Avalanche Rookie T.J. Hughes Already Looks Like He Belongs

T.J. Hughes spent most of September making it difficult for the Colorado Avalanche to send him anywhere but the parent club. Wednesday night at Ball Arena, he finally got his reward.

Hughes made his NHL debut in the Avalanche's 8-4 shellacking of the Los Angeles Kings. He didn't get on the stat sheet, but showing he had the ability to compete at the NHL level was all the Avs could ask. And compete, Hughes did.

The 24-year-old finished with two shots on goal in 13:35 of ice time while getting an opportunity most players making their NHL debut could only dream about.

Hughes saw time on Colorado's top power-play unit alongside Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar, Martin Necas, and Gabriel Landeskog. Not bad for an undrafted free agent who wasn't guaranteed an NHL roster spot when training camp began.

Hughes had several opportunities to score his first NHL goal, including a rebound chance in the first period that narrowly missed. Later, Hughes battled for a loose puck in front of former Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper before Kings defenseman Drew Doughty cross-checked him. The sequence eventually helped give the Avalanche a two-man advantage. MacKinnon did what he does best and scored 23 seconds into the second period to give the Avs a 3-1 lead.

Hughes certainly made his presence felt and that's been a familiar theme since he arrived in Colorado. He signed with the Avalanche organization in April following four seasons at the University of Michigan. Hughes finished his college career with 179 points, including 69 goals, and was named Big Ten Player of the Year during his senior season.

His introduction to professional hockey didn't take long. He had 14 points in 17 playoff games with the Colorado Eagles, the Avalanche's AHL affiliate, last spring before making an even bigger impression with the Avalanche during training camp.

Of course, there are things to clean up, as evidenced by Hughes' -3 rating on Wednesday night. One game an NHL career doesn't make, and Hughes also showed signs of the player Colorado may have found.

He went to the difficult areas, he created chances and he looked comfortable enough to be trusted on a power play featuring some of the best talent in hockey. According to Ryan O'Hara of The Hockey News, MacKinnon liked what he saw out of Hughes.

"He played well," MacKinnon said. "He had a couple good looks. It's really hard to play your first game, especially sometimes getting a hat trick early. There's a lot of pressure, a lot of hype, so I think he'll continue to settle in."

Impressively, 13 different players recorded a point for the Avalanche against the Kings. Hughes wasn't one of them. But after spending last month trying to prove he deserved to play in the NHL, he accomplished something else on Wednesday night.

He played on the grand stage and more importantly, he looked like everything the Avalanche saw when they kept him on the roster out of training camp.