Soap opera writers searching for inspiration would be smart to tune into this Vancouver Canucks season.
All the ingredients of a gripping drama — infighting, high stakes, compelling characters — are there. And yet despite it all, the Canucks are still hanging around the playoff race in the Western Conference.
That would not be possible without Quinn Hughes. The Canucks captain has kept his team afloat with outstanding play from the back end. Hughes told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre that he is playing “some of the best” hockey of his career, which is underselling it. The defenceman is putting up bigger numbers than he did last season, when he won the Norris Trophy by an overwhelming margin.
Canucks coach Rick Tocchet recently was asked about the possibility of Hughes’ teammates deferring to him too much.
“You don’t stop playing because you play with a great player. That’s asinine,” Tocchet told reporters. “You want to use that great player to your advantage. You have a great player, you should embrace the fact that (you) get to play with this player. ‘How can I be better for this guy and the team?’”
In fairness, the Canucks have every reason to get the puck to Hughes as often as they can. He is the ultimate offensive catalyst and in his own stratosphere when it comes to having the puck on his stick. (Hughes has a nearly 23-minute lead in total possession time this season.)
Those talents were on full display during Vancouver’s 5-2 win against the St. Louis Blues on Monday. Early in the first period, Hughes created an odd-man rush by banking a loose puck off the boards to himself. He capped off the scoring play with a precise pass to Conor Garland, finding the tiniest sliver of space underneath the outstretched legs of Blues defenceman Ryan Suter.
Hughes’ second assist — a stretch pass that set up J.T. Miller’s second-period breakaway goal — made him the seventh-fastest defenceman in NHL history to record 100 career multi-point games. (Hughes’ 179 stretch-pass completions lead the league.)
There is an immense difference between Vancouver’s performance when Hughes is on the ice versus when he is not. All of the Canucks’ key offensive metrics plummet anytime he gets a breather. They have outscored opponents 49-34 at 5-on-5 during Hughes’ minutes. Without him, they have been outscored 62-43.
The Canucks’ expected goal percentage at 5-on-5 drops 12 points from 56.4 per cent to 44.4 per cent when Hughes is off the ice — the eighth-largest difference in the league. These are the seven players ahead of him: Columbus linemates Sean Monahan (19.7-point drop) and Kirill Marchenko (16.1-point drop); Tampa Bay linemates Anthony Cirelli (14.3-point drop) and Brandon Hagel (13.1-point drop); Edmonton’s Mattias Ekholm (12.8-point drop); New Jersey’s Jack Hughes (12.3-point drop); and Colorado’s Cale Makar (12.2-point drop).
Tocchet praised Hughes last weekend for consistently attacking the slot, which is something he wants his forwards to emulate instead of looking for low-to-high plays.
Canucks forwards rank 30th at the position in scoring chances (17.5) and 32nd in slot shots on net (10.6) per game. Their 94 combined slot goals are tied for 24th.
“I don’t know if it’s a confidence thing,” Tocchet told reporters. “It’s on us coaches. We’ve got to keep preaching it. We’ve got to practice it. … We’ve got to really, really harp (on) that more than ever, because these last 30, 40 games, it’s interior stuff. It’s getting stuff to the net. It’s having a guy on your back (when you’re trying to score).”
The Canucks’ win against the Blues on Monday was their second in a row — the first time in two months that they have won consecutive games. Hughes told MacIntyre that he feels he bears some responsibility for the turmoil that has swirled inside the Canucks’ dressing room and seeped on to the ice this season, which is what a captain would say.
If not for Hughes, however, it is safe to guess that the Canucks would be in much worse shape in the standings. He is authoring an MVP-worthy season.
All stats via Sportlogiq
