NHL.com’s fantasy staff continues to cover the latest trends and storylines in the League through the lens of NHL EDGE puck and player tracker stats. Today, we take a look at the advanced stats highlights of defenseman brothers Quinn Hughes and Luke Hughes.
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Two of the best young defensemen in the NHL come from the same family in Quinn Hughes, the reigning Norris Trophy winner, and his younger brother Luke Hughes, who’s thriving in a top-flight role for the New Jersey Devils.
Although their other brother, Devils forward Jack Hughes (shoulder surgery), is out for the rest of this season, it will still be a pivotal matchup between Quinn’s Vancouver Canucks and Luke’s New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; Disney+, HULU, ESPN+, Prime) with both teams in the thick of Stanley Cup Playoff contention.
Quinn Hughes was selected by the Canucks with the seventh pick in the 2018 NHL Draft before Luke was selected fourth by the Devils in the 2021 NHL Draft. Quinn and Luke each played two seasons at the University of Michigan before making the jump to the NHL. Jack became the first player from the United States National Team Development Program’s under-18 team to go directly to the NHL (selected by Devils with No. 1 pick in 2019 NHL Draft).
The 25-year-old Quinn is leading NHL defensemen in points per game (1.20; 67 in 56 games) this season, excels in EDGE stats categories like offensive zone time percentage (47.9 percent; 98th percentile) and top shot speed (95.62 mph; 82nd percentile) and is one of the most valuable players League-wide to his team. The 21-year-old Luke also has an enormous ceiling considering how well he has played in each of his first two seasons as the Devils have dealt with injuries to both his brother Jack, their top forward, and Dougie Hamilton, their top defenseman.
Here are three advanced stats storylines surrounding the Hughes defenseman brothers:
Skating speed
Quinn Hughes reached the top skating speed of any NHL player this season at 24.56 miles per hour against the New York Rangers on Saturday. Per NHL EDGE stats, it was the fastest max skating speed speed by a defenseman in the puck and player tracking era (since 2021-22) and second-fastest of any player in the span trailing only forward Denis Gurianov (reached 24.60 mph with Dallas Stars against Boston Bruins on Oct. 16, 2021). It marked Quinn's fifth speed burst of at least 22 mph this season (95th percentile among defensemen).
Luke's max skating speed of 23.58 mph (Dec. 6, 2024 against Seattle Kraken) is the seventh fastest among defensemen this season and one of his 13 bursts of at least 22 mph, third most at the position behind only Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche (24) and Jake Sanderson of the Ottawa Senators (16). Luke reached the fastest max speed by a defenseman last season (24.19 mph) as a rookie playing in all 82 regular-season games for the Devils.
Luke, who finished third in the Calder Trophy voting last season, and Quinn, who finished second in 2020, are the first brothers in NHL history voted as finalists for that award.
Skating distance
Quinn has been limited to 56 of Vancouver’s 70 games this season because of injury but has been the clear-cut No. 1 defenseman for his team and its first power-play quarterback when healthy. Quinn ranks in the 87th percentile in total skating distance (209.41 miles) and is among the best in power-play skating distance (29.90 miles; 98th percentile). In terms of average ice time, Quinn (25:25 per game) ranks third in the entire NHL behind Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets (27:00) and Makar (25:39).
Luke, who has played in 62 of New Jersey’s 71 games this season, also ranks highly in total skating distance (200.88 miles; 82nd percentile). Luke is tied for second among NHL defensemen in skating distance per 60 minutes (9.27 miles) behind Rasmus Dahlin (9.30) of the Buffalo Sabres; Quinn ranks in the 82nd percentile of that category (8.83). Luke ranks second on the Devils in average ice time (20:58) behind Brett Pesce (21:10).
Shots/goals by location
Although neither of the Hughes defenseman brothers has played the entire season, each still ranks in the 90th percentile or better at the position in various shots on goal and goals by location categories:
Luke Hughes:
• High-danger shots on goal: 10 (93rd percentile)
• Midrange shots on goal: 31 (92nd percentile)
• Midrange goals: 4 (90th percentile)
Quinn Hughes:
• Midrange shots on goal: 29 (90th percentile)
• Midrange goals: 5 (95th percentile)
• Long-range shots on goal: 89 (98th percentile; sixth in entire NHL)
• Long-range goals: 9 (99th percentile; tied with Makar for League lead)
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