Jack Hughes Getting Drafted By The Los Angeles Kings Would Be Huge For The NHL
The Los Angeles Kings currently hold the NHL’s worst record. Through 27 games this season, the team has a league low 21 points and only 10 wins. Not really a good look for a team in a market like Los Angeles or a team that was on top of the hockey world twice in the past decade. The Kings still have some great pieces, they just need to get a bit younger. Lucky for them, they have that opportunity in this summer’s NHL draft by drafting Jack Hughes first overall.
Hughes in Los Angeles would be great for so many different reasons. First off, look at what Gretzky did for hockey when he was there. Now, I’m not comparing Jack Hughes to the Great One, you’d be an idiot to do that. But Hughes has been described as a generational talent. He’s drawn comparisons to Connor McDavid, but I think Jack Eichel would be a better comparison. He’s a guy who can certainly come in and change your franchise, be a #1 center, and lead your team and be one of the top players in the league. Gretzky put hockey on the map in LA. The game’s biggest super star in one of the biggest markets in the world. Will Hughes have the Gretzky affect? probably not. But add a kid like Hughes to a team with all the pieces in place like in LA then that could change everything.
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LA has been one of the best teams over the past decade, there is no denying that. Tons of great players have played for the Kings during their run. Drew Doughty, Anze Kopitar, Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter, Jonathan Quick are just a few of the names. But have they ever really had a top draft pick that is a young, marketable kid, like Hughes would be? You can obviously make the argument for Kopitar, who the team drafted 11th overall in 2005. But 11th overall and 1st overall are MUCH different. And from the marketable stand point, Kopitar came over here and spoke zero English and no one really knew who he was. Just about everyone in the hockey world knows who Jack Hughes is and he’s American. Kid’s going to be in commercials and making TV cameos on a daily basis.
We have had guests on Chiclets before who have said if McDavid was dating an actress in Los Angeles it would be good for the game….so if McDavid can’t, let’s give this Hughes kid a shot at it. Next thing you know Jack Hughes is walking the red carpet with Kendall Jenner and is doing an episode on the Kardashian show. Would it suck to subject a hockey player to that world of reality tv? Yes. Would it be good for the game? Absolutely. Half of growing the game is just getting people who aren’t normally interested in the game to talk about it. Well if the 1st overall pick in the NHL draft is dating Selena Gomez, then people who aren’t normally fans of the game will be watching and talking about it.
Next thing you know Bieber and Hughes have beef and we have a LA Kings vs Toronto Maple Leafs Stanley Cup Final. Bieber’s squad vs Selena’s team. Would be the biggest story in North America and don’t try and tell me otherwise. Before you know it Hailey Baldwin and Selena are fighting in rough n rowdy then everyone wins. All because Jack Hughes was drafted to the Kings.
Despite all that bullshit, I just think adding a young talented player like Hughes to that team would make them instantly a contender again, which is good for the NHL when a big market team like the LA Kings are good. He provides them depth up the middle and can learn from one of the best two-way centers in the game in Anze Kopitar and let him develop alongside 2017 11th overall pick Gabriel Vilardi, both of whom play the middle, but I’m sure they’ll be able to coincide.
Seems like a match made in heaven to me.