The Vancouver Canucks’ “untouchable trio” is going to come up a LOT in the next few weeks leading to the draft. They are, in various order, Thatcher Demko, Elias Pettersson, and Quinn Hughes. In our opinion, Hughes is the lynchpin of the team.
Quinn Hughes First Among Equals
It is difficult to talk about the impact Quinn Hughes has had on the Vancouver Canucks without using historical terms. After playing with the team for three seasons – two shortened – he sits 12th in career points for the team. Vancouver has been in the league for 52 seasons. They’ve had some good defencemen in that history, of course. The silky-smooth Jyrki Lumme, the stalwart Matthias Ohlund, and career leading-goal scorer Alexander Edler all wait for Hughes to join them atop the scoring list. And he will – almost certainly before the end of his current five-year contract.
“I’m playing tonight. I’m pretty excited.” – Hughes pic.twitter.com/PioX3obMf0
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) March 28, 2019
Speaking of which, it’s worth noting that the deal is the most expensive one the Canucks have ever signed. Not in total amount – that’s Roberto Luongo – nor in cap percentage, a record which belongs to Markus Naslund.* Hughes’ $7.85 million per season is above Pettersson’s $7.35 million, and for good reason: the defenceman tied Petterson’s point total in 2021-22 in four fewer games. Of course, Pettersson’s is also ending in two more seasons, so that might change yet.
The most important feature of Hughes’ total contract could be coming into effect right now in a non-visible way. When general manager Patrik Allvin said that the Canucks “don’t have the superstar” he ruffled some feathers but also pointed a direction. That includes keeping a hard eye on the salary cap, which should have Quinn Hughes at the very top in Vancouver. All the talk of renewing the contract of restricted free agent Brock Boeser and extending Bo Horvat and J.T. Miller needs to get filtered through that $7.85 million.
But… Points!
Over his three seasons with Vancouver, Quinn Hughes has been fourth (tied with Horvat), third, and third (tied with Pettersson) in overall scoring. His scoring hasn’t just been high, it’s been consistent. That’s a really good sign that it will continue to be into the future. He’s even had a lengthy playoff run, thanks to 2019-20 adding a qualifying round. When the pressure was highest, Hughes scored twice and had 16 points in 17 games. Pretty fair for a rookie defenceman, and more points than the next two defencemen combined.
Of course, Vancouver hasn’t managed to get back to the playoffs since, but not for Hughes’ lack of trying. For 2021-22 he scored more than Vancouver’s next three defencemen combined. The closest the Canucks have come to having anyone like this was Paul Reinhart‘s two seasons. Reinhart was third in team scoring in 1988-89, then led the team in 1989-90. Thet he led the 1989-90 team with a mere 57 points speaks volumes for their overall success, but it’s still the Canucks’ high water mark. Any success the team has in the near future is going to have to go through Hughes.
But the Defence!
Last year the Canucks used Tyler Myers and Oliver Ekman-Larsson as their shut-down pair. They were decent at it, too. The problem is that both players have a lot more to provide offensively but couldn’t show it. Some of that is because Hughes is going to take the bulk of power-play time. That’s because he deserves it. But having a defence pairing that costs over $13 million and contributes just six goals and 47 points? That’s just inefficient.
Same could be said of pairing Hughes with veteran Luke Schenn. Nearly half of Hughes’ points came on the power-play, where he had no blueline partner. He did play with Ekman-Larsson and Myers during the season, but mostly in specific circumstances. When the Canucks needed scoring late, he went out with Myers. Protecting a lead, Ekman-Larsson. The former worked fairly well, the latter not so much.
Both Travis Green and Bruce Boudreau tried him with Travis Hamonic and Tucker Poolman as a regular shift, but eventually went back to Schenn. No offence to him, but Schenn is turning 33 during the 2022-23 season. There is pressure to find someone who works as well on Hughes’ right side without the risk of age-atrophying skills. There was hope Jett Woo would be further along than he is, but after that options are few and far between. Tucker Poolman would, like Schenn, be promoted well above where he normally plays to line up with Hughes. That is if Poolman is in any condition to return from concussion symptoms that ended his season early.
Finding a Match for Quinn Hughes
No help is coming this year from the draft, so it’s down to trades or crossing fingers and trying the same thing again. Travis Dermott is a left-hand shooter, but can play the right side. He didn’t get any real time beside Hughes, but that’s no surprise given his late arrival and the playoff chase the team was on. Dermott does have more speed than the other potential in-house matches, but not a whole lot in the way of offence. Could he work there? Sure, in theory. Hughes makes anyone he plays with better, so Dermott’s numbers can certainly improve.
What the team wants to find, though, is a player that isn’t reliant on Hughes. The team also wouldn’t mind giving Dermott the opportunity to find his own game, whichever side of the ice he ends up on. The recently-available Ethan Bear might work. At his best, Bear plays a simple, North-South game, is the right age, and skates well enough to work with Hughes. But he’s also not a top-pair defender and who knows what the Carolina Hurricanes will charge for him.
Teams aren’t going to give away right-side defencemen just because the Canucks ask. They can’t afford to look at free agents either, underwhelming as they are. Management has implied that they want to overhaul the team, but it may well take another year to look for the right deal that fills Quin Hughes’ right side.
*Okay, fine! The highest single-season value adjusted for inflation is Mark Messier at a today-rate of over $11 million. Happy now?
