Grape

Lockwood has a lot of skill though. Roussel was born a grinder but Lockwood is an offensive driver at the college level, and I would bet at least some of it translates to the NHL.

Yeah, I think the main thing honestly isn't management being incompetent or anything like that. It's really just saying, "hey, we're not gonna be petty and try to limit your games for our benefit, if you play 9 games, you play 9 games, if you don't, then you don't, simple as that, because your development is the only thing that matters."

One thing to note is that Travis Green is definitely a much different coach compared to Mel Pearson - Quinn's current coach, and so it'll be interesting to see how Hughes meshes with Green. Pearson is an incredibly encouraging coach who is often complimentary, including with Quinn's defensive style. Pearson gives Hughes all the freedom to play his game, and puts Hughes out there for long shifts. As a result Hughes loves Pearson and talks about how he is extremely encouraging and great for him. That's not to say Green isn't any of that - but he's much more old-school, and more of a "do this if you want playing time, if not you won't get playing time" type of coach, and I feel like Green might have a hard time adjusting to Hughes' play as much as Hughes will have a hard time staying within the system. And while Hughes isn't outwardly expressive, he's competitive in a more introverted way, and does get frustrated, and so the change in coaching styles I think will be a challenge This is different from for example, a Horvat, who is willing compete for anybody, or a Boeser, who is easy-going and coachable, or Pettersson, who is so talented and smart that he's a coaches pet from day one. Quinn has a personality (I would say close to Pettersson's), and it is reflected on ice, and it may be tough to deal with for a bit because his play isn't methodical like Pettersson. This, along with the fact that he is a defenseman, is why unlike Boeser or Pettersson, I don't expect too much out of Hughes in the first few games of his career. In fact, I would be patient with mistakes being made, and understand that more good is eventually going to come out of him than bad with his unique style of play.

No, earliest end to Michigan's season is the 9th, assuming they get swept out of the first round of the Big Ten Tournament by a lower seed (probably either Wisconsin or MSU). If we win, the Canucks will have to wait in one-week intervals for Michigan to play again next (semis on the 16th and finals on the 23rd). If Michigan wins the Big Ten, Canucks will have to wait until again in one-week intervals for Michigan to play again in the NCAA tournament (two games around the end of March), then on April 11th and 13th if they advance to the Frozen Four. Any loss in that period (other than the first round of the Big Ten Toruney where it's a best of 3), will result in Michigan's season ending. My guess is that Michigan will advance in the first round, but lose either in the Big Ten semifinals or finals. That would mean Quinn's season ends on March 16th or March 23rd.

I know this topic has been exhausted already but I just wanna add something: When a player makes the league from the AHL, or his style of play is transformed, there are almost always comments as to how the minor league team has done such an excellent job with such a player and that's where a lot of the credit is given. When a player doesn't pan out, comments are generally on how the player, well, just didn't pan out, whether it be because of effort, fitness, skill etc... It's generally only after a series of players not panning out until the minor league development system gets criticized. Player development I think always requires constant communication, whether it's to change the way a player plays, make him more confident, or less cocky, or just instill the necessary skills to reach the next level. Development isn't just: "this is how we expect you to play, these are the parameters, if you do them you get playing time, if you don't you won't get playing time." So while Ryan Johnson says that “It’s very clear as an organization how we expect a player to play," it doesn't refute what Palmu's said. For Palmu, he was in a situation where seemingly there was a lack of communication between player and coaches. So if he's telling the truth, and Palmu makes the NHL (ignoring that he already abandoned the AHL), there would be hypocrisy in the sense that a lot of credit would be given to the system, whereas he really had to pave his own way, meeting the expectations set by the system. (It's not about whether you believe Johnson and the organization about how there's already expectations being communicated, or if you believe Palmu about how no one talked to him, both can be true at the same time) Essentially, if a player is just given a set of standards to reach, rather than actually communicating and teaching to help them reach it, it isn't really "player development" as we think it, it's really just a testament to how well the player has developed on his own. I'm not really taking a side as to who was right or who was wrong, I'm mostly just saying that sometimes, the system gets too much credit, when it's more that the player carved out his own path to success.

Yeah Lockwood is a fiesty mofo and he plays with emotion. He was ejected for kicking a stick in OT last game in frustration after being assessed a bogus penalty that negated a Michigan PP.

Yea Quinn has 5 goals this season but has hit the post more than 5 times as well with his shot. His goal total is a bit deflated. Just as I speak he hits the post. Seriously, can’t make it up.

Quinn with 1G 1A tonight in the biggest game of the year so far. Now with 31 in 27, Lockwood has 27 in 31.

Quinn will not be going to Vancouver until at least March 10th. If UM wins the best of 3 Vancouver will have to wait till the 16th which is the semis, and if UM advances to the finals that’ll be on the 23rd. If UM wins that, the. Vancouver will have to wait until around April since that means UM will be in the NCAA tournament. If they lose at any point in that stretch Quinn will be coming to Vancouver. I'm definitely not going to cheer for UM to lose so hopefully he goes to Vancouver as late as possible

UM is a front loaded team - the offense isn't really the problem. They've got two elite team USA guys in Norris and Lockwood and many other capable guys. (Norris is out though) His point total is pretty reflective of the season he's having. Obviously if he had an absolutely elite team like Boeser did with UND his point totals would be up, but you could say that about any player basically. So you can't really say he should be getting more points

Neat quote here from UM's coach regarding Quinn's bad game against Penn State a few weeks ago.

