NHL Stat Pack: Quinn Hughes Sets a Record and Counts His Teammates

Quinn Hughes reached 200 assists quicker than any other D-man in NHL history. He's also had a high turnover of teammates, but how many compared to other teams?

With two assists in the Vancouver Canucks' 4-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night, Quinn Hughes reached the 200-assist milestone faster than any other defenseman in NHL history.

Hughes needed 263 games to get there, one fewer than Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers more than 30 years ago.

Hughes picked up assist no. 201 in game 264 on Monday, Vancouver's 4-3 shootout win over the Nashville Predators on Monday. But the NHL's records page keeps track of players with a minimum of 300 career assists, so his name doesn't appear on that list quite yet. 

If he keeps producing at his current rate of 0.76 assists per game, that will be good enough to get him into the top 15 players of all time once he qualifies for the list.

Bobby Orr (0.98) and Paul Coffey (0.81) are the only defensemen above him. Among current players, he's at roughly the same level as Mitch Marner and Artemi Panarin, with only Connor McDavid (0.96) and Sidney Crosby (0.80) ranking higher. 

And he'd easily take over first place among active blueliners. Erik Karlsson ranks highest at 0.63 assists per game, and it's another big drop to third place, where Roman Josi sits at 0.54.

So Hughes is hanging out among some very elite company — and he's trending upward. Here are his assist rates for his career to date:

His success is even more impressive when you consider the teams that he has been on. The Vancouver Canucks have made the playoffs just once in his career to date, in the bubble in 2020. Otherwise, they haven't really been close.

Last week, Hughes described the roster situation as "hectic" during his time in Vancouver. 

"I've probably played with 80 teammates, honestly, at this point," he said. "So with the trade deadline, I don't even pay attention to these things at this point."

Hughes made his NHL debut on March 28, 2019. Even with the complexities of the pandemic and the accompanying flat cap — and even with all the turmoil around the Canucks — has he really had 80 different teammates in not even four years in Vancouver?

According to the NHL website, the answer is yes. 

Exactly 80, in fact, if you count skaters only and not goalies. So while Hughes may not be fazed by the trade deadline anymore at the ripe old age of 23, he is somehow keeping a count of how many players have come and gone from the Vancouver dressing room — whether that's a list in his phone or on his refrigerator door, a subconscious log in his head, or maybe a chalk-mark tally that he and his teammates maintain on a wall deep in the bowels of their dressing-room area.

Of course, some players stick around longer than others. But after the departure of Bo Horvat, only three regulars now have longer tenures than Hughes in the Canucks organization:

Two other defensemen were also drafted before Hughes was taken seventh overall in 2018 and are still part of the Canucks system. 

What about other NHL teams? Lately, has it been normal for squads to basically turn over their entire roster every year? And is there some correlation between stability and success?

Here's how many skaters all 32 NHL teams have used since Hughes debuted on March 28, 2019. They've been separated into three tiers.

Perhaps it's no surprise that the busiest group is comprised mostly of non-playoff teams. And since they're not having success, six of these nine teams have also changed GMs in the last four years, which creates additional upheaval.

The two big exceptions are fascinating. 

Toronto is right at the top: organizationally stable but continuing to shuffle players outside its core in search of the elusive playoff-series win while remaining cap-compliant after committing so much money to the stars. 

Colorado also tweaked extensively before finally finding that elusive Stanley Cup chemistry last season. Their number is also amplified by terrible injury luck — the Avalanche have used 38 skaters this season alone.

There's still a fair amount of variance here, and most of these teams have had at least some degree of success over the past four years. 

This group includes the two-time Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning. They get a lot of ink for their roster moves, whether it's trade-deadline acquisitions or salary-cap sell-offs, but their moves appear to be quite calculated.

And given their reputation for going after every big-name trade target and being cut-throat about cutting ties when a player they covet becomes available, it's interesting to see the Vegas Golden Knights among the teams at the low end of the spectrum.

Setting aside Seattle, which hasn't even had two seasons to turn over its roster, the other four teams here all feature stability in the GM's chair over the last five seasons and, for the most part, a good degree of success. 

The Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019 and have just begun dismantling that roster in earnest at this year's trade deadline. The Islanders and Stars made it to the conference final in the bubble in 2020. And the Kings are now enjoying the fruits of a patient rebuild following their two titles a decade ago.

Goalies aren't included in these numbers, so Rob Blake's somewhat startling decision to swap Jonathan Quick for Joonas Korpisalo last week doesn't factor into this data.