He really is not.

He defends much much better than Rielly. Rielly is one of the worst dmen in his own zone in the league. Hughes isn’t great defensively, but is much better than Rielly is. They are both great offensively, you could argue either way who’s better there

I never said the Leafs would do it either. But Hughes would be their best dman. He’s better than Rielly

Saying Hughes can’t defend but he can defend better than Karlsson, Rielly, while also being similar offensively to Rielly.

Hughes’ defense is becoming underrated, he’s not elite but he’s not a liability in his own like Karlsson/Rielly/Barrie are

I would take Hughes over Rielly, Letang, Karlsson, Chabot, Werenski, and arguably Theodore and Carlson

Sure bud, it's absolutely hilarious how such a good player is somehow the single worst defensive player in the league. All the while playing 20+ minutes a night and in all situations and successfully as well. Must all be a conspiracy

And yet the Canucks are absolutely terrible defensively. Giving up the most rush chances in the league. It's so weird how all the canuck players isolated are awesome players worth major returns but when they play on the same team they get rolled constantly. With how many top top end players you have you shouldn't have lost a game since Green was fired.

Hughes can't box a guy out to save his life. The kid has a good stick and skates very well but he's so small that guys can push past him in front way too easily. He's a purely offensive player. Rielly is average defensively, but he's a leaf and no matter how good they do defensively, they will allow more goals against then every other team. Even when they don't. It's amazing. 8th in GA/G and somehow still 32nd defensively eh?

Only because Rielly plays for the Leafs. Put him on any other team and he's probably top 5 in the league. But he's a leaf so he's just not very good.

You don't blame a team's defensive struggles on one guy. OEL, Myers, Stillman, Rathbone are defensive nightmares. Demko has also had a rough stretch. You clearly haven't watched Hughes since the COVID season if this is your analysis of him

The Canucks including Hughes, give up major major rush chances. He's just as bad as anyone on the team. But this is an argument with a Canucks fan. All leaf players suck or are definitely worse than Canuck players and the Leafs are definitely worse defensively, and yet TO allows way less chances against, have a better record and score more (early season craziness will balance). It just is so weird how a team with only great players continues to always be so much worse than a team that has worse players and no defence.

All you ever do is put words into other people's mouths. Did I say all Canucks defensemen are better than all Leafs defensemen? No. Did I say the Canucks have good defense? No. You're unbearable to debate with because you just make up statements

All Canucks fans on here say the same stuff. Hughes is better than Rielly, Garland, Petterson, and who ever else are all better than Nylander and Miller is better than JT and Matthews etc etc. It's all the same. And yet, the Canucks just aren't good

I’d like to see where somebody said Miller is better than Matthews. Continue making stuff up

Who has said Miller is better than Matthews? Or that Garland is better than Nylander?

The Hughes - Schenn pair has been one of the most low event pairs in the NHL (minimum 100 minutes together) in the league. 2nd least scoring chances against. So either Quinn Hughes is not a train wreck defensively or Luke Schenn is the elite stabilizing force the Canucks have been looking for. The choice is yours

Nothing quite as great as when someone has no argument so they resort to making things up

When all you provide is “but coach plays him a lot” you don’t have much on your side.

Well that one was a buddy of mine who's a Canucks fan. I am grouping you with a group of usuals who literally say stuff this nuts and that is likely unfair. But you all seem to hate TO and underrate all of their players. Most seem to do that. Which is why you can't make a fair trade on this site involving the leafs.

I have seen people trade Garland for Nylander and Canuck fans say no because Garland is worth more because he has a better contract. The Matthews one is an exaggeration but this is how it is on here. Like there is absolutely zero supporting evidence to suggest that Schenn is anything but worse than Holl but he's way better according to Canuck fans. Rielly is average defensively, plays in a high event system and comes out very positive and somehow that means he's terrible defensively. It just goes on and on.

That is absolutely untrue. I just looked at their numbers on Natural statrick and Hughes is at 45 percent in scoring chances for and under 45 percent for high danger chances. For an apparent wizard offensively and average defensive player he allows more chances than he creates. Either he's not that good offensively or he's not good defensively.

And I've heard Toronto fans tell me that Nick Robertson is the second coming of Jesus. There are dumb nuts in every fanbase

Very true. In all honesty I don't see TO and Vancouver being good trade partners. Apart from Demko, who will cost way too much to get, you don't have anyone I would want to spend the assets needed to get.

He’s been weirdly low event this year. Low amount of chances for and low amount of chances against. I’m not concerned, if he can keep up his current defence he’ll be great once his offence is back to normal

It's always rosey eh?

No. Miller has been garbage all year. Demko hasn’t looked like himself either. I can list tons of problems with this team but Hughes is not one of them. It’s the rest of the defence that’s a problem