"Well deserved": Bo Horvat happy for new Canucks captain Quinn Hughes
The Vancouver Canucks have a new captain, and his name is Quinn Hughes.
The 23-year-old defenceman is the third-youngest captain in Canucks history, behind only Trevor Linden (20) and Kevin McCarthy (22).
Hughes is only a few months younger than Bo Horvat was when he was named captain in 2019, and the ex-teammate was quick to congratulate the new captain publicly on Instagram this morning.
“Couldn’t of happened to a better person! Well deserved [Quinn Hughes] happy for you brother,” Horvat said.
Horvat congratulates Hughes on being named captain. pic.twitter.com/gWn7jp1C4K
— Taj (@taj1944) September 11, 2023
“It means a lot,” Hughes said when asked about Horvat’s message at this morning’s press conference at Rogers Arena. “I talked to Bo last night. He’s a great teammate, great person, and someone I enjoyed playing with. He never complained about anything and just went about his business.”
Unlike Horvat, who was pegged as a future captain by many on the day he was drafted, Hughes was not the universal choice to wear the C. Horvat was also the only serious contender when he was named captain prior to the 2019-20 season. It was a close race this time around, with Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller also having support. There was even talk of waiting a year, like the Canucks did with Horvat, before naming a new captain.
But Hughes, it seems, has the full support of the other leaders, who were in attendance at the press conference.
“You know you’ve made a great decision when… you got guys over there like J.T. and Petey, and [Thatcher Demko], how excited we were when we told them,” said head coach Rick Tocchet said of the reaction from his leadership group.
Hughes was picked to be captain last week, before our exclusive interview with him, after a lunch with Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini and others. The star defenceman had his parents in town, who got to share in the experience.
“Francesco and his family took us to lunch last week, Jim and Patrik, with Quinn and his family,” Tocchet said. “Trying to just talk about values and principles that they believe in. So that was kind of the start of naming the captain after that lunch.
“It was a great lunch and a great day.”
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