Every great NHL team needs an anchor on the blue line, that elite number one defenseman that you can throw out in any situation. Over the course of NHL history, almost every Stanley Cup winning team had that ace defenseman. The Montreal Canadiens in the ‘70s had Larry Robinson, the ‘80s Edmonton Oilers had Paul Coffey, and the 2000s Detroit Red Wings had Nicklas Lidstrom. Even in the modern day NHL, in the 2010s the Chicago Blackhawks had Duncan Keith and in the 2020’s the Tampa Bay Lightning had Victor Hedman. This isn’t going to change anytime soon, to be a legitimate ( Stanley) Cup contending team you need an elite number one defenseman.
The Vancouver Canucks never had that luxury. They’ve some solid very good defensemen by the likes of Dave Babych, Harold Snepsts, Mattias Ohlund, and Alex Edler. However, none of these players could anchor the blue line of a team that had Stanley Cup aspirations. In 2018 that was supposed to change. The projected first-overall pick was defenseman Rasmus Dahlin from Sweden. (Rasmus) Dahlin was projected to be a generational level prospect.
He was even being compared to hall of fame defenseman and fellow Swede Nicklas Lidstrom heading into the NHL entry draft. It was a match made in heaven, the Canucks weren’t a very good team by any means heading into the 2017-18 season. Finishing as the second-worst team in the league the prior season. So getting the first overall pick out of the question. Plus (Rasmus) Dahlin could add to the Canucks long line of Swedish superstars among the likes of Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Markus Naslund and Thomas Gradin.
The Canucks finished the season 2017-18 with 73 points and sixth worst in the league. They fell one spot in the draft lottery and were awarded the seventh overall pick. The “Fallin for Dahlin” didn’t work and it left us Canucks disappointed. Unfortunately, that’s a feeling we Canucks fans know all too well. At the draft, Rasmus Dahlin was selected first overall by the Buffalo Sabers (shocker). The next highest defenseman ranked was Quinn Hughes out of Michigan, but he was projected to get selected before the Canucks picked. The Detroit Red Wings picked sixth overall one pick before the Canucks. (Quinn) Hughes was still on the board plus, he played at Michigan the Red Wings also needed a defenseman it would only make sense for him to get picked by Detroit. Right?
For some reason projected third overall Filip Zadina was still on the board as well. Montreal surprised a lot of people by taking center Jesperi Kotkaniemi third overall. The big shock was the Arizona Coyotes selecting Barett Hayton fifth overall leaving Zadina and Hughes still on the board. Detroit General Manager Ken Holland took the stage and made pick for the Red Wings. “ The Detroit Red Wings select from Halifax of the Canadian Hockey League Filip Zadina”. You could hear the collective cheers from every household in British Columbia. This set the stage for Jim Benning to make the pick to bring Quinn Hughes to Vancouver and add him to a young core that included Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser and Thatcher Demko.
So what has Quinn Hughes done in time in Vancouver so far? Let me break it down for you. In just his first game Canucks nation saw the potential of the young dynamic defenseman, When he skated around like L.A. Kings like a bunch of pylons banked the puck to himself behind the net and took a shot on goal where Brock Boeser capitalized on leading to a goal. We knew that Hughes was going to be a special player.
In Hughes’s rookie season, he had 8 goals and 45 assists for 53 points in 68 games breaking multiple Canuck franchise records along the way. Hughes was also named an all-star leading to a viral moment at the all-star where Wayne Gretzky said “ That young lad is a defenseman he has better hands than I did” after Hughes made an electric play. Hughes finished his rookie season leading all rookies in scoring, making him the third defenseman only after Bobby Orr and Brian Leetch to do so. Hughes finished as the runner-up for the Calder Trophy as the league’s best rookie.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Hughes and the Canucks as after making it to the second round of the playoffs in 2020 the Canucks failed to make the playoffs in 2021. Hughes’s numbers dipped quite a bit in all major categories, especially his plus-minus which fell from a minus 10 to minus 24. The mainstream media took notice and a narrative began about Hughes being a defensive liability.
In the 2022 season, Hughes bounced back at both ends of the ice but the narrative of Hughes being a defensive liability still followed him and overshadowed his offensive play. This led him to say, “I feel like my game’s really good right now, “I’m proud that I’m a plus. I’m playing a lot of minutes, and defensively, I’ve been trusted against the top lines. Anyone that says I’m a defensive liability, frankly, doesn’t watch me play at this point.”
In 2023 Quinn finished with 76 points in 78 games and finished top ten in Norris trophy voting as the league’s best defenseman for the first time in his career and cemented himself as one of the league’s best defensemen. Stats are great and all but it doesn’t mean much if the team isn’t winning. In September of 2023, Hughes was named the 15th captain in franchise history, a role that Hughes was built for.
The 2023-24 season was one to remember. Hughes smashed career highs in goals with 17, assists with 75 and points with 92. The Canucks won the Pacific Division and made the playoffs for the first time since 2020 and brought playoff hockey back to Rogers Arena for the first time since 2015. Hughes capped off his season by winning the Norris trophy and being the first Canuck in history to do so.
After this season if there was any doubt that Hughes could be an anchor on the blue line there isn’t anymore. However, I think we Canucks fans knew this already but Hughes put the NHL on notice that the Canucks are a force to be wrecked with this season. He isn’t the biggest guy, the strongest guy and he doesn’t have the hardest shot, but he’s an elite skater, an amazing puck mover and can make any pass imaginable. Hughes proved that he is a top-three defenseman in the NHL by dominating on both ends of the ice for a full 82 games. He has been everything he was advertised to be and more. Quinn is exactly the type of player the Canucks needed to anchor their blue line. Thinking back at it now it’s pretty amazing we got a player of his calibre at seventh overall. I believe that he will be one of the best defensemen in NHL history when his career is over. If the Canucks want to win the Stanley Cup this season, they are going to need another big year out of Hughes and I know he’s more than capable of doing it.