Ahead of his first matchup against his old team, Minnesota Wild defenceman and ex-Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes says he’s not really sure what to expect tonight.

Speaking to assembled media in Minnesota on Thursday morning, Hughes spoke about how he’s feeling ahead of tonight’s contest.

“I don’t know, I just feel like you’re so day-to-day and the season’s flown by and so much has happened that you don’t even really think about it until it’s here. So, probably won’t feel real till, not even warmups, probably the game.”

Hughes agreed with the idea that it will be more emotions associated with the game when he returns to Vancouver for the first time at some point next season.

“I think it’s just been such a long year. Like, you don’t even process, like, a lot’s happened. You don’t even process everything that’s going on, and you’re just playing, and at the end of the summer, you can kind of reflect and look back on what the year was like.”

One experience Hughes does compare playing his old Canucks teammates to is one he’s now more than familiar with: playing against his brothers Jack and Luke.

“You get so close to these guys, and you play them in practice every day, and I don’t know, like, obviously playing my brothers, that’s weird too, and I feel like I’m kind of used to scenarios like this.”

The Canucks traded Hughes to the Wild back in December in a trade that fetched the Canucks defenceman Zeev Buium, forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren, along with Minnesota’s first round selection in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft.

We’ve dubbed it “Hughes Week” at CanucksArmy this week in anticipation for tonight’s game. Check out our Hughes Week content below!

And of course, check out today’s game preview by clicking here.