Former Canuck and current Hockey Night in Canada Analyst Kevin Bieksa says Hughes is so important to his team that he should be up for the Hart Trophy as the league's MVP.
On the Spittin Chiclets podcast, Bieksa said Hughes led the Canucks to a better season than anyone could have expected.
Bieksa says that if Hughes missed time this season, the Canucks wouldn't have even made the playoffs.
While players like Demko, Pettersson and Miller had great seasons, it is hard to imagine the Canucks being anywhere near where they were without the stellar play of their captain.
While Nate Mackinnon, Connor McDavid and Nikita Kucherov had incredible seasons to earn their Hart Trophy finalist nods - Bieksa argued that Hughes should be a finalist over Kucherov for vaulting his team to first place in the Pacific and ultimately should win the award.
He won't go home with the MVP, but Hughes will likely take home some hardware this year as the 24-year-old is the favourite to win his first Norris Trophy.
POLL | ||
21 MAI | 1333 ANSWERS Kevin Bieksa delivers a very hot take on Quinn Hughes and his play Where do you feel Hughes ranks in the Hart Trophy race? | ||
#1, he should be the winner | 765 | 57.4 % |
Top 3 but not the winner | 320 | 24 % |
Deserves top 5, but not a finalist | 177 | 13.3 % |
Outside of top 5 altogether | 71 | 5.3 % |
List of polls |