The Canucks traded Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild on Friday night.
When you look at the Vancouver Canucks’ franchise records for defencemen, the name that pops up is exactly the one you’d expect.
Most assists in a single season by a rookie defenceman: Quinn Hughes.
Most career assists by a defenceman: Quinn Hughes.
Most career points by a defenceman: Quinn Hughes.
The list goes on. Hughes setting franchise records occurred about as often as the Canucks played in games.
Fans knew they had something special long before Hughes made his debut on March 28, 2019 — the day in which he set up a Brock Boeser goal in such stunning fashion that many had already written him in as the franchise’s best defenceman ever. It was that night that John Shorthouse said those very lines when Hughes, Boeser, and Elias Pettersson stepped out onto the ice for an overtime shift and completely took over possession of the puck.
“Enjoy the future, folks — here it is right now.”
Understandably, it’s hard to look back on a moment like that and be optimistic about the “future” when a key piece of that very future has just departed from the organization. But at the same time, you can’t deny that the former Canucks captain gave his team everything he could have when he was here.
Hughes fell to the Canucks in what felt like a near-miracle during the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft. Vancouver, who held the seventh overall pick, watched with surprise as name after name came off the draft board. Rasmus Dahlin. Andrei Svechnikov. Jesperi Kotkaniemi. Brady Tkachuk. All names but one.
When former Canucks General Manager Jim Benning stepped up to the podium, fans waited with heavy breaths as the name they’d been waiting for left his lips.
Quinn Hughes.
It’s the same name that, for the better part of the seven seasons he spent with the Canucks, was spoken by Canucks fans across the world when asked who the team’s best player was. An offensively-dynamic defenceman who quickly inserted his name into Calder Memorial Trophy conversation before even starting his first full NHL season. Locked tightly in a race with the equally as prolific Cale Makar, Hughes piled up an impressive eight goals and 45 assists in his rookie year — the second-most by a rookie defenceman in franchise history. He even earned himself an All-Star Game nomination, joining peers Pettersson and Jacob Markström in St. Louis for the event.
Hughes’ rookie year was big for the franchise for many reasons. Vancouver celebrated their 50th anniversary. Bo Horvat was named the 14th captain in Canucks history. There was a special air to this team that told fans that maybe this would be the year the team did something special.
It was a little unorthodox, but in some ways, it was.
After a qualifying round win against none other than Hughes’ new team, the Minnesota Wild, Vancouver took part in their first playoff series since 2015 with a new cast of characters. This marked the first of two playoff runs that Hughes would play in during his time with the Canucks. Between locker room lineup reads by J.T. Miller and stellar stops by Thatcher “Bubble” Demko, Hughes amassed a total of two goals and 14 assists in 17 games played during this run. The spirit of this Canucks team left many with hope for the future as they headed into the off-season.
Things changed soon after that.
Key changes to the locker room resulted in a near brand-new team emerging to start the 2021 NHL season. With the season shortened and divisions switched up to accommodate COVID-19 regulations, the Canucks stumbled throughout the race and couldn’t quite catch up to the level of compete exhibited by the rest of their peers. Despite finishing at the bottom of the Scotia North Division, it was Hughes — as always — who continued to build his resume of stats, scoring three goals and 38 assists in the 56-game season.
Since then, Hughes had continuously set record after record in points. He went from 41 in the 2021 season to a surprising 68 in 2021–22, snagging the record of most points in a single-season by a Canucks defenceman for the first time. The season after, he broke his own record by scoring 76 points in 78 games. The season after that, of course, he broke his own franchise record yet again — this time by scoring 92 points in 82 games in his first season as Vancouver’s captain. This effort helped him to his first James Norris Memorial Trophy and his second career playoff run.
The captaincy came. Then the playoff run. Then the Norris Trophy.
Dozens of records rushed in after that. The 2024–25 season was filled with them. Hughes became the fastest player in Canucks history to hit 300 career assists against the Anaheim Ducks on November 5, 2025, as well as the third-fastest defenceman to do so in NHL history, completing this feat in 376 games. He set a new record in career assists scored by a Canucks defenceman on December 1, 2024, scoring his 313th. Against the New York Rangers on March 22, 2025, he became the second Canucks defenceman ever to hit 400 career points.
At the beginning of this season, on October 11, 2025, Hughes surpassed Alex Edler and set a new franchise record in career points scored by a Canucks defenceman. His final total of points scored as a member of the Canucks is 432 — a record that likely won’t be broken anytime soon.
There aren’t many words that can be used to describe the impact that Hughes had on the city of Vancouver and the Canucks. He arrived in Vancouver as a young, budding player, and put together his best efforts to become the best defenceman that the organization has ever seen. While this particular chapter of Canucks history has come to an end, there’s no denying that Hughes has changed the franchise forever.
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