Team

Betting

CanucksArmy has no direct affiliation to the Vancouver Canucks, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA

Former Canucks captain Quinn Hughes speaks ahead of return to Vancouver

Photo credit: Nick Wosika for IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

By Jacob Fraser

Oct 24, 2026, 21:56 EDT

Comments

Quinn Hughes and the Minnesota Wild are coming to town tomorrow night for Hughes’ return to Vancouver to take on his former Canucks for the first time since last season’s trade. Ahead of tomorrow’s matchup, the Wild are in Seattle playing the Kraken tonight on the first of a back-to-back.

Earlier today, the former Canucks captain met with media in Seattle. Normally, the focus would be on tonight’s game with the Kraken. However, given that it will be Hughes first time back in Vancouver since the trade, it became the major talking point in his media availability.

Hughes was asked what excites him about his return to Vancouver, to which he said, “Honestly, I think that I’ve gotten really good over the years just staying, day to day. So obviously, with Seattle today and dropping the game in Calgary, focused on tonight. But as far as Vancouver and tomorrow comes, I’m sure it’ll feel more real, and the emotions will hit for sure.”

In an interview with Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre and a couple of other print reporters in Seattle on Saturday, Hughes spoke about how grateful he is for his time in Vancouver, and expanded in an answer about how he might be received on Sunday night. Of course, Hughes’s longtime friend and Team USA teammate Brady Tkachuk heard plenty from Ottawa Senators fans in his return to Ottawa earlier this week.

“I think that part of the reason I love Vancouver is the passion, and I don’t take anything personal. How I’m received tomorrow won’t affect how I feel about Vancouver tomorrow, the next day, or five years down the line. Like, I just feel gratitude, and one night … won’t affect 6 ½ years of how I enjoyed that place.”

“I was really lucky to start my career there, and just being [in] a Canadian market was a really special thing for me, and I’m very grateful for the opportunity. Six and a half years there, a lot of the reasons I’m the person I am and the player I am is because of the experiences I had in Vancouver, and the organization was always amazing with me, starting with ownership and Jim Rutherford, Jim Benning, all the coaches I’ve had there, my teammates. A lot of people there allowed me to flourish and grow, and however I’m going to be received tomorrow, [I’ll] always look back and be grateful and appreciative of the experiences I [had].

Hughes likened playing for the Canucks to playing for the Yankees, citing that the Canucks are the main focus in Vancouver thanks to them being the only “Big Four” team in the city.

When talking about how he wants to be remembered for his time as a Canuck, Hughes said in the scrum, “I feel like at this point a little bit of that’s out of my control. I mean, you know, I play for the Wild now, and, you know, how I’m remembered is how I’m going to be remembered. I felt like I gave it my all, you know, played some really good hockey there, and yeah, that’s what I’d say about that.”

Hughes said that because of the Wild playing back-to-back games, he won’t get a chance to his former teammates ahead of game time, but he’s excited to see some of them after the game.

One thing Hughes wanted to set the record straight on in his interview with MacIntyre: He never quit on Vancouver.

“The one thing I would say is that sometimes I’ll see [people claim] that I wasn’t trying at the end or whatnot. Like, I was playing 30 minutes a night. I was doing everything I could. The only thing you could say is I probably pushed too hard. So if you want to say that, I’m good with that. But anyone that says I gave up or wasn’t trying, you know, I’m a 5-10, 175-pound defenceman; I didn’t get here because of my lack of competitiveness. Personally, I gave it everything I had.”

Although the big story is the return of Hughes to Vancouver, this will also be Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, and Liam Öhgren’s first chance to play their former team in front of a Vancouver home crowd.

Puck drop is set for 7:00 PM on Sunday. Be sure to tune in to a special pre-game edition of West Coast Conversation before tomorrow’s game on the DFO Vancouver YouTube Channel, and as always, be sure to check out the Rink Wide post-game show once the game’s over.