It sure looks like Quinn Hughes will be the next Vancouver Canucks captain

There seems to be some smoke here, folks.

On Friday morning’s edition of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek talked briefly about the prospect of the Vancouver Canucks naming a captain this season, and Friedman named Quinn Hughes as the favourite to be given the C.

“I got to tell you, the money is on Quinn Hughes to be captain of the Vancouver Canucks,” said Friedman. “I like it. I think Hughes really cares. To me, your captain has to care, like really care, and I think that guy really cares.”

Additionally, Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie and Dhali — The Team said on Thursday’s episode that more and more people have mentioned to him that Hughes will be named captain. On Friday, Dhaliwal did a morning hit with Halford and Brough on Sportsnet 650, and doubled down on his report, this time with more certainty.

“I told you guys last week that I’m starting to hear Quinn Hughes for captain, and then yesterday on Donnie and Dhali I said it again, that I’m getting a lot of feedback, a lot of guys texting me that Quinn is going to be captain,” said Dhaliwal. “And then Elliotte dropped it this morning, so it does look like it’s going to be Quinn Hughes. You can’t give it to Elias [Pettersson], his contract situation is just too much in the air, you don’t know if he’s going to be here in a year or two… it looks like the Canucks are heading in that direction [with Hughes].”

Bo Horvat last served as Canucks captain from the beginning of the 2019-20 season up until his trade to the New York Islanders ahead of last year’s trade deadline.

Down the final stretch of last season, Rick Tocchet was asked multiple times about the idea of naming Hughes captain, and was impressed that Hughes elected to take the mic and speak to the fans in attendance at Rogers Arena on behalf of his teammates during the Canucks’ final home game last season. Tocchet said late last season that Hughes has “all of the qualities” to be a captain, and during an appearance on the Missin’ Curfew podcast this offseason, Tocchet said of Hughes: “He’s projecting to that level. I don’t know what I’m going to do yet…Huggy has really kind of made that trajectory to be a captain.”

Because of Tocchet’s repeated praise for Hughes’s leadership, this rumour doesn’t exactly come as much of a surprise.

How do you feel about the Canucks potentially naming Quinn Hughes their new captain? Do you think the club should name a captain at all? Let us know in the comments section below!