luke hughes

Previously: Part 1

Yesterday we began our sprawling update on all former Michigan Hockey players currently playing pro hockey around the world. In Part 1 we covered the firmly established, everyday NHLers with name-brand value. Today is the more odd-ball sequel piece, where we check in on our recently departed alums, those who have retired since the 2022 update article, and all the minor league/international players, so buckle in: 

Young guys finding their way

This category is for the players who have left Michigan since the last article and haven't yet developed in the NHL to the point that they fit into one of the yesterday categories the way Beniers and Power already have: 

Gavin Brindley/Frank Nazar III/Dylan Duke: The recent signees only got into a couple games at the NHL/AHL level before the season concluded, given that Michigan's campaign went into mid-April yet again. Check back next year. 

Johnny Beecher, C, Boston Bruins: After spending a season in the AHL, Johnny Beecher finally got his crack at the NHL this season and carved out a role as a pretty generic 4th line center and penalty killer for a good Boston team. Then, in the first game of the playoffs, he scored the series opening goal against Toronto. Only seven goals and ten points in 52 games is indicative of a player who's probably never going to score much in the NHL but if Beecher can continue to hone his skills in the faceoff dot and on the penalty kill, he can perhaps grow into a Luke Glendening type career. 

Thomas Bordelau, C, San Jose Sharks: Bordeleau has played a couple seasons now in the AHL with good production and has been looking for his first full-time gig in the NHL. 27 games towards the end of this past season in San Jose was the closest he's gotten to that. Bordeleau chipped in 6 goals, most effective on the power play, during his short trial this season on a godawful Sharks team. I don't think Bordeleau has big time upside, but his faceoff abilities and skill should allow him to be a 3rd line center and hopefully he'll get a real shot to prove that next season, as he's still only 22. 

[James Coller]

Kent Johnson, F, Columbus Blue Jackets: The first of our three Columbus players in this category, KJ has had to endure the bizarre saga that is the Blue Jackets franchise, a team that fired its coach before the season started and then canned its GM midseason, while a series of embarrassing headlines continue to plague the franchise. Johnson was caught up in that, as there seems to be some conflict between the player and the team. When he's played in the NHL, his ice time has been very limited, and they sent him down to the AHL this season even though he scored 40 points in the NHL last season. Johnson put up 15 points in 10 games in the AHL, making it pretty clear that sending him down was worthless. 

I continue to be befuddled by what's going on here, as Johnson has been an okay player at the NHL level. One with flaws yes, but he needs ice time to iron out those flaws. Plus, it's not like the Jackets are a team that is so good they can't give out ice time to young players anyway. If the Blue Jackets aren't going to give it to him for whatever reason, they should do right by the player and trade him to a new team. Hopefully new management in Columbus will resolve this situation and get him back on a developmental track, because this season was a fork in the road for Johnson, with only 16 points in 42 games, receiving under 14 minutes per game on ice. 

Adam Fantilli, C, Columbus Blue Jackets: Fantilli has mostly been spared the buffoonery of Columbus, but his rookie year was unfortunately hampered by injury. He played only 49 games due to multiple ailments, scoring a decent 27 points on a pretty bad Jackets team. Fantilli played this season at 19, so there's really no cause for alarm there. Next season, if he stays healthy, should see Fantilli begin an ascension to being a top line centerman in the NHL and maybe with it, he can lead Columbus out of the cartoonish ineptitude that has submarined the team basically since inception. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: increasingly obscure players]

CLICK HERE for Game Recap from Kristy McNeil and other pertinent information.

What just happened (TL;DR): Michigan turned in another stinker performance in a national semifinal. While they did generate some chances in the last couple of periods, they just gave away chances in transition like no other. Unfortunately, Erik Portillo’s (probable) last game in the Michigan crease was probably his worst. He got banked twice and flat out missed a harmless shot from the boards. Quinnipiac played much steadier and and stronger in their zone, waiting for Wolverine mistakes. This year, they came in torrents and the Bobcats pounced and feasted.

FINAL CORSI NUMBERS (www.collegehockeynews.com)

Forward Notes.

-Quinnipiac got the game style and scoring sequence that they wanted in the first two periods. They all but erased Michigan’s offense from their forward lines. The bottom three lines for Michigan mostly went unnoticed as they collectively managed just five shots on net all evening. Depth scoring has been something that the Wolverines got for enough of the year, but they struggled just to get a puck on Yaniv Perets all night. Eric Ciccolini did ring the iron in the third period, probably Michigan’s best chance in the final stanza.

-After having a rough first period, the top line did kick it into gear and generated plenty of chances in the second (not quite as many in the third). Adam Fantilli scored a typical blast from the dot in the second period to tie it after Luke Hughes teed him up nicely. Rutger McGroarty and Gavin Brindley both had great chances to get on the board all night. This was not a vintage Michigan offensive night –thanks mostly to suffocating Bobcat defense, but the top line did a lot. Hopefully, it’s not the last time we see them together.

-There’s really not a whole lot that’s been left unsaid. Look, Adam Fantilli is the best player I’ve seen at Michigan. Kyle Connor was great, but Adam is at a different level. He also has that MacKinnon fire and competitiveness. He scored and somehow his the underside of the bar without scoring. He creates, he muscles, he dishes…he backchecks. He stayed in the middle of the ice looking around and waving to the fans after the game. That doesn’t mean it’s a done deal that he’s leaving…but it easily could be, too. I wouldn’t blame him. Either way, Adam, (if you’re reading this), it’s been amazing watching you all year. I’ll be hard pressed to not get your jersey when you’re tearing up the NHL.

