NHL Insider Links Red Wings To Former Norris Trophy Winner Quinn
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It appears as though the Vancouver Canucks are in the initial stages of preparing to sell off assets as they’ve slogged through yet another subpar start to their season, and the Detroit Red Wings could be in prime position to right a wrong from 2018.
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As you may recall, the Red Wings selected forward Filip Zadina with the sixth overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. The Canucks followed by selecting Hughes, who was bred in the nearby suburb of Ann Arbor by playing for the University of Michigan Wolverines.
As a freshman, he set a school record with 24 assists, the most ever by a first-year defenseman, and earned selections on both the Big Ten All-Freshman Team and the All-Big Ten Second Team.
Hughes also played for the U.S. National Team Development Program, based in Plymouth.
While Detroit’s selection of Zadina seemed like a steal at the time, both players could not have gone in more opposite directions during their respective NHL careers.
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Zadina never panned out as expected and ultimately finished his time with the Red Wings having scored just 28 goals in 190 games. He played a lone season with the San Jose Sharks in 2023-24, scoring 13 goals in 72 games before returning overseas, where he now plays in Switzerland with Davos HC.
Meanwhile, Hughes has blossomed into not only the best defenseman in Canucks history, but also one of the most talented blue liners in recent NHL memory. He has already become the franchise’s all-time leader in both assists and total points by a defenseman, and set a new NHL record for a defenseman by reaching 300 career assists in just 376 games.
He also won the Norris Trophy as the NHL’s best defenseman in 2024.
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Hughes, who is under contract for one more season at a reasonable $7.85 million cap hit, was linked to the Red Wings amid the…
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