Canucks: 3 takeaways from Quinn Hughes’ rookie season

He deserves to win the Calder Trophy

The race to crown a 2019-20 Calder Trophy winner has been more or less of a two-horse sprint to the finish line. Pitting two of the NHL’s top-talented young blueliners against one another, either the Colorado Avalanche’s Cale Makar or the Canucks’ very own, Hughes will win the award.

Both rookie skaters played big minutes for their clubs this season and both players finished the year placed first and second in rookie scoring respectively. The shortened campaign resulted in Hughes (53) finishing with three more points than Makar (50), but he played 11 more games.

Don’t get me wrong, both players are offensive juggernauts, but that’s not even the best part. Each of them was able to flip the script and change the narrative for their home team in a positive way, speeding up their overall team development. Makar solidified Colorado as a powerhouse in the Central Division, and Hughes catapulted Vancouver into a play-in series versus the Wild.  Hughes and Makar were 100% game-changers for their clubs and will continue to be for a long, long time.

Hughes plays a complete control game with the puck, but away from it, he’s nearly the perfect defender positionally.  He’s an incredible split-decision maker and he can shut down the league’s best players in the blink of an eye. He never coughs up the puck, and he’s second to nobody when it comes to getting the puck out of the defensive zone and skating with it up the ice.

Arguably, Hughes would be a shoo-in for the award in any other season, but a lot like the rookie season of Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby of 2005-06, there can only be one crowned winner. Both superstars deserve the award, but in my opinion, it should be Hughes that edges Makar for the honors when all is said and done.

His points per game production may have been slightly lower than Makar, but Hughes moved the needle in a positive direction while staying healthy and remaining a key factor to the team’s fight for a playoff berth. Believe it or not, but that goes a long way in voting.

He was the only player of the two to make the All-Star Game and to top it all off, since the beginning of 2020 he’s scored more points than any other defender in the National Hockey League. That’s not just outscoring another rookie, that’s being the very best. Simply incredible.

He was MVP of the Canucks this year

Honestly, there were three players on the Canucks this year that could be considered the MVP. Jacob Markstrom, Elias Pettersson, and Hughes were all phenomenal in their own way and it’s really difficult to pick just one. But for argument’s sake, let’s dive into why Hughes deserves the honor.

As a rookie, Hughes walked into Vancouver and instantly took over the blueline. In fact, in 50 years of existence in the NHL, the Canucks blueline has never possessed someone as insanely gifted as the shifty defender. His possession numbers were off the chart impressive, and Vancouver really benefitted each and every time he was on the ice. He was the team’s best option on defense at both ends of the ice and he was excellent at controlling play at five-on-five.

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Point production would have taken a dip this year if it weren’t for the helping hand lent by Hughes. And to be quite frank, it wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining of a season. The kid was born with a natural God-given ability to walk the line and create scoring chances. Every time he touched the puck you’d be caught wide-eyed and jaw-dropped just waiting for him to pull off something special from the blade of his stick.

Not once did he shy away from carrying the puck this year. He loved having that puck on his tape. Retrieving and maintaining possession is one of his stronger assets, we’re talking about one of the greatest possession defenders to ever wear a blue and green jersey in Vancouver. That’s how good he is. Despite his smaller size, you might be surprised at first but there’s no getting it back once he’s got ahold of it.

Size and stature was a big question mark for Hughes coming into this season as nobody knew how his college experience would translate to the long schedule of the NHL. However, he proved the doubters wrong and surprisingly cranked up his production stepping up to be the man to help carry the defense down the stretch. He only grew more confident are more productive as the year went on.

He’s a magician on the power play

Canucks fans never knew what it was like to have a true power play quarterback until this year. And now, Vancouver possesses arguably one of the best man-advantage specialists from across the entire 31-team league. Seriously, Hughes was nothing short of spectacular on the power play.

Nobody can deny the impact that Hughes has had on the Canucks’ power play, which becomes apparent when you look at the league leaders in power play points. He tallied 25 points this year while the Canucks were up a man. That’s enough for first place amongst all Vancouver players, third place in all NHL defenders, and tied for 12th across the league. Let that sink in for a minute.

He was the best player on the ice when Vancouver had a power play, but that didn’t stop him from also making sure he improved the game of each and every player around him. His chemistry with J.T. Miller tied the two teammates for most power play points, he often received the primary assist of a Pettersson one-timer, and his loose rebounds often helped Bo Horvat score and lead the man-advantage in goals.

He took an inconsistent power play and turned it into a very consistent top-five threat that held onto the fourth-best position for the majority of the year. He’s impossible to knock off the puck, and he’s the only Canuck capable of a proper double shift. He’s Vancouver’s power play king.