New captain thinks he can increase offense with better and different shot selection
Quinn Hughes is always honing his craft and looking for new ways to gain a competitive advantage. This summer, the new Vancouver Canucks captain says he worked on his shot and will be looking for ways to put it to good use in games this season.
On Wednesday, in Edmonton, Hughes scored the Canucks lone goal on a second period power play snapping a quick wrist shot that found it way through levels of defenders and past Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner on a second period power play.
The goal was great, but the real takeaway from Hughes' first pre-season appearance was the fact he launched nine attempts at the Edmonton night: three on target, five were blocked and the other missed the net.
"I always work on my shot," Hughes said on Saturday morning at Rogers Arena after the Canucks first home ice game day skate of the exhibition schedule. "What I think I worked on is being able to get my shot off from different movements so that I don't have stop my skating and be in a comfortable position to get my shot off. I think there are different areas I can get a shot off depending where the D is. That's the big thing I'm working on and we'll see how it goes this year."
Hughes scored seven times on 154 shots last season. The goal total was one off his career-high first accomplished as a rookie in 2019-20 and matched in 2021-22. And while the 154 shots on goal were the most of his career, he ranked 33rd among NHL defensemen -- 121 behind leader Dougie Hamilton of Carolina.
"I'm trying to be more of a shot threat and trying to create more shots and rebounds and different things," Hughes explained. "A lot of times, I've been a pass first guy. That's just who I am, but being able to create more off my stick will help the team."
For his part, Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is convinced he's seen more zip on Hughes' shot through training camp. And he wants to see more of it as the regular season unfolds.
"I can tell you his shot is about 10-20 miles an hour harder," Tocchet said. "He's worked on his game all summer. You can tell. His movements on the blueline have always been elite, I think there are about three other plays that he's worked on. He's incredible on the blueline and even that shot in Edmonton through a screen. Great wrist shot, Garland in front. I want him to take that shot. If he takes that shot more often, he'll score goals. I want him to have that shooting mentality. His shot is sneaky good. He worked on this summer a lot. I know he did for sure."
For the second straight preseason contest, Hughes will play alongside rookie Cole McWard. The Canucks will also use Ian Cole and Filip Hronek together as they did in Seattle on Thursday. Based on the morning skate, Carson Soucy and Tyler Myers appear to be the team's third defensive pairing.
Up front it appears Anthony Beauvillier will skate with Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko while JT Miller centres Brock Boeser and Phil Di Giuseppe. The third line looks like Pius Suter between Conor Garland and Nils Höglander while the fourth line was Teddy Blueger with Nils Aman and Jack Studnicka.
Thatcher Demko looks poised to start in goal while Casey DeSmith will also be in uniform tonight.
Noteables not with the game group on Saturday morning included Dakota Joshua, Vasily Podkolzin, Sheldon Dries, Arshdeep Bains, Christian Wolanin and Guillaume Brisebois.