Core 4 U-24: Hughes, Bedard and Celebrini headline five benchmark categories to the game

Jack Hughes doesn’t need No. 1 status in the 2024-25 TSN Core 4 U-24 individual rankings to fortify his swagger.

The 23-year-old New Jersey centre already has it in abundance.

Hughes plays the game with a level of flair, confidence and brashness that is equal or superior to virtually any player in the league – regardless of age.

The sixth-year NHLer leads our annual ranking of NHL players and affiliated prospects 23 or younger as of season’s start. The list represents a blend of current performance level and projected development.

As part of the annual exercise, TSN identifies U-24 players who earn 5-Star designation – call it excellence to the extreme – in five benchmark categories: smarts, skating, stickhandling, scoring and swagger.

Not surprisingly, Hughes is prominent among the 5-Star players, as are U-24 No. 2 Connor Bedard, 19, and No. 3 Macklin Celebrini, 18.

Here are this year’s far-flung honorees, spanning the NHL, AHL, KHL, CHL and NCAA:

Smarts:  (1) Bedard, C, Chicago (2) Celebrini, C, San Jose (3) Jack Hughes (4) Dustin Wolf, G, Calgary  (5) Lane Hutson, LD, Montreal

Skating: (1) Tim Stutzle, C, Ottawa (2) Kaiden Guhle, LD, Montreal (3) Zeev Buium, LD, Denver U/Minnesota Wild (4) Simon Edvinsson, LD, Detroit (5) Jett Luchanko, Guelph/Philadelphia.

Stickhandling: (1) J. Hughes (2) Bedard (3) Ivan Demidov, RW, St. Petersburg SKA/Montreal (4) Logan Cooley, C, Utah (5) Leo Carlsson, C, Anaheim

Scoring: (1) Cole Caufield, LW, Montreal (2) Bedard (3) Dylan Guenther, RW, Utah (4) Cutter Gauthier, LW, Anaheim (5) Cole Eiserman, LW, Boston U/Islanders

Swagger: (1) J. Hughes  (2) Celebrini (3) Yaroslav Askarov, G, San Jose (4) Matvei Michkov, RW, Philadelphia (5) Sam Dickinson, LD, London/San Jose