Jack Hughes is only further whetting the appetite of the Rangers and Devils.
The projected No. 1 pick in the upcoming NHL draft passed Alex Ovechkin for the most points in IIHF Men’s World U18 Championship history with three points in Team USA’s 5-2 win over Canada in the bronze-medal games in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden on Sunday. He had a goal and two assists.
“This is a pretty cool tournament, pretty cool event,” Hughes told NHL.com. “I’m lucky to be able to participate in it twice. It’s been two pretty good runs. It’s really cool to be on top of that ranking.”
The Devils own the top pick in the 2019 draft and the Rangers select second.
Hughes’ performance gave him 32 career points (14 goals, 18 assists) in 14 games, one more point than Ovechkin put up in 2002-03 for Russia. The 17-year-old’s 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in the current tournament is the second highest total in the event’s history and one point shy of tying the mark set up Nikita Kucherov. It is the most points ever by a U.S. player.
“It [stinks] we didn’t end up with gold,” Hughes said. “I still think we’re the best team in this tournament. I think a lot of other people think that. To come out here, it’s kind of a gut check. That kind of shows our character, shows how good we are. To come out here and beat the Canadians like that, it was a lot of fun to win our last game like that.”