The Vancouver Canucks have a lot going for them right now. After coming into the season with mixed expectations, it is clear that they are an elite Stanley Cup contender.
They are 32-11-5 for 69 standings points. That is good for the best record in the NHL in terms of wins, points, and points percentage. They are two points ahead of the Boston Bruins in the Presidents Trophy race and seven points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific Division race.
There are a lot of reasons that the Canucks are great. One of them is the play of Quinn Hughes. He was named to be the captain ahead of the season and that proved to be an amazing decision by the organization.
Quinn leads all defensemen with 59 points and is pretty much in a two-horse race for the Norris Trophy with Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche. He developed his shot and that helped him take his game to another level as he has 12 goals already which is already more than his career high of 8.
Quinn Hughes is one of the best defensemen in the entire NHL
All of this success has led to him being named an NHL All-Star but that isn’t very surprising. He will co-captain Team Hughes with his brother Jack Hughes of the New Jersey Devils who also happens to be an elite NHL superstar.
All of this success is great for Quinn Hughes on a personal level. He reached a big time points milestone on Wednesday that needs to be celebrated.
Pius Suter had a third-period hat trick to help the Canucks force overtime against the St. Louis Blues in a game that wasn’t one of their best. Hughes assisted on two of the goals and he now has 300 career points (38-262–300) in his career.
In reaching that milestone, he became the 8th fastest defenseman in NHL history to reach 300 career points as it only took him 331 games. He is continuing to get better so it should take him even less time to reach 400 points.
There is no doubt that he is one of the best offensive defensemen in the NHL. He is as dangerous as anyone when the puck is on his stick. His defensive game has also improved a lot and he is now one of the most well-rounded players in the entire league.
Will he reach 100 points this season? Only one defenseman has in the last 30 years and it was Erik Karlsson last season playing for the San Jose Sharks. The NHL has never had two defensemen reach that century-point total in the same season so it will be so fun to see if Hughes and Makar can get it done.
Hughes’ quest for his next 100 points will come on Saturday in their last game before the All-Star break. They will host the Columbus Blue Jackets in their quest to stay on top of the league.
All of these points are incredible and need to be celebrated but seeing Quinn take that trophy from the commissioner would be a great way to end the season as well.