What are you doing with J. Hughes in a yearly league?

[gogoayane]

I have been holding onto J. Hughes and it seems like he'll be settling in as a 2nd / 3rd C and not play with Hall much. For all the owners out there, are you guys going to wait it out or have already cut bait?

I have Hischier in FA that I can swap, along with a few other nice FAs. Just wondering if I should do the swap.

Thanks

[Concrete]

I'm in a one year. I drafted Hughes, but I got impatient and traded him a couple weeks ago in a multiplayer deal. I gambled on him coming in and being a star, 65-70 pts, but It was a mistake to draft him.
Hischier is the better option on NJ.

[anthonybeaty]

Yeah - Hughes was drafted in my league and then dropped. He is still on the FA list for anyone who wants him. No one does right now. In my league we keep our benches short to try and force people to drop good players to grab someone from WW/FA. This means there are almost always good prospects and good players available.

[Eskimo Brother]

I moved him a month ago for Meier.
It depends on the size of the league and how high you are up the standings. The larger league and better teams can/should be more patient.

[Pengwin7]

In 13-team RHRS, we roster 12F/6D.
I drafted Hughes around round 15 or 16, I believe.
I've benched him for 6-7 straight games... but he's a HOLD for me, if a team has enough reserve spots (and in maxGP).

What you really want to watch with, for Hughes, is whether NJ considers shifting him to wing.
The transition to NHL C1 can be really, really difficult.
Nathan MacKinnon really struggled in first 3-4 seasons... eventually COL gave him some split wing time (COL had Duchene and ROR), I think that helped jump start his scoring.
Then he moved back to center and struggled a bit, but eventually hit his grear.

Hughes will be similar.
It's going to be a tough year if he has to focus/work on his two-way center play all year. And that might be what NJ wants to do with him.
On the draw right now, Hughes is getting smoked 100fow,150fol. Nice easy math: 100/250 = 40%. That's bad. He's been especially bad last 3gp: 1-6, 3-4, 1-7.
NJ could run:
C1 Hischier: 177-155
C2 Zajac: 180-152
C3 Zacha: 63-69
C4 Rooney: 72-71

I'd personally really like to see Hughes (LH) play some split-wing with Zajac (RH).
Let Hughes take left-side draws, Zajac take mid-ice and right-side draws.

Watch for that, because I think if NJ considers that shift of Hughes onto a wing... we might see more points.

[gogoayane]

Thanks for the analysis! I also feel that Hughes need to go on the wing to generate the offense. NJ is filled with solid Cs so there's definitely some flexibility there.

I'm tempted to dump but also worried if he heats up I'll miss the boat. However, Kakko is also a FA so maybe this league is not as aggressive... will give it a few more games!