Vancouver Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes didn’t participate in the NHL’s All-Star Game this past weekend, though it was initially reported he went to Sin City to watch his brother, Jack. Then both brothers tested positive for COVID-19.
A Canucks spokesperson on Monday told local media that Hughes wasn’t in Las Vegas, but the team wasn’t sure if he spent the break back home in Michigan or elsewhere.
Either way, Quinn will miss Tuesday night’s game against the Arizona Coyotes in Vancouver.
The league and the NHL Players’ Association agreed to stop testing asymptomatic players on a daily basis last week, except for when crossing the U.S.-Canada border.
That meant Hughes was required to be tested before returning to Canada. Multiple reports now have him out until at least Feb. 17.
It’s not an ideal situation for coach Bruce Boudreau and the Canucks, as Hughes leads the team with a plus-10 plus/minus rating, is second in scoring with 34 points (two goals, 32 assists) and is the quarterback of their power play.
It’s not the first time the Canucks have dealt with this, as all but three players on their roster — Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Nils Hollander and rookie Vasily Podkolzin — have tested positive at some point this season.
“I’m impressed how they went about their business, the work ethic through COVID and injuries, and gave it everything they have,” Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said last Friday on The Bob McCown podcast.
The Canucks, who return from the break six points out of a wild-card playoff berth in the Western Conference, hope to take advantage of some home cooking. Just three of their 13 games in 2022 have been at home, though they’ve lost all three (0-2-1) and are 8-8-3 at Rogers Arena this season.
The Coyotes are second-to-last in the league in points (only Montreal has fewer) and most of the talk surrounding the franchise is about either selling pieces at the trade deadline or the plan to play next season at Arizona State University’s 5,000-seat arena.
The Coyotes did pull off, according to oddsmakers, the league’s biggest upset since 2006 last week, defeating Colorado 3-2 in a shootout Tuesday to snap the Avalanche’s 18-game home winning streak. The Coyotes were +450 underdogs on the moneyline.
“We mentioned many times this year that we have a group with a lot of pride, a lot of character and a lot of leadership,” Arizona coach Andre Tourigny said. “The boys take pride in the way they play, the way they bounce back. They know the Avs are a really good team, they were on a roll. They arrived here with a lot of pride, they played with a lot of passion, and they battled all the way through.”
–Field Level Media
