Canucks fans unite to defend Quinn Hughes against eastern media bias
Vancouver Canucks supporters continue to live up to their fanatic reputation.
The latest controversy across Canucks Twitter — or should it be called Canucks X now? — involves the national media’s perception of captain Quinn Hughes.
It all started when two sets of rankings were published. The first came from The Athletic’s Dom Luszczysyn, who presented his tier list of NHL players. Across all defencemen, he had Hughes in the 3B tier alongside Dougie Hamilton, Alex Pietrangelo, and Shea Theodore.
The best centers, wingers, and defensemen in hockey — separated by tiers.
Read how and why each player ended up where they did here: https://t.co/KVY6TyRJLp pic.twitter.com/957GoBfOE2
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) October 9, 2023
Another ranking put out by ESPN had Hughes ranked as the 60th best player in the league, behind Seth Jones and numerous other defencemen.
Canucks fans have taken an issue with these rankings. They have decided to use social media to voice their feelings and let national media members know that Hughes is being underrated.
the shit dom is still taking for a player ranking article that was nuanced and did the exact thing people always want ("don't just use the model, factor in the eye test and input from people who actually work in hockey!") is crazy.
— JFresh (@JFreshHockey) October 22, 2023
Hughes himself has now weighed in on the rankings debate.
In a conversation with Thomas Drance of The Athletic, Hughes said he’s seen the lists and he believes that he’s better defensively than he gets credit for.
“So for me, the stereotype is there. A lot of guys don’t watch the West, but I’m out here trying to do the best I can,” Hughes said.
Hughes has been doing all he can to make people notice him throughout the early part of this season. He has five points through five games and is playing nearly 25 minutes per night.
He’s given Canucks fans plenty of material to back up their points as they take on the challenge of educating national media on Hughes’ dominance. If he keeps playing like this, it’ll be impossible for national coverage to ignore him for much longer.
For a Canucks fan base that is known to bicker among each other, the unity in defending Hughes has been a welcome change.
It seems like the only people that don’t think Hughes is as good as he is, are people from the east, everyone from the west agrees he is a top 5 defencemen lol
— SnapZ / Lathanuel (@ohsnapitysnapz) October 22, 2023
Yeah it's a little frustrating that people back east don't quite understand how good Quinn Hughes is. The only thing that matters to me, though, is that I know how good he is and I am enjoying the ride of watching the career of an extraordinary hockey player. #Canucks
— JABO Vancouver (@jabo_vancouver) October 23, 2023
Rasmus Dahlin – 2C
GP 360 G 46 A 192 P 238 Plus/Minus -68
Quinn Hughes – 3B
GP 288 G 27 A 219 P 246 Plus/Minus -3Hughes has more points in less games and has a much better plus minus and both play for bottom 10 teams. I’m not offended Drance. Sometimes ppl are just wrong.
— Cory (@ktownchef) October 23, 2023
The #Canucks are very lucky to have Quinn Hughes. He is one of the best defenceman in the NHL. Anyone who believes otherwise is wrong and clearly hasn't been paying attention.
— Joshua Rey (@JoshuaRey00) October 22, 2023
My favorite thing about the Hughes discussion is it isn't even a Homer view that most fans have.
We've watched him develop into a top tier player, it's nice to see #Canucks fans on the same page defending their captain.
— Ray Hatt (@Raymond_Hatt) October 22, 2023