Rip The Mesh

VANCOUVER — Starving for success, Quinn Hughes changed what he eats.

After a visit last summer to a Denver doctor who specializes in nutrition, Hughes stopped consuming alcohol during hockey season, eliminated grains and reduced other sources of gluten from his diet, avoided processed foods and tried to eat natural foods. Any beef he ate was grass-fed.

Hughes ate more meals and fewer snacks. Pretzels had been a favourite.

The Vancouver Canucks captain didn’t talk about his diet at all during the National Hockey League season, and he isn’t willing to talk much about it now. Claiming his diet does not have a name and isn’t as simple as gluten-free, Hughes explained he simply wanted to improve his body to better withstand the rigours of the NHL season.

He played all 95 regular-season and playoff games for the Canucks.

“I was just so disappointed how the last couple of seasons had ended from a team perspective,” he told Sportsnet in a telephone interview from his home in Michigan. “It was nothing crazy, but I learned a lot about my body. It’s not necessarily the most fun thing to do. But if you're trying to be one of the best in the league, I think that's something that you have to do — the sacrifice I wouldn't have anticipated when I was 19 or 20.”

VANCOUVER — Starving for success, Quinn Hughes changed what he eats.

After a visit last summer to a Denver doctor who specializes in nutrition, Hughes stopped consuming alcohol during hockey season, eliminated grains and reduced other sources of gluten from his diet, avoided processed foods and tried to eat natural foods. Any beef he ate was grass-fed.

Hughes ate more meals and fewer snacks. Pretzels had been a favourite.

The Vancouver Canucks captain didn’t talk about his diet at all during the National Hockey League season, and he isn’t willing to talk much about it now. Claiming his diet does not have a name and isn’t as simple as gluten-free, Hughes explained he simply wanted to improve his body to better withstand the rigours of the NHL season.

He played all 95 regular-season and playoff games for the Canucks.

“I was just so disappointed how the last couple of seasons had ended from a team perspective,” he told Sportsnet in a telephone interview from his home in Michigan. “It was nothing crazy, but I learned a lot about my body. It’s not necessarily the most fun thing to do. But if you're trying to be one of the best in the league, I think that's something that you have to do — the sacrifice I wouldn't have anticipated when I was 19 or 20.”

How Hughes plans to grow as player and leader after his best year

Now 24, Hughes played so well this season that the defenceman should become the Canucks franchise’s first Norris Trophy winner when the NHL hands out the last of its individual awards Thursday in Las Vegas ahead of the draft that begins the next night.

Hughes is a first-time Norris finalist, up against 2022 winner Cale Makar and 2020 recipient Roman Josi. But no NHL defenceman was better this season than Hughes.

His 92 points led all blue-liners and only six defencemen in league history have had more assists in one season than the 75 helpers Hughes accrued. He was also plus-38, and on the ice for 57.2 per cent of Canucks shot attempts and 57.7 per cent of scoring chances. Vancouver outscored opponents 92-55 with Hughes at five-on-five. And the five-foot-10 American did all this as a first-year captain amid the searing glare of a Canadian market. The Canucks won the Pacific Division with 109 points and pushed the Stanley Cup runner-up Edmonton Oilers to Game 7 of the playoffs’ second round.

"When I got here, he said, 'I'm tired of losing. What have we got to do?'" Canucks coach Rick Tocchet told Sportsnet. "When a guy says that... that was our first conversation. 'I'm tired of losing and we've got to get trust back in this room.' And he delivered. He'll even tell you he wants to be a better captain next year. That's the maturation of a star player.

“I knew he had changed his diet. He was telling our chef, 'I want this, I want that.' Huggy is into anything that will give him an edge. He’s always looking for an edge. He made those changes. He even stepped up his recuperation program after games. Maybe two years ago, he put his suit on and took off; that’s what young kids do. But now he’s got to spend 10 minutes in the weight room, and get a deep stretch, massage. That’s great for the organization because all of a sudden other young guys come in — (Nils) Hoglander and (Vasily) Podkolzin — and see their captain doing this and think they better do it, too."

