How Many Minutes Has Canucks Captain Quinn Hughes Played This Season?

In last night’s match against the New Jersey Devils, Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes spent over 30 minutes on the ice for the fourth time this season. It’s no secret that Hughes has been the team’s best and most valuable player this season, as seen by the complimentary commentary from Amazon Prime’s broadcasters last night. However, the amount of time he actually spends playing compared to his teammates speaks emphatically to how much the team really relies on him. 

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Throughout his NHL career, Hughes has steadily averaged around 20 to 25 minutes on the ice. The smallest average in his career was in his rookie year, when he put up around 18:05 minutes on ice per game. He spent the most average minutes played per game in the 2022–23 season, when he put up 25:40 — only nine seconds more than what he has put up so far this season. He has hit the 25-minute mark one other time as well as these two instances, registering 25:15 in the 2021–22 season. In all three of these seasons, Hughes was the player who played the most average minutes for the team, with Oliver Ekman-Larsson coming second in 2021–22 (22:19), and Filip Hronek being second in 2022–23 (24:17) and 2024–25 (23:47). 

Last night was the highest TOI that Hughes has had this season, clocking in at 31:38. Previously, his season high was 31:29 in Vancouver’s October 11 3–2 shootout loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. The other time he hit the 31-minute mark was in the team’s 5–4 overtime win against the Detroit Red Wings on December 1, in which he became the franchise’s new leader in assists in 31:04 minutes played. He also hit 30:18 in Thursday’s 4–3 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues. Unsurprisingly, all of the games that Hughes has played more than 30 minutes in have been games that stretch past regulation time. While Vancouver’s record in these games is 2–2, Hughes’ own personal statline is six assists. 

Aside from the Canucks’ 4–3 win against the Ottawa Senators on November 23, in which Hughes was ejected from the game because of a hit on Josh Norris, the captain has only played less than 20 minutes in one game this season. He played 19:49 on October 22, when Vancouver defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 6–3. His next lowest TOI in one game was 20:18 played on December 8 in a 4–2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. He also played 20:54 in the team’s 5–1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on November 5. 

In total, Vancouver’s captain has been on the ice for 1454:39 minutes this season. He has played more than 22 minutes in 50 of the 57 games he has skated in so far this season. Even more impressively, in 35 of these games, he has played more than 25 minutes. He hasn’t played less than 25 minutes in the past five games. The only two defensemen to average more minutes than him this season are Cale Makar and Zach Werenski, both of whom have played at least more than 12 games than Hughes. 

Now, let’s take a look at the stats for Hughes’ teammates. When looking at the average number of minutes played per game, the next highest goes to Hronek with 23:47. Marcus Pettersson comes third in this category with 21:06, while Tyler Myers sits at fourth with 20:48. On a game-by-game basis, no other player has even come close to hitting Hughes’ season highs, as no other player has reached the 30-minute mark in a game. Hronek’s personal highest came on March 12 against the Calgary Flames, when he played 28:07 in a 4–3 shootout win. Pettersson’s biggest game in terms of minutes played was his first with the Canucks — a 3–2 overtime loss to the Red Wings in which he played 25:57. As for Myers, he played a season-high 25:47 in a 4–3 shootout win against the Seattle Kraken on January 2. 

Even ignoring point totals, Hughes has been the player the team has relied on most all season. Anyone watching a Canucks game has a near-90% chance of seeing Hughes play more than 22 minutes in it. When you consider the fact that he is doing all of this while still putting up near career-high numbers, it makes his season all the more impressive. 

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