Defender Luke Hughes (left) with Team USA teammate Landon Slaggert at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship.
photo: Chris Tanouye / HHOF-IIHF Images
He’s 43. And he’s bigger than his two brothers who play in the NHL. These are not statements you can usually make about a World Junior player. But the U.S.’s Luke Hughes is exceptional – in many more interesting ways than wearing jersey #43 or standing 6-2 (188 cm) and 183 pounds (83 kg).
Luke Hughes is a force.
Watching him run a World Junior power play or give it his all on the backcheck, it’s not hard to see why he – as the #4 overall choice of the New Jersey Devils in the 2021 NHL Draft – followed in his brothers’ footsteps as a top-10 pick. Fellow defenceman Quinn Hughes, now 22, went at #7 overall to the Vancouver Canucks in 2018, while centre Jack Hughes, now 21, was picked #1 overall by New Jersey in 2019.
Luke Hughes is a force.
Watching him run a World Junior power play or give it his all on the backcheck, it’s not hard to see why he – as the #4 overall choice of the New Jersey Devils in the 2021 NHL Draft – followed in his brothers’ footsteps as a top-10 pick. Fellow defenceman Quinn Hughes, now 22, went at #7 overall to the Vancouver Canucks in 2018, while centre Jack Hughes, now 21, was picked #1 overall by New Jersey in 2019.
Through two games in Edmonton, Luke Hughes leads all American skaters in average ice time (21:46). No other U.S. player is even over 20 minutes. The 18-year-old star blueliner also leads coach Nate Leaman’s unbeaten defending champs in scoring (1+4=5), including a three-assist outing in the 7-1 thrashing of Switzerland.
Afterwards, Hughes focused on his team’s overall performance versus the Swiss rather than his individual exploits: “We wore them down with our forecheck and our relentlessness – breaking them down, getting pucks deep, and sticking to our game plan. We started a little slow. And then we got our shots too, and I think that helped a lot.”
Eleven U.S. skaters registered at least one point in the victory, including captain Brock Faber (1+1=2), Hughes’ defence partner on the top pairing. Two power play goals boosted the U.S.’s overall efficiency to 3-for-7 (42.8 percent). These trends give Hughes reason for optimism as the Americans quest for their sixth World Junior gold medal of all time.
“We were lucky enough to get a lot of our D involved tonight[against Switzerland],” Hughes said. “It was great. I think our power play looked really good today too. So that helps. And we’re just getting better every day. I think every guy is contributing in different ways, offensively and defensively.”
For instance, when asked to sum up the energetic game of Riley Duran, one of two U.S. forwards (along with Brett Berard) who plays for Leaman at Providence College, Hughes said: “It's really hard work. He's hard on the pucks and he's great for our team. He's been playing great, you know? I’m a huge fan of him. And, you know, he's been playing great for us.”
Hughes is also a fan of U.S. starting goalie Kaidan Mbereko, who has registered a sparkling 1.00 GAA and 94.2 save percentage through two games.
“He's great back there,” Hughes said. “He's really vocal, really energetic back there, and I think that helps a lot. I think when he's tested, he has shown that he's really good. Today, that was huge, him stopping pucks and doing his job.”
Afterwards, Hughes focused on his team’s overall performance versus the Swiss rather than his individual exploits: “We wore them down with our forecheck and our relentlessness – breaking them down, getting pucks deep, and sticking to our game plan. We started a little slow. And then we got our shots too, and I think that helped a lot.”
Eleven U.S. skaters registered at least one point in the victory, including captain Brock Faber (1+1=2), Hughes’ defence partner on the top pairing. Two power play goals boosted the U.S.’s overall efficiency to 3-for-7 (42.8 percent). These trends give Hughes reason for optimism as the Americans quest for their sixth World Junior gold medal of all time.
“We were lucky enough to get a lot of our D involved tonight[against Switzerland],” Hughes said. “It was great. I think our power play looked really good today too. So that helps. And we’re just getting better every day. I think every guy is contributing in different ways, offensively and defensively.”
For instance, when asked to sum up the energetic game of Riley Duran, one of two U.S. forwards (along with Brett Berard) who plays for Leaman at Providence College, Hughes said: “It's really hard work. He's hard on the pucks and he's great for our team. He's been playing great, you know? I’m a huge fan of him. And, you know, he's been playing great for us.”
Hughes is also a fan of U.S. starting goalie Kaidan Mbereko, who has registered a sparkling 1.00 GAA and 94.2 save percentage through two games.
“He's great back there,” Hughes said. “He's really vocal, really energetic back there, and I think that helps a lot. I think when he's tested, he has shown that he's really good. Today, that was huge, him stopping pucks and doing his job.”
Ultimately, if the 2021-22 season is anything to go by, Hughes could be the biggest difference-maker of them all on this World Junior squad. He led all University of Michigan defencemen last season in scoring (17+22=39 in 41 games) and became a Hobey Baker Award finalist.