Tocchet last month was named the Jack Adams Award winner as NHL coach of the year. Canucks star Elias Pettersson was runnerup to Jacob Slavin for the Lady Byng, and Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko is a finalist with Connor Hellebuyck and Sergei Bobrovsky for the Vezina Trophy to be handed out Thursday.

The NHL will also announce winners for the Hart Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award and Calder Trophy.

“I think over the course of the last three, four years, I've developed,” Hughes said. “I think after my second year, I was really upset with... just hearing about how I wasn't good enough defensively or that I wasn't a true No. 1 (defenceman). I can remember all the people that said that.

“I'm not trying to prove them wrong but, you know, it's not easy hearing those things. For me, it was always internal to see how good I can personally get. But I did want to be better and... I'm proud of that.”

“Quinn is as driven as anybody,” Canucks president Jim Rutherford said. “It's about being the best at what he does at his position on the ice. But he's also driven by team success, and that's part of the reason that he is the team captain. Team success is just as important to him as individual success. When I got here, he was already a terrific player, so it's not like he had to do a lot of work to put himself into a role of being a No. 1 defenceman. But his game has matured into an all-round game, playing a lot of minutes every game and being a dominant player. He has matured into a special player and leader.”

Although Hughes won’t talk much about his diet, he does talk about his peers in what has become a brilliant era for young, dynamic defencemen in the NHL.

He was second to the Colorado Avalanche's Makar, 25, in Calder Trophy balloting by the Professional Hockey Writers Association when the defencemen were rookies in 2019-20.

The New York Rangers' Adam Fox, 26, won the Norris Trophy in 2021. The wave of elite, young defencemen includes the Boston Bruins' Charlie McAvoy, 26, and 24-year-olds Miro Heiskanen of the Dallas Stars, Rasmus Dahlin of the Buffalo Sabres, and Evan Bouchard of Edmonton.

Thursday finalists for the Calder Trophy include 21-year-old defenceman Brock Faber of the Minnesota Wild and 20-year-old Luke Hughes, Quinn’s youngest brother, of the New Jersey Devils. They will be runners-up to Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard of North Vancouver.

“Yeah, I think that definitely drives me,” Quinn Hughes said of his peer group. “I mean, I want to be up there with those guys. Looking at Makar having a Norris and Fox having a Norris, being the same age as those guys, I wanted to try to drive my game where I could possibly be in that category. I have great respect for all those guys. They are tremendous players and... it pushed me. But I've also pushed myself. I hope I can be fortunate enough to win, but in saying that, there's so many great defencemen in the league that I truly feel humbled to be up there.”

Asked the most important thing he has learned since making his debut for the Canucks as a 19-year-old straight out of the University of Michigan, Hughes said: “I just think about how hard it is. (The NHL) is incredibly hard. You have to work on your mental game, you have to work on your body, you have to work on your mindset heading into games, you have to work on different skills each season that you can build upon. I truly think that it's a body of work. I just think about how much better I've gone from age 20 to now. Hopefully from 24 to 28, I can continue on that path.”

The Vancouver Canucks say they’re revoking season ticket accounts from some people they believe are professional ticket brokers but Derek Wright insists that common fans are winding up collateral damage.

Wright, who’s from Mission, started up the Canucks Ticket Exchange on Facebook eight years ago. It had grown to have “almost 11,000 members,” Wright explained via email, and it “allowed blue-collar fans like myself to see more games because often fans were able to buy tickets for less money than Ticketmaster.”

A Canucks spokesperson said Tuesday morning that the team has been researching season ticket holder accounts. They looked at people they felt were reselling tickets too frequently, as well as people who had several accounts. Some of those had different addresses but a single billing address, for instance.

A written statement from the team explained that “our goal with season ticket memberships is to create a sense of community and allow fans to attend as many games as possible. Restricting ticket brokers from purchasing memberships and tickets will help create the best possible experience for our fans and protect the integrity of our season ticket members.”

There’s no word from the team about a ticket reselling threshold or about how many tickets being sold to other parties leads to an account being questioned. Canucks season ticket holders can resell their tickets through Ticketmaster, according to the team website.

Wright has posted a closure statement on the Canucks Ticket Exchange page. He hasn’t had his season tickets revoked, but he told Postmedia that he’s heard that “almost 100 accounts” have lost their seats.

