Quinn Hughes is the greatest player in Vancouver Canucks’ history.
Not just the greatest defenceman, no; the greatest player. Greater than Pavel Bure, Markus Näslund, and the Sedins. It may be a bold statement but it’s a statement that's going to become easier and easier to defend as his career continues.
Heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Anaheim Ducks, Hughes needed three assists to become the third-fastest defenceman in NHL history to reach 300 career assists. If he did, he would reach the milestone in his 376th game, one game faster than Paul Coffey.
He did exactly that, assisting on the Canucks’ first, third, and fourth goals in a 5-1 win, even if his second assist of the night was initially credited to Hughes as a goal before the NHL decided Elias Pettersson tipped it in front of the net.
Again, Hughes just beat Paul Coffey to 300 assists. That’s Paul Coffey, who is second all-time in assists and points by a defenceman behind only Ray Bourque.
The only defencemen in NHL history who reached 300 assists faster than Hughes are Brian Leetch and Bobby Orr. That’s not just elite company — that’s the upper echelon of elite.
Let’s also keep in mind that the average save percentage in the NHL in the first five seasons of Coffey’s career was under .880. The average save percentage in the first five seasons of Leetch’s career was under .890. Goals, and by extension assists, were easier to come by in those days.
That makes Hughes’s achievement that much more impressive. He’s a legend in the making and it is a special treat for Canucks fans to get to see it.
“I just feel very fortunate,” said a humble Hughes after the game. “I’m lucky to have had the great teammates I’ve had and it’s been a fun six years.”
Beyond the three assists, this was as dominant a performance by Hughes as we’ve seen all season. At 5-on-5, the Canucks out-attempted the Ducks 22-to-5 when Hughes was on the ice. He was a menace every time he stepped over the boards and there was nothing the Ducks could do to stop him.
Hughes now has a 64.3% corsi on the season, second among all defencemen behind only Shayne Gostisbehere, who has the unfair advantage of playing for the Carolina Hurricanes and their dominant puck possession system (all six of the Hurricanes’ defencemen this season are in the top ten in corsi).
The Canucks have outshot their opponents 137-to-78 with Hughes on the ice at 5-on-5 and out-scored them 13-to-4.
No one else in the NHL single-handedly tilts the ice like Quinn Hughes. He’s putting together a season that not only should have him in the conversation to win the Norris in back-to-back years but should also have him in contention for the Hart Trophy as the league’s most valuable player.
It’s not just the numbers that are in his favour. Quinn Hughes could win the Hart this year if the voters watch the games like I watched this game.
- Aatu Räty’s return to the lineup started off on the wrong foot: specifically, Brock McGinn’s foot, as Räty got his stick around McGinn’s foot and tripped him on his first shift. On the subsequent power play, Owen “Renée” Zellweger started things off with a bang like Roxie Hart and sent a long point shot through traffic that beat Kevin Lankinen just inside the far post.
- Räty settled in well after that unfortunate start, finishing the game with a team-high five hits and going 7-for-9 in the faceoff circle — an impressive 78% winning percentage. If he can lock down the fourth-line centre position and allow Pius Suter to play on the wing, that makes the Canucks deeper than a Bo Burnham song at forward.
- “I thought as the game went on, I liked his game,” said Tocchet of Räty. “He was hard on pucks. That line was actually pretty good — I thought Höglander was playing a really north-south type of game.”
- The Canucks’ power play still looks a little off but it finally broke through on their second opportunity of the night to tie the game. It was simple and direct: J.T. Miller fed Quinn Hughes at the point while Brock Boeser got set up in the bumper and made a gorgeous deflection on Hughes’ pass, sending the puck sailing away over Lukas Dostal’s glove like it had been invited by Styx.
- The Canucks took the lead before the end of the first period with exactly the type of quick-strike attack off the rush Tocchet has been wanting to see since the start of training camp. It started with a superb play along the wall by Danton Heinen to protect the puck from the pinching Zellweger and spring the rush the other way. Erik Brännström joined the rush down the right wing and played a perfect backhand chip shot into the path of Kiefer Sherwood, who unleashed a one-timer blast that Dostal didn’t have a hope of stopping.
