Canucks: 7 years later, how does Quinn Hughes stack up to the 2018 NHL Draft class?

Shortly after he signed his extension to essentially retire a Vancouver Canuck, we wrote a draft lookback of sorts examining how Brock Boeser stacks up with the 2015 NHL Draft class, ten years later. The response to that story was so overwhelmingly positive that we’ve decided to do the same exercise for other Canucks players throughout the rest of the offseason.

Today, we’re taking a look at Canucks captain Quinn Hughes.

A miracle Hughes fell to seventh + Other notable names

Thank God Quinn Hughes was classified as “undersized” by some talent evaluators.

Thinking like that certainly didn’t hurt the Canucks’ chances of getting lucky enough to be able to select the Michigan d-man with the seventh overall pick.

Six players were taken ahead of Hughes. Rasmus Dahlin, Andrei Svechnikov, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, Brady Tkachuk, Barrett Hayton, and Filip Zadina.

Other notable names taken in the draft after Hughes: Evan Bouchard (10th overall to Edmonton), Noah Dobson (12th overall to the New York Islanders), Joel Farabee (14th to Philadelphia), K’Andre Miller (22nd to the New York Rangers), Isac Lundestrom (23rd to Anaheim), Rasmus Sandin (29th to Toronto), Joe Veleno (30th to Detroit), and Alex Romanov (38th to Montreal).

How Hughes stacks up

In a redraft of the 2018 draft class, Hughes almost certainly goes first overall. Here are some numbers (keeping in mind that Hughes is a defenceman and Norris Trophy winner as well):

• Hughes leads the class in both assists (350) and points (409), as well as points per game (with at least 100 games played).
• Of players with at least 400 games played, Hughes has the fewest penalty minutes of anyone with 175.
• Hughes is the only player in the entire draft class to win a major NHL award.

There’s not many more ways to write about how great Quinn Hughes is, and regular readers of CanucksArmy already know that. Hughes is already the greatest defenceman in Canucks history, and fans are undoubtedly hoping they get to continue to watch him play in Canucks colours for years to come.