Time for Quinn Hughes to solidify himself as the best blueliner in hockey
Few defensemen are more fun to watch right now than Quinn Hughes, whose 62 points in 49 contests have him on pace for over 100 points. You don’t see this occur often from defensemen, and if Hughes hasn’t already solidified himself as the best in the game, hitting triple-digits in production will.
And if you look at his last five games leading up to the All-Star Break, the blueliner has been outstanding, with 10 points, and nine assists. Like Hronek, Hughes knows where to go with the puck, regardless if he’s playing at even strength or on the man advantage. His shooting percentage is an ultra-healthy 10.2 percent, and he’s on pace to hit the 200 shots on goal mark, which opponents have yet to figure out how to stop most of the time.
But Hughes isn’t just doing all the work himself, as we see with Vancouver’s 14.5 shooting percentage when he’s on the ice at 5-on-5. While he’s not the most physical player nor one to consistently get in the way of pucks, he’s no liability when the Canucks don’t have possession, with the team boasting a 92.0 save percentage in the same situation.