On Monday’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal dove into the Norris Trophy race and whether Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes can still stay in the conversation after dealing with injuries and the club’s recent struggles.
Just a few weeks ago, Hughes was widely considered a frontrunner for the Norris and was even getting early Hart Trophy buzz for his incredible season. Fast forward a month, and a combination of nagging injuries, 10 missed games, and the Canucks’ slide in the standings may have dropped him behind Columbus’ Zach Werenski and Colorado’s Cale Makar in the race for the NHL’s top defenceman award.
Harm pointed out that the biggest factor working against Hughes is simply his availability down the stretch.
“First off, he’s still hurt, and Tocchet said he was day-to-day, but how often does that turn into more time? Second, whenever he does return, there’s a re-injury risk; he was back for three games and got hurt again. Third, the version of Quinn we saw playing through injury was nowhere near Norris-calibre, which isn’t a knock on him at all, but he’s playing so banged up that it impacts his performance.
“The most likely scenario is that Werenski and Makar are going to gain a decisive edge on him in this race, and he’ll be left as the third guy—still a finalist—but behind because of the games missed and uncertainty over which version of him we get down the stretch. Especially if Werenski drags the Blue Jackets into the playoffs, we’re not even just talking about him in the Norris race, we’re talking about him somewhere on the Hart ballot. Columbus doesn’t look like it’s going to fade from the playoff race, they’re only getting stronger, so at this point, I’d say Werenski is the favourite.”
Werenski has been the driving force behind the Blue Jackets’ unexpected playoff push, and his impact on Columbus’ success could push him over the edge in voters’ minds.
“The Jackets’ season to this point has been all because of Werenski—he’s had such a great impact on them all season long,” Quads noted.
Despite this, Hughes still has statistical arguments in his favour.
“It’s worth mentioning that Hughes still leads all defencemen in points per game, at a higher rate than both Makar and Werenski, but there is going to be a point where games played matter. That’s hurt Cale Makar in the past when he missed time. It’s a shame because it’s still a really good season for Hughes, so it sucks to see him fall out of the race a bit.”
While Hughes has been the backbone of the Canucks this season, his ability to re-enter the race depends on whether he can return and stay healthy for the final stretch.
“He deserves it because he put this Canucks team on his back,” said Harm. “I’m not writing him off—there’s still a scenario where he comes back and lights it up down the stretch, and it’s close enough to where he still gets first-place Norris votes. But I worry about his physical health at this point. He looked restricted when he was back, got hurt again, and now he’s out of the lineup, so I just don’t have a lot of confidence over the last 20 games or so that he’s going to be able to keep pace with Werenski and Makar.”
The Norris Trophy race is still far from decided, but if Hughes is going to stay in the mix, he’ll need to return soon and finish the season at full strength. Otherwise, it’s becoming more likely that Werenski or Makar will take home the award.
You can watch the full replay of today’s show below:
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