Do Quinn Hughes’ Comments About Toronto Mean Anything?

The Vancouver Canucks season is getting late early, and management’s memo that all veteran players are available on the trade market has not seemed to spur the team onto a winning streak. As they continue to lose and fall further down the standings, currently 30th in the league, the noise around the future of Quinn Hughes gets louder, and at this point, barring a drastic turnaround, it’s not going to go away.

His connection to the New Jersey Devils is also never going to go away, but of late, we’ve heard about the Philadelphia Flyers and Detroit Red Wings, among others, that could push their chips in to acquire the superstar defenseman should Vancouver decide to move him.

Another team that’s been loosely speculated as a landing spot for Hughes is the Maple Leafs, and in a recent article for Olympics.com, the Orlando, Florida, native spoke glowingly about his time growing up in Toronto, which he referred to as the Mecca of hockey.

Hughes said:

“We kind of grew up in Toronto. I was there from 8 to 15 because of my dad’s work, which I feel really blessed, because it’s kind of like the Mecca of hockey and it was fun to grow up there. I just remember playing mini sticks… and we’d watch Hockey Night in Canada, and Don Cherry would be on,”

High praise from the 26-year-old, who, as we all know, is in the fifth season of the six-year, $47.1 million extension he signed with the Canucks back in 2021, with the potential to hit free agency after the 2026-27 campaign.

The Maple Leafs Should Absolutely Target Quinn Hughes

Whether we should connect any dots to link Hughes to Toronto based on those comments is questionable, but what shouldn’t be in question is whether the Maple Leafs should pursue the Canucks superstar.

Despite a rocky start to the season, Toronto has begun to right the ship of late, now just four points out of a playoff spot, thanks in large part to the play of Joseph Woll upon returning from a personal leave of absence.

Many were skeptical about the Maple Leafs putting forth a huge package for Hughes, given how poorly they had been playing, but we’ve now seen more of what was expected coming into the season, so making the playoffs should undoubtedly be the expectation moving forward.

This team is in win-now mode, with their best players only having so many prime years left; it’s time to go all-in. If there’s anything they need, it’s a boost on the blue line, particularly a dynamic puck mover that can run the power play and be their number one defenseman, and there might only be one other player in the world that can do that as well as Hughes.

It often gets said that a team led by Auston Matthews or William Nylander can’t get it done in the playoffs, but what about a team led by Hughes, Matthews, and Nylander? That would be a different story, and the Maple Leafs have to explore what it would take to make it happen.

Next: Is William Nylander Playing Through an Injury?