Canucks Coffee: Quinn Hughes deserves better. It's time to trade him

Quinn Hughes has given the Vancouver Canucks everything they could have hoped for as a superstar and franchise ambassador.

The generational superstar keeps elevating his game to new stratospheric levels as a must-see difference-maker. He can turn ordinary into extraordinary, leave the opposition in jaw-dropping awe.

And it has led to several NHL teams — notably Detroit, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Washington — seeking his services, because sublime skating, laser-like passes, and offensive-zone wizardry set him apart.

Amid the trade-rumour clamour, the Norris Trophy winner was frank this week when asked what drives his career, what matters most.

“I want to win,” he said.

It was a simple summation, but brings complexity for Canucks ownership and management in how they could accommodate Hughes. Could they build a lasting roster to complement his skill set? Could they become a bonafide contender and not a one-and-done playoff wannabe?

That stuff matters to Hughes, who has played for four head coaches here in five years, and endured different proposed pathways to victory. On Thursday, he was wheeling and dealing. He had scoring chances, set up chances, had three shots  and nine attempts, and logged 29:15 in a 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.

“It’s kind of weird because we’re playing pretty good with lots of looks,” Hughes said after the game. “We have to stay positive. We’re in every game for the most part, but obviously, we want a better result.”

It has become a familiar refrain and one that weighs heavily on the captain, who often has that distant gaze of wondering what’s coming next in a season gone south. And because trade talk keeps ramping up, his focus has to remain on his job and not the contract. But he hears the noise.

“I’m obviously human, but I feel more the results and where we are in the standings,” he said. “That probably affects me more. I’m trying to do everything I can. You watch me play. I bring it every night, being a good teammate, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”

That’s very admirable, but let’s cut to the chase.

The Canucks owe it to Hughes to have the trade conversation sooner than later. Move him next month. Let him get acclimated to a new team before joining Team USA in the Winter Olympics. He shouldn’t have to wait longer.

He is the franchise leader in assists and points by a blueliner. He logs more average ice time than any of his NHL peers and is easily one of the top 10 players in league. He was seventh in an ESPN poll.

Hughes is unlikely to sign a contract extension and, quite frankly, deserves better. He has been a consummate captain — even amid the circus of last season, with the drama-filled disconnect between J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson that ripped the room apart. It tested Hughes to keep reading the room to quiet the noise, but it took a toll.

Hughes knows what we all know. This franchise is at a crossroads. Ownership has long loathed the notion of a re-build and has always believed — or been told by general managers — that there was a quick fix and fortunes could turn in a couple of years. Or sooner with free agents.

Regardless, time moves fast and that marvellous 2024 playoff run seems like so long ago.

These last-place Canucks are struggling in every conceivably way. Injuries and a crazy condensed schedule are contributing factors that have affected every club. However, allowing the most goals, being ranked 25th in scoring, having but four wins on home ice has resulted in post-game boos reduced to quiet resignation of a lost season.

There’s a constant low-volume murmur in Rogers Arena these days to signify growing apathy with a losing product

All fans want is hope, whether it’s the present or future. And because Hughes could easily return two roster players, prime prospect, plus a pair of first-round picks in a trade, it makes the appetite for a re-build more palatable. Even for the owner.

After all, Hughes deserves to win.