By: Brayden Fengler / February 7, 2025 As much as she’d like to deny it, over the years that we have been together, my wife has taken more of an interest in the general goings-on surrounding the Vancouver Canucks.
She is still not a die-hard fan by any means. But as her eyes have become more routinely drawn to the screen, because of a fight or my reaction to a given play, I’ve gained more opportunities to share with her some “Canucks lore” as it were.
Whether that’s been, “this player wore that guy’s t-shirt in warm-ups”, “this player doesn’t like that player”, or “this player has a nickname akin to a native African animal”, I’ve enjoyed opening her eyes up to the absurdity that is the Vancouver Canucks.
But one player that she gravitated towards on her own, without any help from me, was Quinn Hughes. Hughes has always had a quality about him that has made him exciting to watch as a player, but he has many other qualities that seem to have made him almost a bigger intrigue as a person.
Whether that’s his thousand-yard stare between shifts, or the calm manner in which he speaks to the media, there is something about Hughes that draws in everyone.
With Quinn’s immediate future uncertain due to a mysterious injury, and the Canucks winding down ahead of the Four Nations tournament, now is a good time during an otherwise tumultuous season, to reflect on what has been an unwavering force for good in this market both on and off the ice.
For this article, I talked to multiple Quinn Hughes fans/supporters and got their takes on what makes 43 worth cheering for.
“you can see by the look on Quinn Hughes face he’s hurting” oh you mean this face??? pic.twitter.com/adGRulUJvm
— Mere Bear 🇵🇸 (@pdxmeredith) February 1, 2025
Quinn Hughes The Player
As alluded to previously, Quinn has a lot of intangibles about his character that make him the entertainment draw that he is. But what we cannot overlook is what he is doing on the ice.
Quinn was drafted 7th overall by Vancouver in 2018, which looking back feels like highway robbery. There are some respectable names that went before Hughes. Brady Tkachuk, Andrei Svechnikov and first-overall pick Rasmus Dahlin were all drafted before Hughes. But as a revisionist you wouldn’t be crazy to argue that Quinn should’ve easily gone first overall.
Since Quinn’s first full season with the club in 2019-20 he hasn’t stopped making a massive impact on the team. That first season Hughes earned 53 points in 68 games and has not dipped below a points production of 60 over his last three full NHL seasons.
No One Like Hughes on Defence
One of the best parts about Hughes’ game is that not only is he an offensive force, but his purely defensive ability is impressive as well.
Yes, he scores a lot of goals and is a production powerhouse for his team, but his speed and footwork both help him while back-checking and controlling the puck in the offensive zone. As a fan, it’s hard not to feel safe about the team’s ability to hold the zone when Quinn Hughes has the puck.
For his efforts, Quinn at the age of 25 has been touted by many as the franchise’s best defenseman in history. Potentially even, the best player. His biggest accomplishment to date has been winning the Norris Trophy last year, an award given to the league’s top defenceman as voted by the PWHA (Professional Hockey Writers’ Association).
Hughes the Person
Hughes has a lot of stats to his name, that credibly back up his on-ice performances, it’s hard to argue with those. But what feels just as concrete about Hughes, while technically subjective, is the quality of his character off the ice. These are the features that have made his star shine even brighter over recent years.
Erin, also known as @painacotta on socials had this to offer about what it is that makes Quinn Hughes an enjoyable personality to follow.
“Artistically, I’d say that Quinn Hughes’ expressiveness on ice provides me with an endless source of inspiration, and to me that’s more of a gift than anything else. But, speaking from the heart, Hughes’ work ethic leaves me in awe every time I watch the Canucks play. The guy is dragging the Canucks forward through sheer force of will. It’s fascinating to watch, and I love it.” – Erin
Kelsy, another fan of Quinn Hughes, who has met the player a number of times had this to say about the young player’s character having witnessed it first hand.
“I’ve had the luck of meeting him a few times now, and I don’t even have the words to express how incredibly kind-hearted he is… Off the ice, he appreciates the fans first and foremost. I took my daughter to say hi to him on Tuesday, and he made a point of stopping and talking with her for a little bit before he had to leave- then when he saw her during warm ups he made a point to warm up in front of her (not in his usual spot) – Kelsy
Quinn’s charismatic draw has also extended beyond the Greater Vancouver area. Take @86R0WDY for example, who does not live driving distance from Rogers Arena, and in fact lives across the world where the closest form of hockey played is roller hockey.
