Quinn Hughes could be back for Vancouver Canucks sooner than expected
The last thing the Vancouver Canucks needed was another injury to Quinn Hughes.
Unfortunately, on Thursday, Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy reported that the Canucks captain was listed as day-to-day after missing practice.
On Friday, Foote gave Canucks fans a good news update, saying that Hughes would be a game-time decision for the team’s contest against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Hughes was also on the ice Friday morning in Carolina for an optional skate. His health status came into question after he got tangled up with Mark Scheifele in Tuesday’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets.
Quinn Hughes taking part in #canucks optional skate at Lenovo Arena ahead of game vs Hurricanes. pic.twitter.com/PM4sWjsZbE
— Dan Murphy (@sportsnetmurph) November 14, 2025
Vancouver also faces off against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers on this road trip, before returning home to face the Dallas Stars.
Even though the Canucks went 1-2-1 on their recent four-game homestand, Foote expressed confidence that his team was trending in the right direction.
“I just looked at our analytics in the last five games, we’re up in the five teams in scoring chances, expected goals and defensively.”
Foote’s partially right, according to Natural Stat Trick. Over their last five games, the Canucks are actually tops in the NHL with 3.5 expected goals per 60.
Defensively, however, the Canucks are still showing their warts. They’ve allowed 3.1 expected goals per 60 at even strength over this latest five-game stretch, which ranks 30th overall in the league.
“We just have to have a good mindset going through the injuries and the noise out there that it’s working,” Foote said. “We just have to make sure that we work on things, like defensively or on the PK, make sure we clean that up.”
Even though the production hasn’t been there, Foote is confident that his team is playing the right way.
“We’re giving teams fits right now when we get out of our zone quickly and get in on that forecheck, and our offence is working,” he said.
“We just completely outmatched our teams five on five,” he said. “On their special teams, [the opposition] got more results.”
“Our PK has got to be better, but we played some good teams,” Foote said. “We were pretty good defensively, and we outchanced them offensively as well.”
The Canucks decisively won the five-on-five scoring chance battle against the Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, and Winnipeg Jets on their recent homestand. In contrast, their games against the Colorado Avalanche were near a 50/50 split.
Vancouver also lost the scoring chance battle to the Nashville Predators back on Nov. 3; however, they played a solid 40 minutes before collapsing in the third period.
They’ve been too permissive defensively over their last five games, and for the season as a whole. However, the penalty kill has been the primary issue. They’ve allowed seven power play goals on 15 penalty kills over their last five games, for a ghastly 53.5 per cent “success” rate.