Quinn Hughes needs a partner but will it take a Canucks committee?

@Canucks/X

Cole McWard played with Quinn Hughes Wednesday in Edmonton.

Now, the college free-agent, a rookie, has almost no chance of being on the team’s top defensive pair come the regular season, so what the heck are Rick Tocchet and Adam Foote doing here?

The answer may be simple: Quinn and Company.

Outside of Filip Hronek, whom the coaches want to anchor his own pair, the Canucks don’t have a top-pair worthy right-handed defenceman on the roster.

Noah Juulsen ain’t it. Ditto McWard. And we know Tyler Myers can’t handle that smoke.

It would seem like one of the two lefty free agents signed this summer, either Ian Cole or Carson Soucy, will get mighty run with Hughes on their off-side. And, extrapolating from there, it is likely that many Canucks defencemen will find themselves alongside Hughes as this season goes forward.

You might also like:

Did Canucks' Elias Pettersson get really good at faceoffs all of a sudden?

Hughes is still so far and away the Canucks’ best defenceman, that this season may not deliver him the every-night partner that he ultimately needs.

Could be that his future partner is playing for the Boston University Terriers this season, and we’ll see when (or if?) Tom Willander is ready for that assignment, possibly as soon as late this season, or next. Even then, that’s aggressive.

Until then, it could very well be Quinn and Committee. And that says something about where the Canucks’ roster project stands.

Not done yet.