the game, and he does not have to be taken off the ice for mathup purposes. The other team actually has to match up against him every time. Jack Hughes is a glorified winger at this point in his career, but you are trying hard to argue that he is equivalent to a 100-point elite two-way centre. You say most people will agree with you, so I will start a poll and see what happens. Forget about the cap hit, it's straight up Jack or Petey. May the best man win...

Patrice Bergeron is a career 65-70 point centre. Nathan Mackinnon is pushing 115 points. You are comparing apples to oranges. Compare Bergeron to Steve Yzerman or Sergei Fedorov. Or Pavel Datsyuk. Who are you taking? Yzerman, Fedorov and Datsyuk are all 100-point elite two-way centres. You can't compare Bergeron to them. Just like you can't compare Jack Hughes to Petey. Petey had more points last year than Hughes, more hits, more blocks, better faceoff percentage, kills penalties. What exactly does Hughes have over Petey that 50 people out of 100 would choose him? If Vancouver makes the playoffs last year, then Petey is most likely a Selke finalist and top 5-6 in the Hart voting. No way Jack gets more Hart votes than Petey if Vancouver is a legit playoff team.

Kuzy is making me woozy...

His faceoff percentage is 35%. Do you think that somehow that will improve? Petey's hasn't improved much since he was 21 but at 44% it's at least tolerable. At 35%, you aren't even a true centre. Who is actually taking the faceoffs for Hughes, because last year he took less than 500 faceoffs even though he plays 20 minutes a night? Is a player who takes less than 500 faceoffs a year and doesn't kill penalties considered a true centre? Can you name another centre like that? They must have Hischier or McLeod coming out to take faceoffs in the dzone for Hughes, as his dzone starts are only 35%. Meanwhile, Petey's dzone starts are at 47% and he takes his own faceoffs. Complete player all the way. Hughes isn't a physical player either, so it doesn't matter how much he weighs. He doesn't hit and doesn't block shots. Do you think he is going to change his game? Petey at the very least tries to be a somewhat physical presence in games and blocks shots, kills penalties, he is very engaged in all aspects of the game. His trade value is through the roof, regardless of his contract status. Hughes is a glorified winger at this point. He cannot be considered a true centre until he is trusted enough to take his own faceoffs in the dzone.

This is debatable and only an opinion. More teams would be interested in a 200' centre who plays a complete game regardless of the cap hit. Also, Jack Hughes doesn't even know how to win a faceoff or kill penalties. So, he is not even a true centre. I would put BIG money on Petey getting a better return value as a complete centre than a 5'10" player who can't even win a faceoff, doesn't hit and doesn't block shots...

He's already been given permission to talk extension with other teams. Wouldn't that be a sign that they are willing to trade him? They brought in Deangelo. They are stacked on the left side, Orlov can probably play on the right side. I'm not sure Carolina is an organization that would be willing to lose Pesce for nothing. We will see...

The cap hit for sure is the real difference maker. If Petey is playing with Meier and Bratt and doesn't need to be concerned about defence because Hischier is on the 2nd line, then he is easily getting 120 points, maybe even more. If Jack is playing with Kuzmenko and Mikheyev and Miller has to be our defensive centre, is Jack really in a better position than he is now? Jack got 99 points. Doesn't mean he will get any more than that. Matthews has already peaked at 106 points. Kaprizov peaked at 108 points. Last year he was on a pace for only 91 points. So, it's not a given that Jack will be a 120-point scorer in the future. We will see...

6.5x6 deal and we play him with Captain Quinn. How can he refuse?

No, @aGENT is my somewhat friendlier side...

According to John Shannon, TNT as well as the NHL may be looking at some of the inappropriate tweets from Paul Bissonette...

Hughes is an elite puck moving Dman who will be in the running for the Norris trophy. He doesn’t need to drop the gloves. Just like Coffey and Karlsson. Horvat is a 2C tweener who is 215 pounds. The fact that he doesn’t even engage with the opposition is one of the main reasons he is no longer here.

Jakov Loob would be an interesting name…

First off, Petey won the Calder. Jack did not. Second, Petey has been playing on a much inferior team. If Petey was on that New Jersey team he is probably getting 120 points. Third, Petey is much better defensively and is at the same level as Hischier in that regard. Petey is a complete centre. He is Jack and Hischier combined into one player. Nobody is taking Jack over Petey.

"Jakov". Interesting first name...