The Quinn Hughes era in Vancouver officially ended on Friday night with news that the Canucks captain had been dealt to the Minnesota Wild. My initial reaction to this trade was a sense of relief because I didn’t know how many more media scrums I could take watching Quinn Hughes so clearly wanting to be anywhere but here. After going through the drama of last season between Elias Pettersson and JT Miller, and then having the prospect of the Quinn Hughes situation hanging over the team for the rest of this year, there is a certain level of solace to be had that this issue has been put to bed early.

It’s all rather depressing, because sports are about escapism at the end of the day. It lets you live out fantasies, of watching your own personal gladiators battling on your behalf, cutting off heads and asking if you are not entertained. That’s what sports are for, they take you away from the mundane world you often find yourself mired in. Sure, you might have been stuck all day trying to file that TPS report for your boss, but at least you can head home for the weekend and see if chonky Phillip Rivers has some gas left in the tank to throw a couple of tuddies. Sports shouldn’t feel like a family dinner during the holidays, where there is an awkward feeling hanging in the air as everyone waits to see if Uncle Jim brings up politics again while carving the turkey, which is where this team has found itself for almost two years now.

Remember when the Canucks pretended the JT Miller and EP40 issues weren’t a big deal? Then by the time the season was half over, Miller was asking the media if they wanted him to bring out Elias so they could both answer questions, and we were all kind of like “well, I mean, yeah, that would actually help clarify things,” but he never did it? It was the height of intense family drama, as if two siblings were arguing over who should get the house in the will; you just knew nobody was going to be walking away happy. It was awful. They hated it. You hated it. It’s honestly hard to remember something like this taking down an entire season in any sport, let alone the NHL.

So when this season rolled around, and we had a seemingly checked-out Quinn Hughes around the team, and we heard a lot of talk around “Well, hey, we sure hope to convince Quinn to stay by having a good season!”, it didn’t exactly fill you with confidence. “We hope our best player sticks around!” doesn’t exactly sell you on the future.

Which is why, in many ways, the Canucks being at the bottom of the standings should be seen as a blessing in disguise. If the Canucks were still floating around the playoff bubble, maybe they would have traded away more assets to try to show Quinn this is a place where he can win. Maybe the short-term planning beatings continue until morale improves.

But luckily, the team has stunk. Injuries didn’t go their way. PDO didn’t go their way. The “what if everything goes right?” plan failed. And so the Canucks found themselves stuck with only one option, which was get as much as they could for Quinn Hughes now and start a rebuild in earnest. Well, in as much earnest as this ownership group and management can get behind a rebuild.

Because the truth of the matter is, two management groups tried to build a contender around Quinn Hughes, and both of them failed to do so. The closest they got was the 2024 playoff run that ended in the second round against Edmonton, and even that was fueled heavily by a “what if everything goes right?” run of PDO and health. And despite what Gary Mason would like to have you believe, nobody thought that was the start of a glorious new era. A lot of pundits viewed that as the Canucks trying to set up a small window of success for a Quinn Hughes-led team, which was met with a “well, hey, fair enough, I guess” response.

Now, management would like to tell you that the JT Miller and EP40 drama derailed that window, and I agree to an extent. I think that situation robbed them of a playoff run, maybe two, if we’re being generous. I don’t think they’d have had the horses to win it all, but if you’re a big fan of “get in and see what happens,” maybe you’re content with that.

But the truth of the matter is that this team has been setting up for short-term success for well over a decade, and as a result, failed to surround the best defenceman they’ve ever had with a championship-calibre team. The very second they get a hint of success, it’s never been a moment for them to take stock of where they are; it’s just been go, go, go on all cylinders. Whether that’s in the form of raising ticket prices, or the team trying to sell assets to push for the playoffs, this team has lived and died by the idea that what if this is the single lottery ticket that wins it all. The fact this team never managed to build a contender around Quinn Hughes will forever be seen as a colossal failure, and rightfully so.

So at the end of the day, Quinn Hughes wanting to leave all this behind probably isn’t all that surprising. Having an organization running head-to-head with Buffalo for one of the worst in sports, along with the bottom of the rankings in team amenities, to go along with a team that just isn’t very good on the ice, that’s a hard sell. In a perfect world, every player would be at a Shane Doan level of loyalty, but as every Gary Bettman appearance reminds us, this is a business after all. If a player wants to control their career as much as possible and choose where to play, so be it. Maybe there’s a world in which the Canucks created an environment that Hughes would never have wanted to leave, but we’ll never know.

With Hughes’ departure, he leaves as the best Canucks defenceman they have ever had, no disrespect to Jiri Slegr. He also leaves as arguably the most skilled Canucks player ever, though I would happily watch people in a bar angrily scream about the Sedins vs Bure vs Hughes. I cannot tell you what a treat it was to watch him play hockey in this city, as it truly felt like you were watching a basketball player on ice at times, with his ability to break ankles and make drives from the blueline. The way he tilted the ice in the Canucks favour is something we’re not likely to see for a very long time in this town. I don’t doubt many fans are going to be upset that he’s gone, as he was the favourite of many a person in Vancouver, and rightfully so. The Canucks had never had an elite number one defenceman before Quinn Hughes, they’d always toyed with a 1B type guy, so it felt a little extra special when Hughes secured the Norris trophy.