- “I thought Heinen played their climb out of the corner perfectly,” said Tocchet. “He was aggressive and got [the puck] and then we counter-attacked and got something off the rush. We had a couple of rush goals tonight, it’s nice to see.”
- Early in the second, the Canucks extended the lead to 3-1. Conor Garland nimbly gained the zone and set up a chance in the slot for Elias Pettersson, whose shot was kicked aside. Garland retrieved the rebound, fed Hughes at the point, and his slap shot was gently deflected by the screening Pettersson — so gently, in fact, that the NHL didn’t give Pettersson the goal on the game sheet until just before the end of the game to officially give Hughes 300 assists.
- Honestly, I wasn’t 100 per cent convinced that Pettersson tipped the shot until I threw on the super slo-mo on the highlights. Sure enough, Pettersson just gets a piece of it.
- Sportsnet Plus continues to be the bane of Canucks’ fans. Earlier in the season there were frequent errors that prevented fans from even watching the game. Tuesday night, Sportsnet Plus cut to commercial mid-play in the second period, then stayed in commercial for over five minutes of game action. The “replay” of the game on the app is even worse, missing almost the entire second period and half of the third period. This comes on the heels of Rogers announcing that the “service” will be $5 more per month for subscribers. It’s an absolute joke.
- This was a tough night for Carson Soucy, though at least not in puck possession this time, as the Canucks controlled play at 5-on-5 all night no matter who was on the ice. Instead, Soucy couldn’t stay on his feet and couldn’t stay out of the box. He lost an edge multiple times and fell multiple times in the first period, even briefly leaving the game after a tough spill into the boards. When he returned, he immediately took a crosschecking penalty, then took another penalty in the third period. We need to find out who, exactly, put a curse on Soucy and what must be done to lift it.
- To be fair to Soucy, he also drew a penalty and was a lot more active in jumping up in the play. Maybe this game was a turning point. Who knows?
- The Canucks continued to control play into the third period and took a 4-1 lead on Hughes’s 300th assist. Boeser rotated to the point while Hughes drew in two Ducks defenders with his dangling and dipsy-doodling. Hughes put the puck in Boeser’s wheelhouse and he hammered a one-timer that Jake DeBrusk deftly deflected past Dostal for his second goal of the season.
- It didn’t quite work but I love that Boeser tried to keep the puck in the offensive zone by heading the puck late in the third period. Brings back memories of Daniel Sedin heading the puck on a zone entry, trying to pass the puck with his head to Henrik, who, for some reason, skated the wrong way because he didn’t anticipate his brother using his head — the only evidence we have that the Sedin twins are not psychic.
- The Canucks added one more goal late in the third to complete the trouncing. Teddy Blueger drove down the right wing and held the puck long enough for his linemates to catch up. He set up Sherwood for a shot that was blocked, but Sherwood retrieved the puck and set up a wide-open Danton Heinen for the easy 5-1 goal.
- Watching Robby Fabbri do nothing while Heinen set up on top of the crease not five feet away from him, I now understand why the Ducks give up the most shots in the NHL. Lukas Dostal has one of the highest save percentages in the NHL and it just doesn’t matter.
- Shout out to Elias Pettersson, who had a game-high six shots on goal in this game. That’s hopefully a very positive sign that his confidence is growing, as the lack of shots was the biggest concern with his game early in the year.
- Kevin Lankinen was as solid as ever, stopping 21 of 22 shots to improve to 6-0-2 on the season with a .923 save percentage. It’s hard to overemphasize just how crucial he has been to the Canucks to start the season. It was nice for his teammates to give him a night where he didn’t have to be a difference-maker for once.
- “It’s not easy missing a Vezina goalie. Demmer’s not only fantastic and one of the best goalies in the league but he’s a fantastic person and a leader on this team,” said Hughes. “For Kevin to come in here and step up and be a rock for us, it’s been great.”
