Hughes needs a careful coaching hand; Virtanen looks to be third-line resident
Quinn Hughes had a no-practice maintenance day Sunday.
That qualifies as news because it's hard to keep the Calder Trophy runner-up off the ice in his relentless resolve to keep taking an electric game to another level. Through three games, the Vancouver Canucks defenceman led the club in points (three), shots (11) and average ice time (24:27).
He also leads in moxie by breaking his stick on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins after the Edmonton winger blindsided Brock Boeser with a high hit in the season-opener. Hughes is also an early candidate for pass of the year. In that same game, he somehow shovelled a blind backhand feed, while sitting on his butt just inside the Oiler blue-line, to spring Boeser for one of the winger's two goals.
And because Hughes is going to be a top target, he took a high stick from Mikael Backlund on Saturday in Calgary to give the Canucks a 5-on-3 power play advantage.
All this could cause concern that Hughes is trying to do too much.
Should he be pushing himself this hard in a compacted 56-game season where rest and recovery are going to be as important as goals and assists? The answer from Hughes would be yes. The answer from his coach is more pragmatic.
“He is such a talent that you kind of have to be careful,” Travis Green said Monday morning. “We have to be careful in stifling him. He's a smart player and certain players figure things out on their own in what they're capable of doing and what they're not.
“We try to teach him things defensively that will help his game. And from the offensive side, we show him the structure of how our team wants to play. But we still let him be creative because he has a special talent and we have to let him use it. He looks like he's progressing as a player and in his maturity.”
Hughes had been paired with Travis Hamonic and occasionally with Nate Schmidt, depending on game tempo and the scoreboard. It gives Green options to deploy a traditional set of a stay-at-home blue-liner paired with a puck-mover or two guys who can get up in the play and make something happen.
“You have to step back and look at the team game and separate wins and losses when you're looking at individual play and keeping in mind that Hamonic hasn't had a camp,” added Green. “He's still finding his best game and has been pretty good on a new team.
“And when you see players north of 24 minutes (like Hughes), they're going to be with different partners and it's not a slight, it's coaching to win. It's finding ways to get Quinn out there to give us an advantage.”
VIRTANEN'S LINE DANCE
Jake Virtanen has had his top-six looks, but appears destined to be a third-line constant.
The return of J.T. Miller from COVID-19 high-risk, close contact quarantine protocol, and the early emergence of rookie Nils Hoglander have set the top two lines. Green likes his fourth line of Jay Beagle between Tyler Motte and Braden Sutter — a shutdown trio that has combined for 15 shots and scoring chances through three games — so Virtanen could align again with Adam Gaudette and Antoine Roussel in place of Zack MacEwen. Virtanen has also taken twirls on Bo Horvat's line.
“We have good chemistry and have played with each other a lot,” Virtanen said of the third line. “We know how each other plays and we're going to make it simple, get pucks to the net and outwork the line we're playing — if we play together. We'll be ready.”
And if Virtanen needs extra incentive, he can always look to the continuing mentorship that he's getting from Miller.
“He has meant a lot to me,” added Virtanen. “He brings a special energy and I'm just super-excited to have him back. He's always hooting and hollering on the ice.”
Green is deploying more set lines to get combos up to speed with 11 games in 18 days this month, including three back-to-backs.
“In the playoffs, we were very dialed in and I feel right now some of the details in our game are still coming together and we've got some new players,” said Green. “I've tried to stick with lines longer and I wanted to keep Hoglander with Horvat and Pears (Tanner Pearson) from Day 1, to make him feel comfortable and also spotting him on other lines because he has played so well.”
How well? Miller has noticed. “He has looked awesome,” said the veteran winger. “He's super-strong for a little guy, but superfast and super-skilled. Those are three deadly combinations and he's going to get better. We're just breaking the seal with him. I tried to pick his brain a bit with what I saw and he was super-receptive.”