Canucks vs Wild Game Day: The return of Quinn Hughes

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Vancouver Canucks vs Minnesota Wild

Where/when: Sunday, 7 p.m., Rogers Arena

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TV: Sportsnet Pacific. Radio: KiSS 104.9 FM

The Buzz: The game we’ve been waiting for for almost a year has arrived.

Quinn Hughes knows he’ll probably be greeted with boos, but he says he knows that’s not up to him.

“I think part of the reason I love Vancouver is the passion, and I don’t take anything personally,” he told reporters in Seattle on Saturday. “How I am received tomorrow will not affect how I feel about Vancouver tomorrow, the next day or five years down the line. Like, I just feel gratitude, and one night … will not affect 6 ½ years of how I enjoyed this place.
He always gave his best, he insists.

“The one thing I will say is that sometimes I see [people claim] that I didn’t end up trying or what. Like, I played 30 minutes a night. I did everything I could. The only thing you could say is that I probably pushed too hard. So if you want to say that, I’m fine with that. But anyone who says I gave up or didn’t try, you know, I’m a 5-10, 175 pound defenseman; I didn’t get here because of my lack of competitiveness. Personally, I gave everything I had.

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History: The only time the Wild played in Vancouver last season was a week before the trade that sent Hughes to Minnesota, brought Liam Ohgren, Marco Rossi and Zeev Buium, plus first rounder Adam Novotny, west. The Canucks won 4-2. The Wild won both games in St. Louis.

Hope: The Canucks have lost nine straight. Surely the public will be excited about the player, so many now call Quit Hughes. The crowd’s energy can help the home team, which was flat and lackluster against Detroit on Thursday.

The fear: The Canucks are so low on confidence that it will take a lot to pull them out of their current funk. Minnesota is much closer to contender status, even without the injured Brock Faber. This is as difficult a challenge as it can be.

The top weapons: Canucks: Elias Pettersson continues to score but is almost the only consistent thing offensively for the Canucks. Ohgren was scratched Thursday, but was able to return against his old team. Wild: Kirill Kaprizov already has 19 points this season, including 12 goals. Hughes himself has 14 points, even though questions are being raised about his own future in Minnesota. Don’t forget he didn’t sign an extension there either.

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The injured:Canucks: Thatcher Demko, hip surgery recovery, undetermined (IR). Wild: Brock Faber, skull fracture, indefinite (IR), Filip Gustavsson, hip, week to week (IR), Nick Foligno, upper body, week to week (IR), Marcus Foligno, lower body, week to week (IR).

The quote: “The one thing I will say is that sometimes I see (people claim) that I didn’t try at the end or what not. Like, I played 30 minutes a night. I did everything I could. The only thing you could say is that I probably pushed too hard. So if you want to say that, I’m fine with that. But anyone who says that I give up or you don’t know, I tried, -10 175-pound defenseman I’m not got here because of my lack of competitiveness Personally, I gave it everything I had.-Hughes Saturday on his Canucks return.

The projected lineup:

O’Connor-EP40-Karlsson
Cotter-Rossi-Boeser
DeBrusk-Caught Lekkerimaki
Ohgren-Sasson-Gallagher

EP25-Grape
Oleksiak-Willander
Buium-Mancini

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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