It’s been a while since the Colorado Avalanche have had a rookie to really get excited about, but newcomer T.J. Hughes has been working hard to change that narrative.
Yes, Gavin Brindley and Zakhar Bardakov were rookies last year who played more than half of the season (56 for Brindley, 60 for Bardakov), but both were out of the lineup by the start of the postseason and neither are NHL regulars this season, with Brindley back to AHL call-up duty and Bardakov back in the KHL.
Hughes is hoping to avoid that same fate as he has become a fixture on Colorado’s third line alongside Jaden Schwartz and whichever center is about to have a good night playing between them. That kind of opportunity is a big separator between Hughes and previous Avalanche rookies, who were mostly relegated to fourth-line minutes.
Through 20 games, Hughes is averaging 15:04, which is about the same ice time that Brindley and Bardakov combined to average last season. It is not lost on Hughes that it’s on him to make the most of this chance.
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