The Vancouver Canucks embark on their gauntlet of a five-game road trip tonight and could potentially have their captain back in the lineup.
There’s been plenty of noise surrounding the Canucks, specifically their two highest-paid players, which is why it’s almost therapeutic to know that Quinn Hughes is at the very least close to returning to the team.
In Hughes’s absence, the Canucks went 1-2-1 and were downright tough to watch at times. On the ice, his impact is going to help the Canucks win games. We know that. And off the ice, Hughes is sounding every bit like one of the most qualified captains the NHL has to offer. Amid reports that the Canucks are sizing up the trade market for both JT Miller and Elias Pettersson, Hughes is doing everything he can to keep his team on the straight and narrow.
“Whatever we have going on, we’ll figure it out,” Hughes told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre. “And I know everyone in here wants to win. You know, it’s not as complicated as people make it seem. For me, my focus today would be: It’s my first day back with the team, so have a good practice. And from a group perspective, I know everyone’s coming here and they want to win tomorrow. That’s all.”
Known as more of a quieter guy, Hughes has been able to translate his dominant play on the ice into a leader with a calming presence for the players to look up to in the locker room.
In the same interview with MacIntyre, head coach Rick Tocchet weighed in on how big of an impact Hughes is to this team, not only on the ice but in the locker room:
“As much as on ice, it’s just being around the room,” the coach said. “The way he acts around the guys, you know, he’s a calming influence on a lot of people. He’s a hockey nerd. He likes to talk hockey. That helps a dressing room. Obviously, on the ice, we know the impact he gives us, what he does for our team. But I think people don’t realize off the ice, what he does for our team is tremendous.
“I talk to Quinn a lot about what it is to be a captain, him being in this market, him being who he is. He’s got a pretty good handle on things. He’s a pretty smart kid. He asks a lot of questions. I love to communicate with him about this sort of stuff, and I’m pretty comfortable the way he is handling it right now with all the drama going on. I think he’s in a good frame of mind.”
The return looks to be on the horizon for the Canucks captain as he practiced in Montreal yesterday, assuming his usual position on the team’s top power play unit, and is officially deemed a game-time decision for Monday night’s contest against the Canadiens on Amazon Prime.
While it’s all hunky dory surrounding Hughes and how he’s handling the situation, we also got word from one of the players involved in all of this, Elias Pettersson.
Coming off his fresh eight-year, $92.6 million contract he signed last season, the bar was set high in terms of expectations for his first year making big boy money. But it’s been a bit of a struggle for him to start this season.
In another interview with Sportsnet’s MacIntyre, he sat down with Pettersson and had him reflect on his season thus far:
“I haven’t had the start (to the season) that I wanted to. At the end of the day, I have expectations from the club, and obviously, I haven’t met them yet. But, I mean, it doesn’t matter what people say. I know what I can do, and that’s what I’m focussing on doing.”
The Swedish centreman has just 10 goals and 28 points through 34 games this season and is on pace for his worst points per game season of his six-year career. It hasn’t been all bad, though. Pettersson had a 15-game stretch where he scored six goals and 15 assists for 21 points. However, to see your superstar centreman under 30 points and tied for third on the team in points nearly halfway through the season isn’t an encouraging sign.
His poor play has sparked some trade rumours around the market, with GM Patrik Allvin saying “anything is possible” when asked about trading Pettersson. Despite Pettersson deleting all of his social media at the start of the season, he’s still aware of what’s going on and discussed his future with the club:
You can read the full stories from MacIntyre on Hughes and Pettersson by clicking here!
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