Quinn Hughes is about to pass three Canucks legends in all-time scoring

The Vancouver Canucks haven’t exactly been blessed with a long list of elite defencemen in their 54-year history.

They’ve never had a Norris Trophy finalist, though that promises to change this year with Quinn Hughes. The Canucks captain is already the best defenceman in franchise history, and he’s skyrocketing up the all-time scoring list, in a fraction of games that others around him needed.

The 24-year-old blueliner has already passed the likes of Ed Jovanovski, Sami Salo, Kevin Bieksa, and Doug Lidster on the all-time franchise scoring list, in far fewer games. Now ranked fifth in all-time defenceman scoring, Hughes has three more Canucks legends in his sight.

Hughes is just three points back of both Dennis Kearns and Jyrki Lumme, and seven back of Mattias Ohlund. In the case of Ohlund, who is a member of the Canucks’ Ring of Honour, Hughes has played less than half as many games.

Quinn Hughes is moving up the Canucks’ all-time defenceman scoring list (NHL.com)

It’s a remarkable run for Hughes, who should pass Alex Edler for first place in all-time defence scoring by next season.

But with Hughes, we shouldn’t limit him to just the defenceman scoring list. He’s currently 27th in all-time Canucks scoring, and should pass Cliff Ronning for 23rd all-time by the end of the season. Hughes should crack the top 10 in Canucks scoring in the next two seasons, passing the likes of Alex Burrows, Brendan Morrison, Ryan Kesler, and Bo Horvat along the way.

Hughes already holds the single-season record for points by a Canucks defenceman. He first set the record in 2021-22 with 68 points, and broke his own record in each of the last two seasons.

With 77 points and counting this season, Hughes appears poised to become the first Canucks blueliner to score at better than a point-per-game average, which is something reserved for elite forwards.

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