Vancouver Canucks captain Hughes responds to brother's comments on playing together
Connor McDavid still hasn’t signed a contract extension, Sidney Crosby could be trade bait, and chatter about all the Hughes brothers playing together is heating up.
Welcome to the 2025-26 NHL season.
Jack Hughes sent Vancouver Canucks and New Jersey Devils fans into a tizzy on Tuesday after making comments about playing with his older brother.
“Eventually I’d love to play with him,” Jack Hughes said candidly. “And whether that’s in New Jersey or at what time that takes, at some point, I want to play with Quinn.”
With both players in Nevada for NHL media day, Quinn Hughes got a chance to respond.
“I mean, he’s my brother,” Quinn Hughes told the assembled media, per Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. “What’s he supposed to say, first of all? Like, ‘I don’t want to play with him,’ you know?
“I mean, we have contracts and whatnot. He’s on a different team. Would it be fun to play with those guys at some point? Of course. I think if you guys have brothers, you guys would say the same thing. But we do have contracts.”
“I’m excited to be in Vancouver, and I feel like last year was a little bit of a failure. So I feel like I got things to do there. And I know Jack loves, he loves Jersey, and he’s got stuff to do also.”
Quinn Hughes met with our media group this morning here in Vegas. He was asked about his brother's comment. Said the Canucks captain:
“I mean, he's my brother. What's he supposed to say, first of all? `Like, I don't want to play with him, you know?' … I mean, we have contracts… https://t.co/iwHdTnAMiB— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) September 10, 2025
Hughes was asked if he was surprised that he had to answer questions about his future, when he’s still under contract for two more seasons.
He noted that Jack “wasn’t the first one to bring it up.”
Canucks president Jim Rutherford, of course, brought this story to the forefront back in April, when he commented on his captain’s future.
“He’s said before that he wants to play with his brothers,” Rutherford said. “That would be partly out of our control [or] in our control if we brought his brothers here. So there’s many moving parts here.”
It’s no surprise that Quinn doesn’t have an issue with his brother’s comments. But how did he feel about Rutherford’s?
“I don’t know… Jim’s a smart guy,” Hughes said, per ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. “Jim’s doing, you know, what he wants to do. I’ve got a lot of respect for Jim, so I’ll just leave it at that.”
Both the Canucks and Devils endured disappointing seasons last year. The Devils were a Stanley Cup favourite among bettors heading into 2024-25. They ended up winning just one playoff game (although they were missing Jack Hughes for the entire postseason).
The Canucks missed the playoffs by six points, despite otherworldly performances from Quinn Hughes, and were one of the most disappointing teams in the NHL.