What the Canucks haven’t lost, however, is someone who was all in on the city of Vancouver. I would clock it as early as last season that it felt like he was checked out on his future here, as that’s when we saw him getting more and more sullen in press conferences. His answers got shorter. His demeanour was that of someone who didn’t want to be there. Initially, it was defended as “oh, he just doesn’t like losing” and “well, scrums are stupid, you’re stupid, leave my son alone!” but it continued into this season to the point where we heard rumours of the team talking to him about how he presented himself to the media. It was clear pretty quickly that this was a real issue. In a perfect world, even if he had wanted out, he would have kept a stiff upper lip and said all the right things. Done his media scrums without glaring a hole in the carpet. Those little things that let you know the captain is handling his business in a normal fashion and does not actively dislike the market he is stuck in.

Perhaps Rutherford could have not mentioned, unprovoked, that Hughes might want to play with his brothers, that probably would have been neat. I imagine there are close to a hundred things everyone in this situation could have done better the last few years to keep the noise down, but alas.

It’s why this season has felt a bit shit, to be honest, because people aren’t stupid. You had a management group talking about how they didn’t know if Hughes was going to stay, and you had a player that looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but here. Don’t get me wrong, I think Hughes gave it his all on the ice, especially last season, in which his body was put together with duct tape, and he was still playing 30 minutes a night. But the vibe around this team has been absolute garbage since last season, yet ticket prices kept getting higher. You have an ownership and team of players that have never felt more removed from the community than they do now. It truly feels like rich people doing a job poorly, but how dare you question them?

Which is why my advice for management, for whatever tiny amount that it’s worth, is to take your time with this now. Find a way to reconnect to the community. Start building a team that buys into the city. Don’t look for the quick turnaround. Just start building up properly. If there is one thing Thomas Müller has showcased for this town, it’s how an athlete embracing the home they play in goes a long way to getting people to emotionally buy into something. You’ve now had three high-profile people quit on the team and quit on the fanbase, so if ever there was a time to build up morale, it would be now.

And hey! You love money! I know you do! So guess what gets people to buy tickets and merch? Emotional connections. This should make both sides happy.

The stiff corporate approach you take on everything? Kind of bizarre, to be honest, and only helps widen that divide between rich dudes doing stuff while us commoners watch from afar. It’s like you are ignoring the Luongo Principle. You didn’t learn the valuable lesson that Roberto taught about this market; humility and accountability go a long way with this fanbase.

Remember when Strombone first joined Vancouver? He was obviously shocked by the trade, and it felt like he wasn’t comfortable in the city, which, hey, fair enough, makes sense. He felt standoffish for the next couple of seasons, even combative at times when doing media. Until one day, people discovered he had a Twitter account. And then Luongo discovered they discovered he had a Twitter account. And then all of a sudden, he was making fun of himself. He was posting screenshots of getting beaten in a shootout and laughing about it. He was doing skits on TSN with Cory Schneider. He humanized himself and ended up becoming one of the most beloved athletes in Canucks history. Hell, he still runs a fantasy football league with some fans from Vancouver. Luongo got it at the end.

That’s what ownership and management don’t understand about this market. Right now, we’re hearing about how the JT Miller thing really blew up their plans. Or how you wouldn’t believe the terrible offers they got for Brock Boeser at the deadline. Or that Quinn Hughes indicated he didn’t want to be here over a year ago, even though the team made moves this past offseason as if he was going to stay.

Or the recent comments from Patrik Allvin about how the culture around the team is great, and the young players are going to carry it forward.

The absurdity of defending the culture of this team after a generational, team-breaking blowout last season, and the captain sulking his way out of town this season, borders on insanity. Yet they refuse to admit they made a mistake about anything. There is a very clear tone of “you idiots don’t understand what we’re trying to do here!!!” from the team, which is odd given how poorly this franchise has been run since Mike Gillis left. It feels like the management and owners are more concerned about what people are saying about their work instead of wondering why people are saying things about their work.

All this does is keep adding to the growing disconnect with the fan base. After a while, it just all feels rather insulting.

So try to relax. Don’t worry about the noise. Plot your next moves with a long-term outlook. Choose a captain carefully. Don’t rush that end of things. I can safely say I think Quinn Hughes ended up being a disappointing captain from an off-ice perspective for this team. It’s something I’ve said for two seasons now. Don’t just give your captaincy to the most talented player, make sure you pick someone who understands the city and how it works. Pick a player that can create a culture that will thrive in Vancouver, one that embraces the fans, insanity and all. It’s not an easy job, and it’s not a job for everyone, which is why it’s important you get it right. Pick the “C” using the Gladiator rule, choose the guy who doesn’t want it. One that can handle losing, but doesn’t accept it. That way, when you struggle, fans still have something to cheer for. Don’t forget that hockey is escapism, but nobody loves a comeback more than a sports fan. You just have to give them a reason to believe.

It’s time to show some humility, take your lumps, look in the mirror, and figure out how to be better. Change your approach. Because if we’re being honest with each other, the corpse of that 2024 team has been rotting for several years now. And whether you wanted to end up here or not, this is where we find ourselves.

So what better time than now to rebuild on all fronts, because what you did for the last ten plus years? It isn’t working. Look long term, don’t look for the quick fix.

Quite simply, it’s time for a new approach. Because this fanbase deserves better.