Like Brock Boeser and Adam Gaudette before him, Quinn Hughes will give Vancouver Canucks fans a showcase of what’s to come. Like the previous two, Hughes comes to the Canucks shortly after the end of his college season.

He will also debut on a Canucks team that is broken; the playoffs being a distant dream that has since faded away. Once again, the NHL club needs something in the form of hope to cling to as they round the bend on a fourth straight playoff-less season.

This time, it’s Hughes, and—all respect to Boeser—he’s the most promising of the three. The defenceman absolutely tore up the NCAA with the University of Michigan and made his presence known at both the World Junior tournament and the World Championships.

The thought is that Hughes will slide into the lineup right away and be a difference maker (and, you know, sell a few tickets). But there are still some questions to be answered. We have five.

1. So, when exactly will he play?

Hughes hurt his ankle in his penultimate college game. And though he played through it on Saturday night as Michigan was eliminated, that was probably more of an adrenaline thing. The Canucks have maintained that he won’t play unless he’s 100 percent healthy, and Sportsnet’s John Shannon has already reported that Hughes won’t go tonight against the New York Rangers.

It’s always seemed like Friday against the Devils was the best bet, but even that’s not a sure thing.

2. And Canucks fans seem stoked about that. Why?

That’s because if Hughes plays more than 10 games with the Canucks he must be protected in the Seattle expansion draft in 2021-2022. That would leave the Canucks in quite a bind, as the team can only protect three defencemen if they want to protect the maximum amount of players.

Since Troy Stecher and Olli Juolevi are no-brainers, and Ben Hutton will likely need to be protected as well, that leaves the Canucks in a bit of a bind. And that’s before factoring in what seems to be a likely extension for Alex Edler, and whatever the team does with Chris Tanev.

The Canucks have 13 games left, so if Hughes misses/is sat down for three, they are safe.

3. That seems worrisome. Are the Canucks concerned?

Uhh, kinda? Canucks general manager Jim Benning was asked about this in his media availability by TSN’s Jeff Paterson (question starts around 4:37).

https://twitter.com/Canucks/status/1105175863878868998

But he mostly punted on the question, saying that it wasn’t fair to make a comment on that at this point. “Let’s just get him in here and see where he’s at and see when he’s going to start playing.”

The Canucks obviously can’t afford to be set back in any way by the expansion draft. Teams like the Minnesota Wild and Florida Panthers have had that experience, and it’s not pretty.

4. Who will Hughes play with?

With Chris Tanev on his way back to the lineup (he’ll play tonight against New York), he would seem to be a fitting partner for the offensively inclined Hughes. That would leave Troy Stecher and Alex Edler together, as Ben Hutton is still out.

There have been some suggestions that Stecher and Hughes should go together and while we’re not against that at all, Tanev’s presence as a smooth skating defensive rearguard could be beneficial to Hughes.

5. What can we expect from him offensively?

He’ll be out there on the power play, that much is clear. It won’t be long until Hughes is quarterbacking the team’s number one unit, even if it doesn’t start like that right away. The Canucks have been awful with the man advantage; since December, the team has been the sixth worst team in the league in terms of goals percentage.

It’s unreasonable to expect Hughes to fix that right away, but he will add something to the power play that’s been missing—a mobile, playmaking quarterback.

Overall, he’s going to make mistakes and gamble with the puck, coach Travis Green even admitted as much. But he should—and apparently will—be allowed to play through the blunders as he tries to create both offence and a reason for fans to be excited about the team once again.

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