“A lot of season ticket holders aren’t able to attend every game. That leaves them trying to sell the rest to help recoup some of their costs. Remember, these are seat packages in the thousands of dollars,” Wright wrote to Postmedia.

“The Canucks organization has a deal with Ticketmaster, which I understand and they obviously want their cut. Unfortunately, the minimum amount that you’re able to sell tickets for is often high enough that the tickets would go unsold and, especially when the team wasn’t doing well or we were playing a team people didn’t care to see on a work night. What would happen then is basically the ticket holder would take a total loss on those games often in the hundreds of dollars.

“Now that the team is doing well and ticket demand/prices are high again, the Canucks organization has made the decision to turn against those same season ticket members who kept them going through hard times by revoking season ticket members’ accounts for being ticket resellers on groups such as ours. The funny thing is, it didn’t seem to bother them when it was helping them move tickets that they themselves were having trouble moving.

“I understand that they are a for-profit organization, but by making the decision to revoke season ticket holders accounts for selling tickets, what they’ve really done is make tickets less accessible for the average Joe. Ticketmaster prices are often quite high, and even the Canucks themselves often sell their unsold tickets lower than Ticketmaster sells them for. But no tickets were as low as what you could buy directly from the season ticket holder.”

Peter Wortman says that he’s been a season-ticket holder for 33 years. An email to him dated June 12 from the Canucks stated that his seats weren’t being renewed because “you have either resold 100 per cent of your tickets or forwarded them to known broker accounts.”

Wortman balks at that claim. He’s from Pemberton. He says that he can’t make every game. By his count, he made it to 17 of the 41 home games this past regular season.

He admits that he’s resold to ticket brokers, but maintains he resells mostly to family and friends and his goal is to break even on his tickets every season. He “lost a lot of money,” on his Canucks tickets when the team was struggling because it was hard for him to find people who wanted his seats.

“I know it’s a cash grab,” Wortman continued of this recent Canucks decision. “We’re not stupid.

“They keep saying it’s about giving the average fan a better chance but they’re going to be charging more than we were.”

Tom Mayenknecht, who hosts The Sports Market on Sportsnet 650, believes the issue for the Canucks comes down to “restricting brokers without using a sledgehammer on the average season ticket holder.

“The irony is this all comes after the buzz in the marketplace that was generated by the Canucks’ playoff run to the second round, when many season ticket holders saw first hand the advantage of season ticket holder pricing and the upside of ticket reselling — often at two to three times face value — as part of the territory of being a season ticket subscriber,” he said. “That average season ticket holder has been trained to view reselling through the Ticketmaster Exchange and team portals as an intrinsic benefit of being such a subscriber.”

@SteveEwen........

7 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

 

I do. If we're going to get the most out of Petey, he needs a true top line winger. 

 

I know, 11.5 he should do it on his own, etc etc but if you look at the top C's in the league, they all have that kind of wing man. 

 

We'd have two very legit top lines paired around Miller-Boeser, Guentzel-Petey, and Tocc can teach the kids in the bottom 6 how to grind out games. 

 

2 minutes ago, PhillipBlunt said:

Would Guentzel be impactful enough with this team to justify the price tag? Personally, I doubt it. Especially if it affects the team’s ability to shore up their defense. There are other cheaper players who could complement Pettersson. 

Totally agree with that sentiment!

Time to get it in gear or you'll be buried before the middle of July!

23 minutes ago, Coconuts said:

 

Honestly, I'd rather sign a second liner and a top 4RD over Guentzel if possible. Guentzel is the top tier forward out there, absolutely, but I think two higher end additions would benefit us more than one would. 

And the money makes more sense.

2011 ? For sure but IMO, we had a more complete and balanced team in 1994. 

3 hours ago, higgyfan said:

 

Let's bring it to the present time.  If it was JT, he would be praised by the fans for showing that the

team loss was more important than an individual award.  As a matter of fact, I can see JT reacting

the same way as McD.

Not in a million. You need to know your JTs better. WOW!

2 minutes ago, Coconuts said:

No more moving out 2nd round picks please, especially to dump cap. We've already done that song and dance with Dickinson. 

Oh wow; There's a name I haven't heard for a while.