Canucks: 3 takeaways from Quinn Hughes’ rookie season

Quinn Hughes has become one of the NHL’s best blueliners. Here are three takeaways from his astonishing rookie campaign with the Vancouver Canucks.

Quinn Hughes revolutionized the blueline for the Vancouver Canucks this season. That is a fact. The 20-year-old American from Orlando, Florida is the greatest thing to happen to the Canucks since pretty much ever, and his consistently impressive rookie campaign was just the beginning of his reign of dominance as one of the NHL’s best young defensemen.

In 50 years, the Canucks have never had a blueliner that can wheel and deal with the puck as well as Hughes. His 53 points (eight goals, 45 assists) were the most of any rookie in the NHL this season, and more impressively, he finished tied for fourth in scoring amongst all blueliners in the league. He effortlessly outperformed and outscored big-name defenders including Erik Karlsson, Drew Doughty, and Rasmus Dahlin.

Hughes’ maturity in the defensive end proved to be miles beyond his years, and quickly without skipping a beat he became responsible for shutting down the best players in the world. At the other end of the ice, Quinn was an absolute magician quarterbacking the man-advantage and racking up points.

In a season filled with Rookie of the Month awards, All-Star Game appearances, and comparisons to the great defenders of the past, it’s difficult to narrow down his list of great accomplishments to just three. Without further ado, here are my three most important takeaways from his remarkable rookie campaign.

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.