Article content

The best opportunity for the Vancouver Canucks to improve themselves this week is to sign a player who isn’t even in the NHL.

Forget free agency. At least as a means to rebuild the franchise. The top free agents, the ones who can move the needle, want no part of the rebuilding Canucks, and that shouldn’t matter at all to Vancouver.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Jason Botchford: Easiest upgrade for Canucks this week? Signing Hughes makes most sense Back to video

What should?

Signing Quinn Hughes, the dynamic, potentially game-changing defenceman who has the ability and, just as important, the ambition to play professionally as quickly as possible.

And many believe that “as quickly as possible” means this fall and that could mean in the NHL.

The Canucks find themselves in an enviable spot with their top 2018 draft pick. They can sign Hughes soon and give him every chance this September to prove he belongs in the NHL.

If Troy Stecher can essentially go from college to the NHL and put up 24 points, albeit at 22 years of age, just exactly what the heck can Hughes do? If Ben Hutton can leave the University of Maine, skate straight into the NHL and then collect 25 points, what’s the ceiling for Hughes?