Losers of two straight, the Vancouver Canucks are in desperate need of everything and anything that can keep them in the playoff race.
With the Calgary Flames winning their most recent game, a 3-1 triumph over Washington on Tuesday night, the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference no longer belongs to the Canucks. And, if the Canucks continue to struggle with producing offence and staying healthy, they will miss the playoffs once again.
Canucks captain Quinn Hughes, who has not played a game for Vancouver since Jan. 31 and missed the 4 Nations Face-Off entirely, is apparently nearing his return.
After practicing on multiple occasions last week, Hughes again practiced with his Canucks teammates Tuesday morning, albeit still starting a little bit later than everyone else.
Hughes has now joined the group, but didn’t participate in initial drills and is skating at the same end as #Canucks goaltenders. pic.twitter.com/2ZK2rGkXEf
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) February 25, 2025
Thomas Drance of The Athletic noted Tuesday morning that Hughes was skating on his own with the Canucks' goalies before eventually joining for line rushes and the rest of practice. The 25-year-old assumed his usual position on the top defence pairing alongside Filip Hronek with Marcus Pettersson, Tyler Myers, Carson Soucy, and Victor Mancini filing in behind them. Rookie Elias Pettersson and veteran Derek Forbort comprised the extra defence pair at practice.
After observing Hughes for a while, Drance went as far as to say he believed Hughes was effectively a full participant in practice, which has not been an unusual occurrence in the last seven days.
To clarify now that I’ve seen 20 minutes or so of #Canucks practice, I’d describe Quinn Hughes as a full participant.
— Thomas Drance (@ThomasDrance) February 25, 2025
Came out late and skipped the first drill while warming up, but has been an involved participant - and not evidently limited - since.
So far, Hughes has missed two games since the end of the 4 Nations break - 3-1 and 2-1 losses to Vegas and Utah that saw the Canucks score a combined two goals. Hope is slowly dwindling away for Elias Pettersson, so the Canucks are likely only going as far as Hughes can take them this season.
That task only gets harder with his injuries, Pettersson's struggles, no J.T. Miller, and a banged up Thatcher Demko. Now we wait and see if Hughes dons his Superman cape for Wednesday night's pivotal matchup with Los Angeles.