Vancouver Canucks captain Hughes admits frustration seeping into his game
It was a moment Vancouver Canucks fans have rarely seen from Quinn Hughes.
Midway through the third period of Vancouver’s loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, the Canucks captain was noticeably nonchalant on his back-check as the opposition peppered Kevin Lankinen with a couple of scoring chances.
I don’t think Quinn Hughes wants to be in Vancouver anymore. Wtf is this effort. pic.twitter.com/FaJZEh0MOz
— World Hockey Report (@worldhockeyrpt) December 3, 2025
That moment made you wonder: is this frustrating season starting to rub off on Hughes?
“Of course,” he said. “I feel like I’ve seen pretty much everything under the sun here, good and bad. You want to win, and losing sucks.”
“I know everyone in here feels that way, and the coaching staff. You know, no one’s probably more competitive than Adam Foote. So, it’s something I continue to get better at.”
Foote admitted he has talked to Hughes about some of the frustrations that fans have seen on the ice.
“Yeah, we talk about it,” Foote said. “His strength is [that] he wants to win so bad.”
Unfortunately for Hughes and the Canucks, they’ve done a lot of losing during his time in the NHL. They’ve missed the playoffs in four of his six seasons in Vancouver. That doesn’t include the fact that they’re currently one of the league’s worst teams.
“He’s a guy that has probably shown frustration here and there,” Foote said. “We’ve had discussions about it. And, you know, he owns his own stuff. That’s him still growing and learning.”
Even though there have been moments of late where his back-checking has looked lacklustre, we are talking about a player averaging a league-high 27:25 of ice time per game. No player has averaged that much ice time per game since Dustin Byfuglien back in 2016-17.
Could his sky-high ice time be contributing to some unusual Hughes mistakes?
“I mean, yeah, I get tired, for sure,” he said. “I’m not perfect, I’m not Superman.”
Excuse Canucks fans for thinking that perhaps he was Superman.
Over the Canucks last 10 games, Hughes has averaged more than 28 minutes in seven of those contests. He’s played over 30 minutes twice in that stretch.
The only times he skated less than 25 minutes? During the Canucks’ only two wins in their last 10 games.
Hughes said that he’s spoken to Foote about managing his shifts, even if the expectation is that he’ll have some of the highest ice time in hockey.
“I’m starting to learn it’s something that I can get better at,” he said. “It’s just, instead of having 21 shifts of 30 minutes, have 29 shifts of 30 minutes where I’m not overextending too much.”
“Obviously, it’s hard when you’re down in the third, you’re going to extend a little bit. But I think the message [Foote] is trying to tell me is definitely spot on.”
Foote also believes in his captain to continue growing and handling frustrating moments, especially in a hockey-mad city.
“He’s aware that he’s in a hard market,” Foote said. “We’re in Canada. He’s aware of all that, and he takes that in stride, and I don’t see him getting too rattled at that.”