Defense Notes.

-WOOF. The in-zone defense wasn’t the worst it’s been all season, but it was inconsistent, especially early. They did settle down a bit as the game progressed. The transition tracking was pretty horrendous, though. That will be discussed later.

-Unfortunately for Luke Hughes, his last game in Maize and Blue will be a haunting one. He’s been tremendous and other-worldly many times in his career. On Thursday night in Tampa, though…it was rough. Not only did he turn the puck over too many times, he also got toasted on the Jacob Quillan breakaway goal. Just afterwards, he left a QCat alone at the top of the crease for an easy deflection that ultimately went high. Now, ESPN reported that he was regurgitating consumables into a trash can behind the bench…so that could easily have had some impact, ha. Luke did make an awesome dish for Adam Fantilli for his game-tying blast from the dot. Luke has been quite the interesting case in his career. Many highs and lows. It’s unfortunate for it to end like this.

-On a much more positive note, Seamus Casey was the best non-Adam Fantilli player on the ice for Michigan. His Makar-esque goal in the first period, dancing through basically every yellow sweater before slipping the puck around Perets temporarily tied the game. He also shook another Bobcat and drew a penalty, getting into the slot. Casey also used his body well to keep the puck in the zone and not be out-muscled by a larger opposing forward. That is a really good sign. The shakes and dekes are expected…adding some body positioning to win a physical battle at the blue line is +++.  He could have been at fault for OMRs, but I didn’t see any specifically…but on a night when there were like a million, everyone probably was at one point

3/24/2023 – Michigan 11, Colgate 1 – 25-11-3

3/26/2023 – Michigan 2, Penn State 1 (OT) – 26-11-3, Frozen Four

When I'm planning to do a game column for a given game, I spend my time watching it unfold while searching for predominant storylines. Narratives, overarching themes, something that links the action together. As a game shifts, that storyline may shift as well and so it's not uncommon to have multiple different themes/headlines circulating through my head over the course of the game. You have an idea of what you want to write about, then something new comes along and boots it from the spotlight. 

On Sunday I had a couple different themes in my head during the Michigan/Penn State Regional Final. As Michigan peppered Liam Souliere with shots, hitting the post multiple times and dictating play, I figured an ice-breaker goal was inevitable and the plan was to talk about how the Wolverines just kept coming at Penn State until they finally cashed it in. Then Penn State took the lead and as the third period ticked along with the Lions leading 1-0, my focus shifted towards centering the narrative section of this column on how the NCAA Tournament's randomness and cruelty were going to strike again. I planned to write about how the better team, both over the course of the season and in that very game, was going to be eliminated because the NCAA sets up a profoundly stupid tournament with the goal of making sure lesser teams are on even footing with the great teams. 

Then Michigan tied it. And then the game went into overtime. At this point I didn't know quite what to expect, other than to of course prepare for the worst outcome. There was no central theme in my head and I didn't get a chance to establish one in the 52 seconds before Mackie Samoskevich ripped a shot by Liam Souliere to clinch it for the Wolverines. The thrill of victory lit up Michigan Twitter and other social media spheres and after the high began to recede, I sat there wondering where exactly to go with it. There wasn't one obvious, cohesive story to tell about this game but then it dawned on me that the two storylines I was stewing over earlier in the evening was the story. It was a fusion of the two, that Michigan did keep at Penn State and eventually got the big goal... it just came after 22 minutes of staring down the barrel of a shotgun called randomness that defines this most cursed tournament in all of sports.

Sometimes you have to be faced with pain to achieve glory. And sometimes it takes a show of resilience to get it done.

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[David Wilcomes]

The story of Sunday's Regional Final is that Michigan was the better team. They managed to outshoot and out-attempt Penn State, both at 5v5 and in all situations, which, if you read my preview or are familiar with PSU Hockey, is an achievement. If you're out-attempting PSU Hockey, you're whipping them, to put it frank. Now shot attempts are not everything- NHL analytics types have moved steadily away from using Corsi to analyze games and predict future outcomes in recent years, favoring expected goals and other more advanced metrics (high danger chances/scoring chances). But in the under-funded and under-analyzed sport of college hockey, we peasants who rely on the public data only have access to Corsi. 

Thankfully, there is a public expected goals reading and it's called the eye test. Watching the game reveals that not just did Michigan outshoot and out-attempt Penn State, they definitely owned the expected goals battle. The quality of chances and the volume of those chances was far superior for Michigan relative to Penn State. Another metric: the highlight footage. YouTube saint Matthew Loves Ball uploaded a 12 minute highlight package for this game and there is a single PSU offensive highlight in the first period to roughly five for Michigan. That's dominance. 

It continued into the second period, Michigan largely controlling play and PSU attacking off the counter. The Wolverines got the first two power plays as well, with Adam Fantilli hitting the post on their second PP, the second time Michigan had hit the iron after Ethan Edwards was sure he had scored back in the first period. The Maize & Blue felt snakebitten at this point, firing shot after shot, many of them good looks, at a largely mediocre goalie who had decided to put on his Patrick Roy mask for that evening. And when they did get it by him, it was finding the iron or squibbing loose into the crease, only to be cleared by the defense. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: More narrative]