By Canadian Press

Canucks top pick Hughes excited to hit ice for first time with new team

Jul 3, 2018 | 3:30 PM

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Canucks’ top pick in this year’s NHL draft wasn’t about to let an illness keep him off the ice all week.

Defenceman Quinn Hughes, who missed the first day of the team’s annual development camp Monday with flu-like symptoms, was happy to put on skates for the first time with his new team on Tuesday.

“Obviously, it’s not the way I wanted to start. I was really looking forward to this week,” the seventh overall pick told reporters after practice.

Still battling a bit of a bug, the 18-year-old Orlando native said his focus was simply staying upright and making it through drills. He masked the suffering well, managing to display the quick feet and good hands that have helped make Hughes a top NHL prospect.

Hughes said the Canucks have been watching him for at least a year, so he doesn’t feel a need to do anything exceptional during camp.

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The five-foot-10 defenceman had five goals and 29 points in 37 games with the University of Michigan last season, and helped the U.S. capture bronze medals at both the 2018 world junior championship and men’s world championship.

Canucks general manager Jim Benning said on Sunday that management had yet to talk to Hughes and his family about signing on to play in the pro ranks this season, but would like to see him on the team soon.

“I feel he’s an NHL skater already. He’s still going to have to put in some work over the summer to get physically stronger to play at the NHL level,” Benning said. “But how smart he is and what a great skater he is, I think he has a chance.”

The Canucks are in the midst of a rebuild and much has been made of the team’s young talent, including winger Brock Boeser, who put up 29 goals and 55 points before suffering a lower-back fracture last season. 

With young prospects pushing for jobs, there should be a lot of competition at training camp, but Benning feels that’s a great problem to have.

Hughes said he hasn’t had any conversations with management yet about a contract and isn’t leaning one way or the other when it comes to deciding his plans for the 2018-19 season.

His dad is Jim Hughes, who has worked as an assistant coach for the Boston Bruins and in a variety of roles for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Quinn Hughes said he’ll listen to his family’s advice when it comes to contract talks.

“I’m dealing with a lot of smart hockey people who have a lot of knowledge and who’ve been doing this for a long time,” he said. “I’m going to listen to what they have to say and then gather my own thoughts and stuff like that.”

Hughes said his sole focus is becoming a better player.

“I think I just need to focus on getting in the weight room, getting stronger, getting faster, getting on the ice and working on my overall game,” he said.

Spending another year at Michigan wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, Hughes added.

“Obviously, my dream is to play in the NHL, that’s my ultimate goal,” he said. “So if I can do that, awesome, because that’s what I want to do. But if I can’t do that, I understand. (The NHL is) a really hard league. And if I have to go back to Michigan for a year, that’s great too because I love it there.”

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press