Canucks' Hughes: 'I can score 20 goals' this season

Quinn Hughes potted 17 goals during his Norris Trophy-winning season in 2023-24, more than doubling his previous career high of eight. But the Vancouver Canucks captain believes he can improve that total.

"I felt like I missed a lot of scoring opportunities last year," Hughes told Sportsnet's Iain MacIntyre. "And even though my goal-scoring spiked, I think it can spike again. This whole summer, I worked on goal-scoring - goal-scoring from the dot, goal-scoring from the top of the circles. So I think I can score more. I think that I can score 20 goals."

However, Hughes did pump the brakes on the possibility of reaching 100 points - a mark that's only been reached once by a defenseman (2022-23 Erik Karlsson) in the last 32 years.

"As far as the other thing (100 points), I'm not sure," Hughes said. "For me, I'm going to try to be aggressive every single night and push the pace, push my game, and then wherever that takes me, it takes me."

Hughes recorded 92 points last season, the most among defensemen and 15th-most among all NHL skaters. He improved both his shooting volume and efficiency, setting career highs in shots (199), attempts (540), and percentage (8.5%).

There hasn't been a repeat Norris Trophy winner since Hall of Famer Nicklas Lidstrom claimed the award three straight times from 2006-08. While Hughes didn't proclaim that he'll win the award a second time, the 24-year-old is confident his overall game will improve in 2024-25.

"Winning the Norris, it obviously does change your perspective on yourself a little bit. After it sinks in, it's like, wow, that's pretty cool," Hughes said. "But right now, it's like I didn't win the Norris because it's a new year. It's next year. It's always next year. I think that there's more I can get through. If I get 80 points or 85 or 95 or whatever it is, I do think my game will be better this year."