Sabres Notebook: Owen Power and Devils’ Luke Hughes learned from each other as they dealt with Michigan hype

NEWARK, N.J. — It’s still head-shaking to ponder what the 2021-22 University of Michigan team meant to the 2021 NHL draft. Four of the top five picks, three of whom came back to school to shoot for a national championship. The top two defensemen. It’s truly unprecedented stuff.

Owen Power went No. 1 overall to the Sabres while Matty Beniers went No. 2 to Seattle and Kent Johnson went No. 5 to Columbus. At No. 4 was the other defenseman of the group in U.S. National Development Team star Luke Hughes, who was taken before he ever got to Ann Arbor.

Tage Thompson’s line with Greenway and Dylan Cozens is succeeding through handwork, not highlight-reel plays.

It was Power and Hughes going head to head for just the second time in their careers Friday night as the Sabres and New Jersey Devils met in Prudential Center. Hughes’ NHL debut came on April 11, in the 6-2 New Jersey win that ended the Sabres’ playoff hopes, and he’s already become a rock of the New Jersey defense.

People are also reading…

“He’s a special player,” Power said after the morning skate. “To be able to play with a guy like that, watch him every game and in practice and try and take stuff from his game is something I was lucky to do. It was nice to have that and be able to really learn from it.”

Hughes entered Friday’s game with a goal and an assist with a plus-1 rating in the first six outings of the season while Power had three assists and led the Sabres thus far at plus-3.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Devils entered the game with 59.4% of the shot attempts when Hughes is on the ice at 5-on-5. The Sabres had 54.7% of the attempts at even strength when Power is out there and had outscored opponents, 8-3. Hughes was down a goal at even (4-3) but it was a 7-0 count when he was helping to run the Devils’ top-ranked power play.

Hughes is third among New Jersey blueliners in ice time at 19:51 per game while Power is second on the Sabres to Rasmus Dahlin at 22:57. That figure is second to Minnesota’s Brock Faber (23:11) among all players drafted since 2020.

“We sat together a lot in the locker room. Good guy. A lot of funny, funny memories of him,” Hughes said of Power prior to the game. “Really focused, really committed to the sport. He kind of pushed me up the mountain and I pushed him back. A lot of fun, fond memories of him at Michigan.”

Sabres defenseman Owen Power, right, skates against Canadiens right wing Josh Anderson during the third period at KeyBank Center on Monday.

Joshua Bessex/Buffalo News

The Wolverines were a traveling road show that year among fans, autograph seekers and media. Rarely has a college been covered so intensely by reporters normally focused on the NHL.

“Our whole team had a lot of hype, and I think we dealt with it really well,” Hughes said. “Just stay as college kids playing hockey. It was fun and feels like a long time ago even though it’s not.”

“We were going through basically the same thing,” Power said. “He’s a year younger than me and the same draft. It goes both ways. Everyone at school was learning from each other with so much going on. It was nice to have all those guys really just go through it with them.”

Sabres head coach Don Granato was not surprised to hear about Hughes, saying he learned from the way Power handled the spotlight.

“(Top players) like to learn and they’re sponges when it comes to learning,” Granato said. “I think people don’t realize when you talk to other players that it’s the players that want to learn that become great. Owen’s the same way, so you put these guys in environments and they just pick up things because their attention is on trying to get better and, ‘What can I learn from the situation?’”

Jack Hughes is Devil-red hot

Devils center Jack Hughes, Luke’s older brother and the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft, entered the game on a ridiculous hot streak to start the season with an NHL-high 17 points in six games on four goals and 13 assists.

“I think he’s been getting better every summer and every year,” Luke Hughes said. “Obviously, 17 points in six games is insane, but he’s a really special player.”

“There’s a case you could say he’s the best player in the world right now,” Granato said of Jack Hughes. “The way he’s playing is fun to watch. Less fun to play against.”

‘); var s = document.createElement(‘script’); s.setAttribute(‘src’, ‘https://assets.revcontent.com/master/delivery.js’); document.body.appendChild(s); window.removeEventListener(‘scroll’, throttledRevContent); __tnt.log(‘Load Rev Content’); } } }, 100); window.addEventListener(‘scroll’, throttledRevContent);

Get local news delivered to your inbox!