Whenever anyone talks about timelines as they pertain to the current Vancouver Canucks, all the timelines seem to centre around Quinn Hughes. And with good reason. Hughes isn’t just the best player on the Canucks right now, he’s continued to establish himself as the best player in franchise history.

The thinking goes that, if the Canucks don’t make the most of the best years of their best player ever, it will mean a missed opportunity of enormous proportions.

And, so, you get endless talk of Hughes-related timelines. Some, like this author, like to glibly refer to the Quinn Hughes Competitive Window ™. But what exactly do folks mean by it?

For some, it’s all about the Canucks putting together the best possible team while Hughes is still at his best. A timeline based around Hughes’ prime, then. On that front, there’s little reason to hurry the worry. At age 25, Hughes is probably technically in his prime now, but he still seems to be getting better all the time – and he definitely doesn’t look like he’s anywhere close to any sort of dropoff.

If the only concern were the Canucks being competitive before Hughes exits his prime, there’d be no concern at all. Hughes will still be in his prime for many years to come.

But what Hughes will not be for many years to come is in his prime and still under the same contract terms to which he’s currently signed.

Hughes contract, which carries an AAV of $7.85 million, covers this season and two more, the 2025/26 and 2026/27 campaigns. After that, he’s eligible to become an unrestricted free agent.

So, if the ‘window’ is actually limited to the amount of time that the Canucks can guarantee they’ll have Hughes under contract, then that window is only truly open for the next two years. After that, the Canucks have no way of knowing whether or not they’ll be able to re-sign Hughes – although they do know that, if he does sign, he’ll come close to doubling his current salary. At the very least, they’ve only got two years of Hughes at a heavily-discounted price-tag with which to make the most of.

But what we’re here to tell you all today is that the actual window, the actual ‘Hughes Deadline,’ is coming a lot sooner than most realize. How soon?

A little more than a year.

Here’s why: as of July 1, 2026 – a little less than 15 months from today – Hughes will become eligible to sign an extension. And that fact can’t help but have an impact on the timeline.

Let’s flash-forward to July 1, 2026 right now. Imagine that the day comes to pass without Hughes having signed an extension. Well, now the fact that Hughes’ contract is set to expire in a year becomes the biggest storyline of the entire 2026/27 season, and one of the biggest storylines in Canucks’ history, period. Having Hughes be a ‘lame duck’ pending UFA would be among the largest distractions imaginable, and it’s really, really hard to imagine the team putting together a successful campaign under that scenario.

So, if we’re still talking about making the most of that Hughes Window, the Canucks either have to get it done next year, in 2025/26, or they need to convince Hughes to extend over the course of that same season.

And both of those goals start right now. Whether the thinking is that the team needs to put its best possible roster together for the 2025/26 season so as to make the most of the last year before Hughes becomes a pending UFA, or that the team needs to put its best possible roster together for the 2025/26 season so as to convince Hughes to re-sign, GM Patrik Allvin and Co. will really only get one offseason in which to get it done, and that offseason is the Summer of 2025.

That’s what we mean when we say the ‘Hughes Deadline’ is coming sooner than most realize. It’s because if this summer isn’t a successful one that moves the Canucks far closer to competitiveness than they currently are, and if said offseason doesn’t translate into a much better start for the Canucks next year, everything becomes a lot more difficult – including, first and foremost, convincing Hughes to stay.

In some senses, the game has already begun. That’s part of why the Canucks’ late push for the playoffs could matter, even if they don’t actually make the postseason. Hughes, in his capacity as captain, has already talked about having his spirits buoyed by the efforts of his teammates down the stretch, and specifically their “care factor.”

Combine that bit of restored faith with some upgrades to the roster in the near future, and the Canucks will stand a much better chance of hitting both goals: competing in 2025/26, and also being able to compete beyond that because Hughes has signed an extension.

Thus, while we wouldn’t ever want to say that everything is riding on a single offseason, A LOT is riding on the Summer of 2025 for the Canucks’ front office. Even with two years left on his contract, and as counterintuitive as it sounds, in many ways, this is their last chance to convince Hughes to stay.

Should they fail to improve upon the team, and should the 2025/26 season get off to a similar start to this current 2024/25 season, the ‘Hughes Window’ might be effectively closed already, and the ‘deadline’ to make the most of his prime years might have effectively passed, long before his actual contract expires.

The mission to ensure that outcome doesn’t come to pass starts now.