DENVER - T.J. Hughes’ first night in the NHL came with the usual rookie growing pains, but it also came with enough encouraging moments to make one thing feel close: his first goal.
Making his debut Wednesday night as the Colorado Avalanche opened the season at Ball Arena, the former Michigan standout showed the kind of offensive instincts that made Colorado believe he could handle this stage. He also looked like a player trying to catch up to the pace of the league, which is exactly what happens when the game gets faster, stronger and less forgiving.
Hughes had his chances early. In the first period, he nearly scored on a rebound that slipped just wide.
Not long after that, he was hacking at a loose puck in front of former Avalanche goalie Darcy Kuemper, trying to push it over the line for his first career NHL goal. He kept battling in that scrum until Drew Doughty delivered a hard cross-check, and the sequence ended with Colorado going to a 5-on-3.
Nathan MacKinnon then buried the Avalanche’s second power-play goal of the night.
Colorado finished with four goals on the man advantage, but Hughes’ first NHL tally had to wait.
MacKinnon liked what he saw.
“He played well,” MacKinnon said. “He had a couple good looks.
It’s really hard to play your first game, especially sometimes getting a hat trick early. There’s a lot of pressure, a lot of hype, so I think he’ll continue to settle in.”
MacKinnon also praised the way Hughes carries himself away from the rink.
“He’s a mature guy and a great guy, and such a committed player on and off the ice,” MacKinnon said. “So, you know, chemistry hopefully will develop here.”
That chemistry, and everything else, is going to take some time. Hughes looked a half-step off at points Wednesday, including one first-period chance when he got into one-timer position but didn’t quite get his body through the shot, leading to an awkward deflection.
At Michigan and later with the Colorado Eagles, Hughes had a reputation as one of the more dynamic players on the ice. He put up 14 points in 17 games during the Eagles’ Calder Cup playoff run last season. The NHL, though, doesn’t leave the same space or time to think.
Jared Bednar said that was the biggest adjustment.
“What he’s going to work on is getting used to the pace of play and the size and the strength of guys,” Bednar said. “That was a whole different level of intensity tonight.”
Bednar said the goal isn’t to change Hughes’ game, just to speed up how he processes it.
“I like the habits he plays with,” Bednar said. “But just getting used to the pace, the intensity, the size and strength of the guys, how quickly time and space disappears. So the decision-making and thinking, yeah, it’s going to be that.”
Hughes also got a harsh reminder of how costly a split-second can be at this level. Colorado scored four power-play goals, but it also gave up two shorthanded goals.
One of those came after Joel Armia lifted Hughes’ stick as he tried to move the puck out of the defensive zone. Armia turned the turnover into a break the other way and beat Mackenzie Blackwood.
Even with that mistake, Bednar had plenty of praise for the rookie.
“He’s a really intelligent player,” Bednar said. “I have full confidence he can do that.
I thought his game was good. It was good.
You could tell he’s learning and thinking, and it’ll become more instinctual for him as it goes on.”
That was the story of Hughes’ debut: some rough edges, some missed chances, and a lot of signs that he belongs. He was around the net.
He kept battling. He kept putting himself in position to make something happen.
“He makes a poor play tonight,” Bednar said, “and it’s just a matter of time before we get that out of his game.”
The first NHL goal will come later. The more immediate milestone already happened.
Hughes is here now. The next challenge is staying.
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