Quinn Hughes with a reaaallly baaaaddddd game tonight. If anyone is interested to see some of the few things he needs to work magnified into one game I think there might be a play by play up soon. Not sure though. Heres to bouncing back.

I don’t think the second assist will count since it wasn’t in overtime, but still a great game by Quinn!

Hughes with an assist but from what I saw had plenty of other chances and had a beautiful individual play go off the post (he's hit more iron than net this season so far this year). He's been surpassed in points by Lockwood who had 4 assists! Lockwood now with 11 in 10, Hughes with 10 in 10. 6-4 Michigan over #4 Penn State

Lockwood with 4 assists to end the game. Gave up an empty net goal for his teammate at the end! Hughes ends up with just an assist and was tremendous offensively when I watched. Michigan scores 4 unanswered in the 3rd to beat #4 Penn State 6-4.

It's really clear that opponents have keyed in on Quinn more than last season and offensively he's doing really well to combat that. Quinn has 9 in 9 and I said at the beginning of the season I hoped he'd at least go PPG. I gotta say though with Michigan's defensive and goaltending struggles he might have to focus a bit more on defensive play. Obviously with struggles on that end the whole team will be playing less in the offensive zone as expected, so I think staying just above PPG could be a goal rather than an expectation. I do hope this team turns it around like last year's team does and does something remarkable. The goalies have to step it up big time though as they have horrid percentages, but obviously that starts with Quinn and the D. Not too worried about the offense with Quinn, Will, and Josh Norris spearheading it.

He's a really good fit for today's NHL. Speed and skill combo with and plays with an edge. Trying to be completely unbiased but I think he's bound to make it to the league in some way or another because of that. I wouldn't say his "specialty" is hitting on the forecheck, it's something he does well and it may or may not be his "specialty" in the NHL depending on how he develops, but that's not really his specialty on Michigan. Shoulder is a major concern though that's a really bad weakness to have in almost any sport.

Quinn picked up his game in the third period for sure. He cruised himself into a breakaway with is skating an just missed after a nice move to the forehand. Overall a dynamic offensive game for him which included an amazing solo effort maneuvering his way from the blue line to the front of the net that created a really good chance. He wasn't great for the first 2 periods with some bad decisions but he played really well in the 3rd especially during 2 penalty kills. 1 beauty of an assist to go along with all of this. Lockwood had his chances and you can see elite speed and skill but it wasn't consistent enough tonight. A lucky bounce off of the Hughes assist got him an assist as well. He also happened to lay a powerful but clean check in the first that unfortunately caused what seemed to be a serious injury on a ND player.

Still 2-1 at the end of the 2nd. Obviously a much stronger opponent and Hughes has struggled with decisions and with the puck a bit (looks frustrated on the bench.) Offensively he’s dynamic as usual and that usually goes without saying. Lockwood hasn’t played his best game either but has had a few good chances. Both have an assist!

Yes! I go to most games since I’m a student at UM

Hughes went end to end on the PP, circled around the net, then centred it to Lockwood who deflected it to Slaker for the goal. 2-1 Michigan right now halfway through the 2nd.

Atmosphere at Yost is electric tonight vs ND. Came a bit late to the game but it seems like a fairly defensive game so far. As I speak Quinn nearly set up a teammate for a goal.

7 games in is still a very small sample size. The projected leaders in scoring, whether in college or NHL or junior, generally aren’t going to be leading. The hot ones at the top generally cool down and the projected leaders generally sustain a good pace or pick up their pace. If Quinn sustains his pace and goes PPG, he’ll definitely be above 6th for dman scoring. Just because it’s earlier season which means a bunch of guys will be above PPG due to sample size, doesn’t mean everyone can sustain it. I think Quinn should be able to do that. But again, he’ll need to pick up his intensity/play.

His offensive stats are down? I’m not sure where you’re getting that from. He’s got 7 in 7 which is a better pace than last year. I do second that his looks disinterested at times - which could be a sign of just that: disinterest, or because of legitimate poor play which makes him look disinterested. Not sure which one it is but he’s gotta pick it up to sustain his scoring.

Yup, they won on Sunday. I mean it could swing one way or the other so easily. If some of the chances were converted he could have a few goals and a few assists and then no one would be saying that. Same goes the other way around, if he had a good game statistically it could be that he was few lucky bounces away from people criticizing him. You could totally take into account his overall play and say it wasn't perfect as I mentioned specifically defensively and positionally, but just based on the overwhelming number of chances he generated I wouldn't say his play was underwhelming either. More specifically regarding his positioning though, I don't think he's bad positionally by nature, I think he chooses to bite and play more offensively and disregard defense more often than not as a "rover," but it'll have to be tamed a little in the NHL. I wouldn't say he's light on skates as I believe he actually has really good balance, but he can be pushed easily, and that may or may not be a problem depending on how well it's covered by his other elite skills.