Quinn Hughes Is The Best Puck Moving Defenseman In The NHL
This is not a post that’s meant to disrespect Cale Makar. Nobody is in Makar’s class. I’m not sure Hughes is as good as Adam Fox, Charlie McAvoy, or Miro Heiskanen either. However, it is pretty undeniable that Hughes is the best puck-moving defenseman in the NHL.
Hughes still has a ways to go on the defensive side of the game. That’s probably viewed as his weakness despite the fact that he ranked 9th in takeaways last year. Again, we’re not talking about his shot, skating, forechecking, etc. What Hughes does better than any defenseman in the NHL is move the puck.
Hughes, 23, was second in the NHL among blue liners in primary assists only trailing the Norris winner Erik Karlsson. He was tied for first with Karlsson in secondary assists. On the powerplay, Hughes is about as good as it gets moving the puck. He’s not exactly playing with a strong cast of teammates either outside of Elias Pettersson.
The Canucks powerplay ace also finished number one in passes completed by blue liners. Number one. Nobody was better. Again, that’s while playing for the Canucks. A team that missed the playoffs and the rest of his teammates on the blue line stink. Hughes was asked to play over 25 minutes per game for Vancouver and is the only one they trust to actually spark the offense.
Quick side note: Hughes is ranked way too low in fantasy hockey. ESPN has him outside of the top 100 players and Hughes made the OnlyFans list for defensemen. He’s a big-time value in that spot for fantasy and should continue to rack up points for a long time.
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