That’s also in the USHL where the game is a lot slower and there’s a lot more open space. It was noticeable at the WJC and it’ll definitely be noticeable at the NHL/AHL level unless he fixes it.

Fair point. I still think where he needs to improve is his shot. The skating looks really good to me but only a few guys that are elite offensive players get away with having an ok shot. I think of guys like Gaudreau, McDavid, Marner, etc. who obviously have other weapons that make their shot sneaky/effective. If he's not going to be as difficult to defend as those guys (like you're saying), he will need a better shot than what I've seen.

They said that about Marner and DeBrincat as well...

Ummm at the world JR championship Hughes was a point per game player posting 4 points (all assists) in 4 games. Kakko was 5 points (2 goals) in 7 games. Both had 1 point in the finals, both had 1 point in the semis(Finland scored 6), Hughes had 1 point in the quarters and Kakko had 0, that means Hughes had 1 point vs Slovakia in the prelims and Kakko had 1 point vs Sweden, and 1 point vs Kazakhstan in the prelims. Both players seem like good options at this point and it will be an exciting race to see who goes first in June.