Canucks: Quinn Hughes will dominate next season
The Vancouver Canucks have an elite defender in Quinn Hughes and he should continue to dominate next season as part of a new-look blueline.
Quinn Hughes was phenomenal for the Vancouver Canucks during his rookie season and there is no reason to believe that he won’t continue his reign of dominance. Playing under a new-look defence in 2021, the sky is the limit for Hughes and his sophomore campaign.
The exceptionally smooth-skating defender was confident in his abilities from the very beginning, and that led to an overly exciting rookie performance where he led all NHL rookies with 53 points (eight goals, 45 assists). He proved to have the natural instinct to always be defensively sound and he carried with him an incredible ability to create offence out of nowhere.
Now back for a second season, Hughes knows just where he ranks amongst the NHL’s best blueliners and the confidence he gained from a successful playoff experience should only push him to do bigger and better things. He’s clearly the Canucks top dog on defence and he’ll shoulder an even heavier load from now on.
Alex Edler isn’t getting any younger, and with the “dad” of the team, Chris Tanev having moved on with the Calgary Flames, it’s time for Hughes to become a more responsible mentor figure for the youthful defenders trying to make the jump into becoming NHL regulars. I know he’s only 21 years of age, but he plays like he’s been in the league for years.
He’ll be pairing up with a new partner next season and it’s likely to be one of Tyler Myers or Nate Schmidt. From what people saw last year, Myers brings an offensive edge to the right side with Hughes that can be successful under the right circumstance. But Schmidt looks to be a faster and smoother option that could potentially help Hughes unlock a new level of offensive output.
Put together the fact that Hughes is the power play quarterback of one of the league’s top man-advantage units and pair it with the idea of him being partnered with a linemate as good as Schmidt for an entire season, and a Norris Trophy nomination shouldn’t be out of the question.
Of course, things would have to go rather smoothly in order for that to happen, but Hughes has proved he has what it takes to compete with the world’s greatest hockey players night in and night out. If you don’t believe that, just look at what he accomplished in a single season of professional hockey.
He was a Calder finalist who actually led all rookies in scoring, he made an NHL All-Star appearance, he scored the most points of any NHL defender in 2020 after the month of January, and he broke the NHL record for most points by a rookie defender in the playoffs.
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The rest of the league better watch out. Hughes will look to fire out of a cannon when the puck drops to start the NHL season in 2021.