Some of his success was due to receiving an expanded role with the Wolverines after top D-men Owen Power (the 2021 #1 overall pick of the Buffalo Sabres) and Jake Sanderson (the 2020 #5 overall of the Ottawa Senators) joined the Canadian and U.S. Olympic teams respectively in Beijing in February. But of course, for Hughes, it wasn’t just getting the opportunity – it was the way he made the most of it.
“I think my confidence was really high there,” Hughes said. “Those were really important games for our team to win. I needed to step up with those guys gone, not go back to the role I was in before, just keep getting better.”
He parlayed that momentum into a spot on the U.S.’s fourth-place IIHF World Championship team in Finland in May. The teen was far from a bystander on a roster whose average age was 25. He scored in overtime to beat Austria 3-2 and also had three assists in 10 games. Under coach David Quinn, Hughes vaulted from playing 16:11 in the opening 4-1 win over Latvia to 24:05 in the 8-4 bronze medal game loss to Czechia.
“I’ve grown in confidence, my game and my body,” Hughes said. “I’ve grown a lot as a person and as a player. Going to college, then playing against men, and being away from home that first year, you just learn so much.”
Some of his success was due to receiving an expanded role with the Wolverines after top D-men Owen Power (the 2021 #1 overall pick of the Buffalo Sabres) and Jake Sanderson (the 2020 #5 overall of the Ottawa Senators) joined the Canadian and U.S. Olympic teams respectively in Beijing in February. But of course, for Hughes, it wasn’t just getting the opportunity – it was the way he made the most of it.
“I think my confidence was really high there,” Hughes said. “Those were really important games for our team to win. I needed to step up with those guys gone, not go back to the role I was in before, just keep getting better.”
He parlayed that momentum into a spot on the U.S.’s fourth-place IIHF World Championship team in Finland in May. The teen was far from a bystander on a roster whose average age was 25. He scored in overtime to beat Austria 3-2 and also had three assists in 10 games. Under coach David Quinn, Hughes vaulted from playing 16:11 in the opening 4-1 win over Latvia to 24:05 in the 8-4 bronze medal game loss to Czechia.
“I’ve grown in confidence, my game and my body,” Hughes said. “I’ve grown a lot as a person and as a player. Going to college, then playing against men, and being away from home that first year, you just learn so much.”
He’s clearly learned a ton from competing with his older brothers over the years too. And it’s a supportive relationship. You won’t find him dropping the gloves with Quinn or Jack the way, say, Keith Primeau of the Hartford Whalers and Wayne Primeau of the Buffalo Sabres did in 1997. Luke wears #43 because both Quinn and Jack did too at various stages with the U.S. National Team Development Program.
Quirky fact: when Luke opened the scoring in the 5-1 win over Germany on Day One – after which he was named the U.S.’s player of the game – it gave him more career World Junior goals than either Quinn (0+5=5 in 14 games) or Jack (0+4=4 in four games).
“They're really excited for me,” Hughes said with a smile. “Anytime you get to wear the USA jersey is such an honor. So they were really excited when this tournament got reinstated.”
Neither Quinn nor Jack took home a World Junior gold medal, but they’ll certainly be pulling for their mature younger brother to go all the way.
“Use the Force, Luke” is, of course, the classic catchphrase from 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope. In the climactic sequence, Luke Skywalker uses his Jedi skills to blow up the hopes and dreams of an empire (the Empire, obviously, not Canada) embodied in a large grey building (the Death Star, obviously, not Rogers Place).
Could a similar scenario play out on 20 August? We’ll see. For now, Hughes is focused on getting another three points against winless Austria in Group A action on Saturday.
“I think our team’s grown a lot since our training camp and we’ve still got a lot of room to grow,” he said. “It’s really important, getting better every day and getting more acquainted with each other. We’ve gotten that chemistry up.”
Quirky fact: when Luke opened the scoring in the 5-1 win over Germany on Day One – after which he was named the U.S.’s player of the game – it gave him more career World Junior goals than either Quinn (0+5=5 in 14 games) or Jack (0+4=4 in four games).
“They're really excited for me,” Hughes said with a smile. “Anytime you get to wear the USA jersey is such an honor. So they were really excited when this tournament got reinstated.”
Neither Quinn nor Jack took home a World Junior gold medal, but they’ll certainly be pulling for their mature younger brother to go all the way.
“Use the Force, Luke” is, of course, the classic catchphrase from 1977’s Star Wars: A New Hope. In the climactic sequence, Luke Skywalker uses his Jedi skills to blow up the hopes and dreams of an empire (the Empire, obviously, not Canada) embodied in a large grey building (the Death Star, obviously, not Rogers Place).
Could a similar scenario play out on 20 August? We’ll see. For now, Hughes is focused on getting another three points against winless Austria in Group A action on Saturday.
“I think our team’s grown a lot since our training camp and we’ve still got a lot of room to grow,” he said. “It’s really important, getting better every day and getting more acquainted with each other. We’ve gotten that chemistry up.”