Vancouver Canucks’ Quinn Hughes was built to be a leader
Quinn Hughes’ game has progressed quite a bit from season to season, but he hasn’t necessarily had the experience to play meaningful hockey yet.
The 24-year-old defenseman is now in his fifth NHL season and has qualified for the playoffs just once: the 2020 bubble playoffs. That means that Hughes, who is the front-runner for the Norris Trophy this season with 10 goals and 40 assists in 40 games played, has yet to experience a proper playoff atmosphere.
During the 2023 NHL Player Media Tour in Las Vegas, Hughes said all he wants to do this year is play playoff hockey. Now that Vancouver has exceeded expectations and hung around the top of the standings, he’s focused on taking this team far.
“I’m sure the fans are really enjoying it,” Hughes said recently. “We’re not even halfway through the season. We haven’t had the experience where we can let our foot off of the gas and cruise to the playoffs. We’re still building our game every game and trying to stay consistent. We’ve obviously enjoyed the success, but it feels like we’ve got a long way to go.”
A big reason for Hughes’ success is his relationship with the Canucks head coach, Rick Tocchet. It’s almost been exactly a year since Tocchet was hired by the club, which has gone from sitting near the bottom to becoming a real contender with him in charge.
Within the first 5 minutes of the #Canucks morning skate, you can sense that the vibes are extremely high.
Rick Tocchet just skated over to Quinn Hughes, put his arm around him and then they both had a big laugh.
Just from watching the two of them interact, you can sense their mutual respect for one another. But that doesn’t happen right away.
“Just to build a relationship with him is huge for me because he didn’t know me, I didn’t know him,” Tocchet said. “There’s some system change, there’s stuff that he had to break the way we play and he’s chipping away at it. He trusts what we’re trying to do. He’s the captain of the team and when the captain trusts a coaching staff, it goes a long way.
“I think we’re still building that trust, but it’s something you have to work at. He’s a pleasure to coach. He’s a hockey nerd and he loves the game. You have to kick him off the ice. He’s just one of those guys you always want to be around.”
The relationship and respect between Tocchet and Hughes go both ways.
“He always says he’s not a coach, he’s a teacher and he’s trying to teach the guys to be the group that we all know we can be,” Hughes said. “He’s a players coach. You can always walk into his office and talk to him, the guys love playing for him.”
The on-ice success has helped the Canucks form a strong bond away from it.
“We set the bar for the first half of the year, so the expectations are high going forward,” said Canucks forward Teddy Blueger. “Going into every game, we expect that we should be winning. In that sense, the culture’s been good and I think you need to toe that line of putting in the work and being serious, but also having fun and enjoying it. It’s for sure similar to Vegas last year in striking that balance.”
The Hughes brothers have arguably become the most popular and lovable siblings in the NHL. But Quinn, Jack and Luke are all different in their unique ways. But one thing that all three have in common is their self-awareness. Quinn’s season has been outstanding, but he’s not allowing any outside noise or hype to creep into his day-to-day mentality.
“I went through a little stretch in December where I wasn’t playing my best hockey, but I think you just need to continue to push forward,” he said.
#Canucks Quinn Hughes isn't the biggest social media guy, but I asked him if the team keeps winning, will he post more on instagram:
"Haha no. That was a one-and-done. I had to do that because Prince Harry is pretty cool." pic.twitter.com/hKSQ82Zhcg
It’s a one-day-at-a-time mentality for Hughes, who understands the grind of an 82-game season.
“Things can change very quickly, we’re not even halfway through,” Hughes said. “I’m happy with how the year has gone individually and from a team perspective, but you just gotta keep going. Every game is a new challenge. I’ve enjoyed the success this year, but we have a long way to go.”
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