As was rumoured heading into the draft, the Montreal Canadiens went slightly off the board and selected Jesperi Kotkaniemi third overall. It was a bold pick, pushing down more highly-ranked forward Filip Zadina and Brady Tkachuk down the board.
And then the Arizona Coyotes went off the board and picked Barrett Hayton fifth overall. For a brief moment, the pipe dream of Filip Zadina falling to the Canucks at seventh overall was alive, but the Red Wings swiftly squashed that dream, taking him sixth.
That left every non-Dahlin defenceman available for the Canucks. It’s a possibility that the Canucks could not have predicted, but they had to be delighted.
On Sportsnet’s broadcast, Brian Burke said that Jim Hughes, Quinn Hughe’s father, told him that Benning would not let Hughes get past him. If he was available, he would be a Canuck.
Sure enough, Benning stepped to the mic and selected, from the University of Michigan, Quinn Hughes.
“I didn’t think he was going to be there, but I’m so happy that he was,” said Benning.
Hughes is a thrilling player to watch, a dynamic skater with incredible skill, who provides an immense and much-needed offensive upgrade on the backend. Hughes can flat-out fly and is arguably the best skater in the draft.
At even-strength, he’s a boon to the transition game, moving the puck up ice equally well with his stick and his skates. On the power play, he’s an ideal power play quarterback, picking apart penalty kills with his passing and finds shooting lanes with an accurate wrist shot, though he’ll need to add some zip to his shot as he gains strength and size over the next couple years.
“He’s got blazing end-to-end speed,” reads the scouting report from Future Considerations. “He’s always going in the same direction as the game itself. He’s fast and quick and efficient on his skates. This is a dominant player.”
“He’s creative and dynamic with the puck, pulling off moves even most forwards couldn’t dream up, let alone execute,” says Jackson Macdonald at CanucksArmy. “His two-step quickness and deceptiveness allow him to catch opponents flat-footed, and he has the hands to keep the puck moving as fast as his feet.”
“He can deliver saucer passes, stretch passes, bank passes and thread them through multiple players when needed,” reads the scouting report from Hockey Prospect, who also suggest his shot is underrated.
One scout with Hockey Prospect said of Hughes, "The final 4-6 weeks of his season, he was the best player in college hockey and it wasn’t even close."
Quinn Hughes was absolutely the best player available and, conveniently, he also fills the Canucks’ biggest need in their system as a dynamic, puck-moving defenceman. The top of the draft could not have gone any better for the Canucks.
