I just realized i may be way off with my Hughes predictions... hronek is amazing, best defenceman hughes has ever played with, and Hughes shot is actually a threat now... he may figure it out this season... even if his shooting percentage starts dropping (i dont think it will drop below 8%, 9.1% now) i think if he's healthy he gets 95+ points and will be somewhere in the top 3 for norris voting (1-3). However, teams will adjust to his new strengths and he may struggle for a little while before he may explode again around game 25-30...
Hronek may explode too, picking up some goals soon, his shot is amazing too! i think when hughes starts facing more pressure, hughes figures a way to get hronek the puck and he will get his chance for 5-10 games before teams realize they cant lean against hughes too much or he will make you pay... if this happens we are going to be winning alot of games.
We are winning this year is because how much better the team defence is. all our pairings will have an identity... Cole defense first. hronek and hughes does it all, myers and soucy are intimidating, teams 3rd line scorers (usually undersized) are going to not like going to the corners when they are on the ice.
I dont think this is a fluke, I think Coach Boudreau was key to this blossoming of our stars, he let them be creative and they figured it out. well... at least how to score... and i want to say that Tocchet is a genius, I guarantee he was already working on his own developing tapes on how to get Miller and Petey to be more defensive aware, i think he calmed them down and said Defence is easy, you two are smarter than your opponents and need to be pouncing at the right moment when the PP is at its weakest. He gave them confidence, and likely a assurance that if they play defence first but smart they will get more offenisive chances. Now this season, that mentality is carrying across other areas of the ice, and those two are becoming legit two way forwards. Petterson will win the selke this year, if not ill eat my shorts.