HENDERSON, Nev. — Quinn Hughes said it is possible Vancouver Canucks fans will view him differently after team president Jim Rutherford declared at an offseason news conference that the defenseman “wants to play with his brothers” Jack and Luke Hughes of the New Jersey Devils.
In April, Rutherford was asked about the future of Quinn Hughes with the franchise as the defenseman has two more years left on his contract. “It may not boil down to money with him. He’s said before he wants to play with his brothers. That would be partly out of our control. In our control would be if we brought his brothers here,” Rutherford said.
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Jack Hughes, entering his seventh season in New Jersey, said he was caught off guard by Rutherford’s comments.
“Honestly, I was a little surprised that he would be so forthcoming with that,” he told ESPN at the NHL player media tour in Las Vegas. “If he wants to talk about the Quinn situation, go for it, but I don’t have much say or control of the matter. I think that we’ll see what happens.”
When asked about the comments, Quinn Hughes deferred to Rutherford, who won Stanley Cups as a general manager with the Carolina Hurricanes and Pittsburgh Penguins.
“I don’t know … Jim’s a smart guy. Jim’s doing, you know, what he wants to do. I’ve got a lot of respect for Jim, so I’ll just leave it that,” he said.
While Rutherford said the Canucks “will do everything we can to keep” Quinn Hughes in Vancouver, his comments created concern among the fans that Hughes might walk as a free agent in 2027 or that the team might move him before that.
Quinn Hughes acknowledged that fans’ perceptions of his future with Vancouver might have been altered by Rutherford’s comments.
“Possibly. But I can’t control that,” he said.
Quinn Hughes led the Canucks in scoring last season with 76 points despite an injury that limited him to 68 games and kept him out of the 4 Nations Face-Off for Team USA. He was one of the first six players named to the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey roster for 2026, where he hopes to play with Jack and potentially Luke, who both attended U.S. Olympic hockey development camp.
Jack Hughes made no secret that he’d love to be an NHL teammate with Quinn one day during the player media tour this week.
“Honestly, I’m not afraid to say it. Eventually I’d love to play with him. And whether that’s in New Jersey or at what time that takes, at some point, I want to play with Quinn,” he said, via The Athletic. “But yeah, that’s the question going around. They talk all day about it up in Vancouver, you know? But yeah, I’d love to play with Quinn at some point.”
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