The Colorado Avalanche have a couple of decisions to make on the bottome of the roster before the cut deadline. One of the players who could get cut is T.J. Hughes. However, it could get interesting for the 24-year-old out of Michigan.
It will be interesting to see what the Avalanche end up doing with Hughes. Since he is waiver exempt, they have the option to send him down without risking losing him to waivers. That’s key because it allows them to manage his status throughout the season until/unless he reaches a certain number of games played.
Hughes was signed as an undrafted college free agent last year and spent two games in the AHL with the Colorado Eagles, scoring a goal and an assist. On Friday against the Winnipeg Jets, Hughes impressed.
He scored two goals against Stuart Skinner and then knocked one in for an empty-netter for the hat trick. That’s the type of performance you want to see from a player who is trying to make a name for himself and earn some playing time at the NHL level. It is a performance the Avalanche wanted to get out of Hughes, who they clearly have high hopes for.
Now, I could see head coach Jared Bednar wanting him to play in the AHL for a good while still. That’s not a knock on his abilities. It’s just that even if he had another big game on Saturday, he is still that AHL experience. The Eagles run a similar system to the Avalanche, so it would be a smart tactic to have him spend a couple of months with the Eagles and get some games in.
Hughes caught captain Gabriel Landeskog’s eyes on Friday, as he pointed out in the postgame some good qualities of Hughes that could translate well into the NHL.
Even though the talent level between college, the AHL and NHL are extremely different, it is still impressive that Hughes recorded as many points as he did at Michigan (71 points in 156 games). That’s one of the things that drew Colorado to Hughes. In fact, multiple teams were in on him.
Hughes was passed over in the NHL Entry Draft, I believe multiple times. If he ends up amounting to anything in the NHL, the Avalanche will have found themselves a steal. Right now, because of the team’s depth, he could potentially line up as a fourth-line right wing.
He might be the second or third player Bednar would consider bringing up from the AHL whenever that time comes. Gavin Brindley and Taylor Makar are players who could be called up ahead of Hughes, but I suppose it depends on the matchup. Maybe Brindley or Hughes is a better call-up than Hughes on certain nights.
The Avalanche get the regular season underway on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Kings. They play their final preseason game on Saturday against the Utah Mammoth, where Scott Wedgewood will get the start in net. We’ll see if Hughes gets in another game before the big decisions have to be made, but I really like his chances of playing quite a bit for the Avalanche team during parts of the regular season.
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