With Norris Win, Canucks' Quinn Hughes Cements His Spot Among the NHL’s Elite D-Men

Quinn Hughes Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports

If you take a look at the stat lines for NHL defensemen over the last five years, you’ll see the top three names belong to this year’s three Norris Trophy finalists.

On Thursday, Quinn Hughes joined Roman Josi and Cale Makar as a Norris Trophy winner. Josi won in 2020 and Makar was awarded the trophy in 2022, the same season he also won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the Colorado Avalanche captured the Stanley Cup.

In 2023-24, Hughes' 92 points were more than any other defenseman. Makar finished second with 90 points, and Josi was third with 85.

It was the third-straight year that Hughes set a new Canucks team record for scoring by a defenseman in 2023-24, after logging 76 points in 2022-23 and 68 in 2021-22.

In just 365 career games, the 24-year-old is already second all-time among Canucks defensemen with 333 points.

Franchise leader Alex Edler needed 925 games to get to 409 points. The way Hughes has been going, he could make up that 76-point difference and take over the top spot next season in his age-25 year.

And he isn't just an offensive threat. With his smooth skating, excellent outlet passes and a big motor that sees him playing close to 25 minutes a game, the oldest of three hockey-mad brothers is impressive all over the ice.

Plus-minus doesn’t tell the whole story, but after Hughes finished with a team-worst minus-24 in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season, he was open about his desire to erase any talk that he might be a defensive liability.

The next season, he was plus-10, then plus-15. This year, his plus-38 was tops on the Canucks and fourth-best in the league.

When Rick Tocchet took the reins as coach in January 2023, Hughes made it known he was tired of losing and wanted to do everything in his power to change the culture around the Canucks.

That determination earned him the captaincy last September at just 23 years old. He’s the youngest current captain in the NHL — one month younger than one of his best friends, Brady Tkachuk, with Ottawa. And Hughes is one of just four blueliners in the league to wear the 'C', along with Josi in Nashville, Jared Spurgeon in Minnesota and Jacob Trouba with the Rangers.

In Hughes' first season as captain, the Canucks put together a 109-point season that was the third-best in franchise history and earned them a Pacific Division title. Two playoff rounds then brought ‘respect back in that jersey,’ as Tocchet put it.

All the way through, Hughes was engineering breakouts, quarterbacking the power play, and taking questions from the media on good days and bad days. He demonstrated accountability and showed his maturity as he put team success ahead of personal accomplishments, and preached an even-keeled approach that meant never getting too high or too low.

Hughes seems to have absorbed many of the best leadership qualities of Daniel and Henrik Sedin, the Hall of Famers who are still around the Canucks on a regular basis and are set to play even bigger roles with the coaching staff next year.

Born to a pair of former players, Jim and Ellen, and with two younger brothers who are just as obsessed with the sport, Hughes has been immersed in hockey culture for his entire life.

That has bred a wise-beyond-his-years understanding of the many varied traits that elite players must possess. And he's putting in the work to improve each one.

“You have to work on your mental game, you have to work on your body, you have to work on your mindset heading into games, you have to work on different skills each season that you can build upon. I truly think that it's a body of work,” he told Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet.

With that work, he has turned himself into a Norris Trophy winner. He’s in great company with Makar, Josi, and 2021 Norris winner Adam Fox.

Hughes is already one of the top examples of today’s new breed of defenseman. And he believes there’s more untapped potential still to be unlocked.

“I just think about how much better I've gone from age 20 to now,” he told MacIntyre. “Hopefully from 24 to 28, I can continue on that path.”