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Canucks' Hughes looks and sounds ready to score more goals this year

Adam Laskaris
Adam Laskaris
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Oct 1 2023, 8:30 pm
Canucks' Hughes looks and sounds ready to score more goals this year

The appointment of Quinn Hughes as the 15th captain in Vancouver Canucks history came with sky-high expectations.

And Hughes seems to know that there’s not really much room for error if the team’s looking to turn around their fortunes this year.

Heading into his fifth full NHL season, Hughes’ time in Vancouver has been highlighted by plenty of personal successes, but the team’s only group postseason success coming back in the 2020 COVID-19-influenced bubble playoffs some three years ago.

Ahead of his first year as the team’s captain, Hughes is making it pretty clear that there’s an expectation for himself and the rest of the team’s core to hit the ground running come October 11 when the season gets going.

“I’m going to be 24 in October… [Elias Pettersson’s] gonna be 25, [J.T. Miller]’s 30, [Thatcher Demko]’s 27, [we’re] getting up there,” Hughes told reporters after the game. “We’re not little kids anymore. It’s time, they drafted us to do things and [we’ve] got to do those things.”

While it’s still some ten days out before the games count for real, Hughes was in fine form on Saturday night, potting in a pair of second-period goals in a 5-2 preseason victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

Hughes’ first goal came via a two-on-one rush where he connected with a airborne puck, batting it into the Edmonton net.

Just over two minutes later, Hughes fired in a backhand shot from down low to earn his second goal over the evening.

One area of Hughes’ game that has offered room for improvement has been from a goal-scoring perspective. In his four seasons as a full-time member of the Canucks, he’s topped out at eight goals twice: once in his rookie year in 2019-20, and again in 2021-22.

Last year, he actually led Canucks defenders in goals with seven, but it ranked him in a tie for 53rd amongst defencemen league-wide. He’s still one of the game’s premiere offensive defencemen, coming off a 76-point season, but it’s no secret Hughes — and the Canucks — could benefit greatly from a few more pucks finding the back of the net.

“The last few seasons I had the most puck possession for defenseman in the league. But where does that get you [if the puck isn’t going in?]. I’m just trying to use my gifts and things that I do to have that puck possession and put myself in a spot where I can create more… it’s more mental than anything.”

On Saturday, Hughes launched eight shots on net, which is two higher a total than he’s reached from any regular season game to date in his NHL career. Sure, it’s just preseason, but it seems like finding his spots to shoot from is an area that Hughes has put an extra focus on this summer.

“Not just shots from the point, I’m trying to get inside and use my feet and use that to an advantage,” Hughes said. “I’m shooting it in stride, I can beat a guy and hold it and shoot it.”

While we’ll wait to see how exactly Hughes’ season turns out, he’s saying all the right things of a player looking to do what he can to turn his team’s fortunes around. Only time will tell if all that offseason work will pay off on the scoresheet.

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