'He's going to be a Canuck': Foote dishes on Hughes' future in Vancouver
If Adam Foote is trying to win over the Vancouver Canucks fanbase, he’s off to a good start.
The 54-year-old bench boss was recently on The Ray & Dregs Podcast, where he was asked about Quinn Hughes’ future.
Foote didn’t mince words with his answer.
“When we met with [Elias] Pettersson and [Thatcher] Demko, Quinn and I spent a good couple of hours alone,” Foote said to hosts Ray Ferraro and Darren Dreger. “It was a real good talk about where he may be now or later.
“And for me, I honestly think he’s going to be a Canuck. I think it’s all blown up… There’s a lot of noise, but unnecessary noise.”
Hughes’ future has been in the spotlight ever since Jim Rutherford admitted publicly last April that the Canucks captain wants to play with his brothers.
Both Jack and Quinn Hughes were asked about it during the NHL’s season-opening media tour in Las Vegas earlier this month as well. Jack was pretty clear that he hopes to play with his older brother, while Quinn provided vague answers about playing in Vancouver long-term.
“I’m not sure how much he wants to play with his brothers or not,” Foote said. “And I’m not going to get too deep into it, except I said to him, I’m the type of person, I’m just going to coach one each day at a time. And I think he understands me.”
One thing that seems clear is that Foote and Hughes have a strong relationship, with the Canucks’ star defenceman previously saying that Foote is the best coach he’s ever had.
Perhaps that praise has given Foote more confidence about Hughes’ future with the Canucks.
“I see him here now, I see him here for these two years. I see him here in the future.”
“If we do what we can do, and he buys into the process, and he’s having fun, and we’re winning some hockey games, we’ll let everything just take care of itself.”