Quinn Hughes will never be the biggest player in the National Hockey League, but there is no question the captain of the Vancouver Canucks has a stature in the hockey world that dwarfs most of his peers. Already this year, Hughes has won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s top defenceman, was named one of the first six players to Team USA for February’s 4 Nations Face-Off, was the focus of an Amazon television production, became a cover boy along with his brothers for EA Sports NHL 25, and later this week, Hughes will represent the Canucks at the NHL’s North American media tour in Las Vegas.
In other words, he’s a hot commodity and in great demand these days. It comes with the territory of bursting into NHL super stardom.
On Monday, Hughes met the media ahead of the team’s annual Jake Milford golf tournament at Northview Golf and Country Club in Surrey. And what was readily apparent was just how comfortable Hughes has become as one of the faces of the league.
“Yeah, there are a lot of cool opportunities that have come forth in the last couple of months,” Hughes said. “It was really cool to grace the EA cover with my brothers. USA Hockey, that’s going to be a really special event this year.”
Hughes flew into Vancouver from his off-season home in Michigan over the weekend. It would have been easy for him to go directly to Las Vegas later this week before reporting to the Canucks ahead of training camp.
But Monday was another indication of his heightened status in the hockey world – and how he ‘gets it’. Hughes understands the Milford is one of the Canucks top fundraisers each year attended by season ticket members and others in the community who pay top dollar to take part in the event. They want to spend the day in the presence of the Canucks best players. And Hughes is most certainly in that mix.
So he spent Monday mingling with fans and supporters and then was scheduled to head to Sin City at the league’s request.
On the surface, it may seem getting pulled in a bunch of different directions the week ahead of training camp would be a huge distraction. But through his years in the NHL, the soon to be 25-year-old has learned how to focus, maximize his training time and deal with the demands that come with the job.
And make no mistake, those demands arise because of the brilliance Hughes displays every time he steps on the ice.
“I think it’s my fourth year going to Vegas and it’s just an honour for the league to want you there,” he explained. “I think my brother Jack has been there four years in a row, too. It’s a good thing. If you’re going there it means you’re doing the right things. But at the same time, the important thing is me being in the best possible shape at camp and putting all this other stuff aside.”
Hughes expressed excitement about the season ahead and trying to find ways to build off the 17-goals and 92-points he racked up last season. This will be his sixth full NHL season after breaking into the league at the tail end of the 2018-19 campaign.
He likes the additions the Canucks have made to the roster and thinks the players that were here last season will all be better for the experience of pushing Edmonton to a seventh game in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
That should serve as a baseline for both he and the hockey club to push to go further in the post-season next spring.
“I played 98 games last year and I didn’t miss a game, so I think I have a format of what I need to be successful, how you need to sleep and eat and train and I have the blueprint so I just have to continue to do it,” he said. “I have to try to build on my game, what I can do better. In the playoffs, I didn’t hate my game, I liked my game, but it would have been nice to score a goal or change the direction of a game when I needed to. So that’s something I focussed on this summer and we’ll see if I can do it this year.”
Grounded and humble, Quinn Hughes seems to have found his sweet spot between pushing the limits of what’s possible for an NHL defenceman and the attention that comes with the challenge.
In his brief time in the NHL, Hughes has developed into a thoughtful, articulate interview subject who has found an ability to deftly stickhandle the spokesperson role the way he sidesteps opponents as he rushes with the puck.
With his greatness, he has attracted an increasingly bright spotlight. But Quinn Hughes is showing both on and off the ice, he’s ready for his role as one of the NHL’s leading men.
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