I really hadn’t had any contact with any of it (hockey) I casually discovered hockey and how fun, fast-paced and dynamic it was around late 2022, I believe, and subsequently the Canucks and their now captain, Quinn Hughes… Whenever I could, considering the time zone, I would watch the Canucks or the Devils play, paying attention to these siblings, young and very talked about because of their talent, and I couldn’t help but be in awe of Quinn’s skating: to me, it was just like watching a prima ballerina do her big solo… He is an entrancing player to watch. Of course, there is also the fact that his facial expressions during games are hilarious: winning or losing… – 86R0WDY
quinn hughes is my favourite hockey team too pic.twitter.com/FtIyPA6GXr
— hay (@spookyghourl) January 30, 2025
Quinn Hughes the Captain
Quinn Hughes is one of three sons to his parents Jim Hughes and Ellen Weinberg-Hughes. His brothers Luke and Jack were known entities in the hockey prospects world while Quinn was himself entering the fold, but now both Luke and Jack are in the NHL playing for the Devils.
This dynamic has, and always will, make Devils vs Canucks games interesting. While it’s not uncommon for families to face off in the NHL, say the Tkachuk brothers, three siblings on the same ice together is a rare find.
Most importantly though, what I think has attributed to Quinn’s steady increase in notoriety over the last few years is how Quinn has handled his captaincy. Hughes was given the C at a time when it could’ve easily gone to Elias Pettersson, or even J.T. Miller (remember him).
So Hughes, while his on-ice credentials no doubt made him qualified, externally to fans not much was known about how Hughes would handle all that comes with such a leadership role. Turns out, he would handle it very well.
Hughes’ captaincy combined with last season’s newfound success for the team overall definitely put new eye’s on the cherished Canucks defenseman. The better you do, the more cameras are on you, and Quinn Hughes’ face loves the camera, even if it doesn’t look like it all of the time.
Okay, Butt what is it about Hughes?
I can’t think of another player shy outside of maybe prime Phil Kessel, who has such a strong on-ice product with an unconventional look and way about them off the ice. While Quinn has not been putting away hot dogs, his panicked eyes and soft-spoken leadership, reminiscent of the Sedin twins, continues winning over hearts every time the Canucks play.
Quinn has handled the turbulence this year extremely well. His composure in all situations seems unwavering and that is both on and off the ice.
Kelsy touched on the fact that Quinn is “single handedly carrying the team on his back” as a reason for why Quinn’s star seems so much brighter this year.
“What makes him stand out, he really sat with himself and figured out what he needed to do for his health and his skills to be a better captain, even when they’ve been in a slump, he’s done his best to keep positive!” – Kelsy
86R0WDY believes that Quinn brought hope back to the fans last year and has been maintaining that hope through this challenging year. But beyond what he has been doing just this year, 86R0WDY also had great insight into why Hughes’ character has received and maintained such admiration among fans.
“He’s got this unassuming, down-to-earth, boy-next-door feeling to him… He feels safe and approachable, like you could just ask him for a pencil in class and he’d gladly lend you one. – 86R0WDY
The approachable qualities observed in Hughes are no doubt some of the qualities that make him a great leader as well, and not just a great face of the franchise to fans. Erin, I think captured Hughes’ essence extremely well with this statement as well.
“There’s something incredibly endearing about a player who is both a star and an underdog, and Quinn Hughes is somehow both: consistently passed up in conversations about end-of-season awards, yet continuously putting up numbers that have given him both the Norris and the Canucks’ captaincy in only five seasons. He was seventh overall in his draft, which is impressive in and of itself, but has two younger brothers who were first and fourth in their own.
He’s captaining a team whose claim to fame is not only losing in the SCF, but the incendiary riots afterwards. He has his face plastered all over the city of Vancouver, but he maintains a relatively low profile otherwise… he will always be the first on the ice and the last off of it.” – Erin
There really is no one thing that makes Quinn Hughes, Quinn Hughes. No one reason that makes him an amazing player to watch, and an endearing human being to observe. The sum of his many qualities makes him a draw to myself, to casual observers like my wife, and fans like Erin, Kelsy, 86R0WDY and countless others.
There are a lot of great players in the NHL, and there are a lot of respectable leaders among them as well. But what’s hard to pinpoint but plain to see is that Quinn Hughes has the magic formula figured out. He performs on the ice, he connects with fans, he’s everything a franchise should hope to find in a player.
At a time when this team’s immediate future seems uncertain, and the face of this team has been changing due to recent trades, it’s an extreme comfort amongst these uncertain times that of all the teams Quinn Hughes could’ve been on, he is on ours.