There will be a Hughes family reunion Tuesday in Vancouver, where Quinn’s Canucks will face Jack and Luke’s Devils. They will be the ninth family in NHL history to have three or more brothers play in the same game.
“You’re in the basement hanging out (and) playing, but you never really think it’s going to become a reality,” Jack, who will match up against Quinn for the seventh time, told NHL.com.
Quinn’s historic start to the season has been well-documented. The Canucks captain is generating serious MVP buzz with the Canucks off to an excellent start. He would be the first defenceman since Chris Pronger in 1999-00 to take home the Hart Trophy. (It has been that long since a defenceman was even a finalist for MVP.)
Quinn is not the only Hughes brother in contention for the award. Jack, who finished eighth in MVP voting last season, recorded 20 points in his first nine games. If not for an upper-body injury that sidelined him for two weeks last month, Jack would almost certainly be at or near the top of the race for the Art Ross Trophy as the league’s top scorer.
Unfortunately for the Hughes brothers, there will only be one puck on the ice Tuesday. Quinn (2:42), Jack (2:20) and Luke (2:05) rank first, second and seventh, respectively, in possession time per 20 minutes out of 637 qualified skaters (minimum 100 minutes in all situations).
Luke, the youngest of the bunch at 20, leads all rookie defencemen with 14 points in 22 games. He quarterbacks New Jersey’s league-leading power play, averaging 4.09 possession-driving plays per two minutes — tied for third most out of 75 defencemen with at least 20 minutes of power play ice time. (Possession-driving plays are those that lead to the puck being moved up ice, such as controlled exits and entries.)
Like Quinn and Jack, Luke is extremely elusive with the puck on his stick. In fact, Luke (3.02) ranks ahead of Quinn (2.84) in successful open-ice dekes per 20 in all situations at their position. Luke is second in that category among 227 qualified defencemen (minimum 100 minutes in all situations).
“I think Quinn’s obviously the guy (Luke’s) looked up to his whole life,” Jack told NHL.com. “Those two have never played against each other, so I think they’ll have a lot of fun. Luke will get a good kick out of it, for sure.”
