October 14th. It’s a day to remember. Not because it’s the day Felix Baumgartner jumped out of a helium balloon from space. Or because Steve Bartman cost the Chicago Cubs the 2003 World Series. No, no, no. It’s because on October 14th, 1999, Quinn Hughes was born. And to celebrate Hughes’ birthday, let’s take a look back at some of the early highlights of his NHL career.

NHL Debut (March 28th, 2019)

Even though it wasn’t technically apart of his full rookie campaign. This is still one that a lot of Canucks fans will remember for years to come. Coming down the right wing boards, with Trevor Lewis of the Los Angeles Kings sticking to his left. Hughes is making it seem as if he’s going to go around the net towards the left side of the ice. Instead, he stops on a dime behind the net, banks it off the net, back to himself, comes out in front to create a great scoring chance and ultimately ended up with an assist after Brock Boeser scored on the rebound. Earning Hughes his first career point, in his first NHL game.

First NHL Goal (October 9th, 2019)

Two big milestones for Hughes against the Kings? It’s almost too perfect. On the Canucks home opener of last season, In what was a dominating 8-2 win, Hughes scored the opening goal with a heavy slapshot from the blue line over the glove of Jonathan Quick on the powerplay. But what made that goal even more special was the lead up to it. Hughes eased his way thru the neutral zone and into the offensive zone while having all four Kings skaters staring at him. After Hughes dropped it to Adam Gaudette for a scoring chance, Tanner Pearson found the puck and fed it back to Hughes on the right side boards. And the rest is history.

All-Star Game (January 25th, 2020)

Going to the All-Star Game is not something that happens for the majority of NHL players, but to play in one as a rookie is even rarer. Well, that’s exactly what happened to Quinn Hughes. While he may not have put up a lot of points during the whole event, he was able to catch the attention of “The Great One” himself, Wayne Gretzky. During the Pacific vs. Central game, Hughes received a pass from Matthew Tkachuk and went in on a breakaway against Binnington. However, what made it more exciting was that he scored with one hand on his stick while going to his backhand. Which, led to Gretzky saying; “That young lad’s a defenseman? That’s better hands than I had. Wow!… That’s pretty good.” Yeah, Hughes is pretty good alright.

Now as much as I would like to keep going on and on about Hughes, I think it would be better just to watch a full highlight package instead. So enjoy that and Happy Birthday Quinn Hughes and many more to you.