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With or without Quinn Hughes, the Vancouver Canucks have a couple defencemen who have been put on watch.

The NHL team is looking for a lot of progress this summer from Derrick Pouliot and Ben Hutton, puck-moving defencemen who could either make significant strides or be left in the dust.

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Pouliot, 24, and Hutton, 25, should top anyone’s list of the Canucks who have the potential to show up most improved this fall. They were each challenged at the end of last season to improve their conditioning in a major way. The Hughes draft pick only stiffened the challenge.

But is there room in Vancouver for both Hutton and Pouliot, whose battles for playing time will grow exponentially if Hughes signs? And if you were to move one of them, who would it be?

Photo by Jeff Vinnick / NHLI via Getty Images files

The irony is Pouliot and Hutton probably shouldn’t be bubble players. Among the regular defencemen, they had the most positive impact on puck possession, finishing one-two in controlling unblocked shot-attempt differential among blue-liners who were in at least 60 games.