VANCOUVER — It’s not in his nature to duck, but Quinn Hughes couldn’t hide even if he wanted to.
Not only is he one of the best hockey players in the world, he is the captain of the Vancouver Canucks. In Canada. Hughes’ future beyond this season is also one of the most compelling and gossipy storylines in the National Hockey League.
And if that doesn’t saddle him with enough attention, Hughes plays more than anyone else in the league (27:25 average ice time) and usually has the puck more than anyone else, too.
So, no, he is not hiding.
Watch Hughes closely enough during games and you will see times when the defenceman is angry or frustrated or — as happened in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the unstoppable Colorado Avalanche — 10 seconds near the end of a 95-second shift when he coasts on a backcheck and does a fly-by past his net after the Canucks turned the puck over in a neutral zone when Hughes was open on a dash up right wing.
Mostly, of course, you see the best player in Canucks history, one of the two best defencemen in hockey, carving circles around opponents and making plays with the puck that are simply beyond most humans.
That’s what people in Vancouver have been watching the last six years. Which makes it a little surprising how much attention Hughes’ 10 lazy (or exhausted) seconds in Denver received on social media. The clip went viral while hardly anyone remembered Hughes breaking Avalanche defenceman Sam Malinski’s ankles with a cutback in the offensive zone.
Positive body language is important. It’s as important for Hughes as it was for J.T. Miller a couple of years ago when the ex-Canuck’s every expletive and stick slam was being micro-analyzed in Canucks Nation.
Hughes is the captain, after all. He needs to set an example.
But no one should be surprised — or outraged — that the 26-year-old captain is showing glimpses of frustration amid a 10-14-3 start to a season that has been deeply disappointing to a Canucks organization that badly wanted to return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, partly as an enticement for Hughes to stay.
“I mean, of course,” Hughes said Thursday when asked if he gets frustrated. “You know, I feel like I’ve seen pretty much everything under the sun here, good and bad. You want to win, and losing sucks. And I mean, I know everyone in here feels that way, including the coaching staff. No one’s probably more competitive than Adam Foote. Just got to … (be) something I continue to get better at.
“I mean, obviously, we’re not in the position we want to be in.”
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Hughes knew the spotlight would be unrelenting when he accepted the captaincy a little more than two years ago.
Henrik Sedin was criticized as soft. Markus Naslund wasn’t emotional enough. Trevor Linden frowned too much and sometimes displayed a whiny face. These “issues” were thoroughly and seriously discussed in the market. And the jerseys of all three of those former Canuck captains hang from the ceiling beams inside Rogers Arena.
And now Hughes is frustrated.
“Yeah, we talk about it,” Canucks coach Adam Foote told reporters. “Quinn’s strength … is he wants to win so bad, and he knows he can make every play. He’s still young and, you know, he’ll be the first to tell you that he’s learning that when he’s tired or had long shifts, maybe not to push. The beauty is he believes he can get it done. But yeah, he’s a guy that probably has shown frustration here and there. We’ve had discussions about it and, you know, he owns his own stuff. That’s him still growing and learning.
“He’s in a hard market, right? We’re in Canada. He’s aware of all that, and he takes that in stride. I don’t see him getting too rattled at that.”
Foote said Hughes gets lots of leadership support from teammates.
“There are guys that are doing that and, you know, supporting him or supporting the team,” he said. “I’ll give the guys a lot of credit; there’s a lot of accountability in our room. I don’t want to name names, but the first guy that comes to my mind is a guy like Fil (Hronek). He’s that guy.
“Fil has been there, solid as a leader for not just Quinn, but the team. And you know, a guy like Marcus (Pettersson) and Mysie (Tyler Myers) … and there’s other guys. Boes (Brock Boeser) has been really good. He’s staying so positive. Because there’s good things happening … (but) we still have to win those games, right? But Boes has been great and holding guys accountable his way. There’s lots of support.”
Myers, who joined the Canucks in 2019 at the start of Hughes’ rookie season, said there was always going to be more extra attention on the captain this season.
“I think he’s handling it very well,” the 1,100-game NHL veteran said. “I talk to Huggy all the time; he doesn’t need to worry about anything. He can just go out on the ice and do his thing. Honestly, I don’t even know how much talk (there is), but if there’s a lot of talk about it, it’s way too early for it. But overall, I think he’s handling it well. I know it can be tough sometimes, but he’s working.
“Boes and I were just talking about this the other day. Guys do a pretty good job of staying positive. You know, we’ve gone through quite a bit of adversity here the first 25 games. But all you can do is look at the next day, starting with practice days. Find a way to get better today (and) get better as an individual and as a team. Yeah, there’s going to be times where some negativity slips through with any player or any team. But, you know, you squash it pretty quick, and you get back out there, and you keep trying to get better every day.”
Hughes’ shift on Tuesday that set off some in the media and many in the fan base was part of a third period that saw the Canucks’ best player log 11:02 of time on ice. He finished with 29:33, which was only his fifth-most TOI this season.
“Yeah, I get tired, for sure,” Hughes said. “There’s definitely moments in games where, you know, I’m breaking out pucks, I’m transporting pucks to the neutral zone, I’m doing my thing in the O-zone … (and) trying to create scoring chances for our team. And that’s hard to do for half the game. I’m not perfect, not Superman. But I can always strive to be better.”
ICE CHIPS – Key winger Conor Garland, who flew home Monday from the Canucks road trip with an undisclosed injury, practised Thursday in a non-contact jersey and could play Friday’s home game against the Utah Mammoth. “We’ll figure it out tomorrow morning, but he had a really good day,” Foote said. “He’s tough, he wants to play.” … Thatcher Demko, out since injuring his groin on Nov. 11, was also on the ice with teammates, and Foote said the final game of the homestand, Dec. 11 versus the Buffalo Sabres, is a target for the goalie’s return.
HOW THE CANUCKS PRACTISED
DeBrusk-Pettersson-Karlsson
O’Connor-Kampf-Sherwood
Extras: Reichel, Hoglander