Forget Norris Trophy, Bieksa thinks Canucks' Hughes deserves Hart consideration
With the end of the regular season in sight, award talk is ramping up across the NHL. Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes has been the centre of discussion for some as he wraps up a historic year.
The 24-year-old has 91 points in 80 games, a new record for Canucks defencemen, passing the mark he set last season. He’s been a huge part of the team’s successful turnaround that has them on the brink of capturing their first division title in more than a decade.
This has resulted in some national media picking the star for major awards. Sportsnet’sElliotte Friedman recently supported the player’s candidacy for the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenceman. No Canucks player has ever won the award.
“He would be number one on my ballot right now,” said Friedman on an episode of the Donnie & Dhali Show from earlier this month. “I just think from beginning to end of the year, the role he plays on the Canucks, the expectation of where the Canucks were supposed to be at the start of this year.”
Former Canucks defenceman Kevin Bieksa also brought up Hughes’ name on Hockey Night in Canada recently. Instead of talking about the Norris, he was making the argument that Hughes should be in the Hart Trophy conversation as the league’s most valuable player.
“Let’s throw Quinn Hughes’ name into the mix…everyone is like ‘ah Vancouver, he likes Vancouver,’ no,” said Bieksa, aware that people will think he’s biased towards his former team. “Minus-nine coming into this season [in his] career, he’s plus-40 this year, he has 91 points. He had the captaincy thrusted onto him, that team has been leading their division for the majority of the season, they weren’t even supposed to make the playoffs. How do you not argue this guy isn’t the most important guy to his team?”
It’s hard to argue that there are many players more valuable than Hughes. The Canucks have outscored opponents 91-54 with Hughes on the ice at five-on-five and he’s a huge driver of their offence.
Incredible seasons from Nikita Kucherov, Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid, and Auston Matthews mean that Hughes will likely be on the outside looking in on many Hart Ballots. However, his candidacy for the Norris is legitimate as he’s likely the leading candidate.
Some of his biggest competition for the Norris comes in the form of previous winners Cale Makar and Roman Josi, who both have at least 85 points. The two players have each outscored Hughes since the All-Star break.
“It’s going to be tough, Makar is having a monster year and Josi is really having a monster year, he’s really come on in the last few months,” continued Friedman during his hit on Donnie & Dhali. “One of the things I always try to do is avoid recency bias. For me, recency bias can be a really powerful thing, whoever seems to come on late is the person I know in the past I’ve always given a lot more power to. But I try to dial that back and if you go back to game number one, I think the most consistent defenceman since game one to now has been Hughes.”
NHL Awards are handed out after the season, usually in late June.
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