The Vancouver Canucks general manager was peppered with queries about the arrival, health and highly-anticipated debut of 19-year-old defenceman Quinn Hughes.
“He won’t play until he’s 100 per cent healthy and when we get that word, and the swelling goes down in his ankle, he’ll be in the lineup,” said Benning. “When I talked to him Monday, his ankle was still fairly swollen. I want him to get in here and get adjusted to the speed and strength of NHL players, but there are aspects of his game where he can help us right now.”
Hughes had 33 points in 30 games this season with the disappointing 13-18-7 Wolverines. His eye-popping array of puck-moving wizardry — especially mobility to avoid the first forechecker with elite edge work — will be a boon to the back end. So will his ability to run a plodding and predictable power play that has sunk to 29th overall.
“I talked to his advisor to see if there was any appetite for that, but he made a decision to finish out the year and didn’t feel it was the right thing to do, to leave his team halfway through the year,” said Benning.Aside from plaudits for being the youngest player in the 2018 World Hockey Championship with the U.S. and competing in two world junior tournaments, a rich family hockey lineage also works into the equation.