Canucks Aim For All-Star Glory: Hughes Locked In, 5-Man Roster Looks to Join Spotlight

*All stats as of Tuesday, January 9th at 4:00 p.m. PT.

All-Star in Toronto is less than a month away and there’s still a few days left to vote for your Vancouver Canucks.

Quinn Hughes is a lock, and the list for voting in more Vancouver Canucks rolls five-deep: Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, Filip Hronek, J.T. Miller and Thatcher Demko.

Hughes’ teammates say the one thing that really sets him apart from the rest is his skating ability.

Fellow blue-liner Ian Cole never ceases to be amazed by the 24-year-old.

“The skill he has to make plays while he’s skating and do the things he does in terms of cutbacks and losing guys one-on-one, it’s really really impressive.” Cole said.

Conor Garland feels like watching his teammates is like watching a highlight reel every time he steps on the ice.

“Quinn’s obviously the leader and engine of our team. He’s someone that wow’s the crowd each and every shift but also us on the bench, he kind of surprises you with his ability, his footwork and creativity,” Garland said, adding “He’s definitely a fun player to watch and it’s well-deserved.”

Fans will select 12 additional players (eight skaters and four goalies) to the 44-man All-Star roster. The first 32 All-Stars were selected by the NHL’s Hockey Operations Department – one player from each team. Fans can vote for up to 12 players per online ballot and can vote up to 10 times in a 24-hour period.

Voting closes Thursday, January 11th at 11:59:59 p.m. ET online at NHL.com/vote and X (formerly Twitter)

Here are some highlights for Hughes, Boeser, Pettersson, Hronek, Miller and Demko.

Quinn Hughes 

Leading the league in goals and points from a defenceman, Quinn Hughes is off to the best start in his young NHL career.  

Hughes wanted to shoot the puck more this season and that mindset has helped him set a new career-high in goals before the halfway point in the season. Hughes has 98 shots on net through 40 games and has scored 10 goals while adding 40 assists.  

On top of his tremendous offensive play this season, Hughes has averaged 24:29 of ice time per game, and at five-on-five, he holds a 65.5% control of the goal share – being on the ice for 55 goals scored and only 29 goals against.  

There's been seven separate occasions this season, Hughes has picked up three or more points in a game. In total, he’s picked up 12 multi-point games and has 20 of his 40 assists coming from the primary variety.  

This is Hughes’ first season as captain of the Vancouver Canucks and he is showing that he wants to be a lead by example type of captain in this league. 

Prior to this season, Hughes has been an all-star once, back in 2020.  

Brock Boeser

Boeser has showcased exceptional performance to start the year, with nicknames like Brocktober, Brovember and Boesember, he’s having himself a season so far. 

He's played in all of Vancouver’s 40 games and has 44 points (25-19-44), scoring at a clip of 22.5%, which is good for fourth place in the NHL. An important piece for the Canucks’ special teams’ unit, nine of Boeser’s 25 goals have been on the power play and three of them have been game-winning goals. 

The Canucks winger put in a lot of work in the offseason which was evident from the first puck drop at the home opener against the Edmonton Oilers. Boeser kicked off his scoring spree with a memorable four-goal game in an 8-1 win and had 10 points (6-4-10) through the first nine games of the season.

Following a strong October, he posted 17 points through 15 games in November, including four multi-goal games.

During Boesember, he had 11 points (7-4-11) in 12 games, scoring a natural hat trick in a win over Tampa Bay on December 12th. It was the second natural hat trick of his career and fifth career hat trick. The 26-year-old is putting up points and averaging 18:47 minutes per game, logging 14:46 per game at even strength and 4:00 on the power play.

He’s off to a great start and an appearance at All-Star would send him back for the first time since 2018. 

Elias Pettersson 

It’s been another excellent season for Pettersson, and he finds himself near the top of league scoring with 52 points through 40 games.  

Pettersson has found the back of the net 19 times and upped his faceoff percentage from last season by nearly 4%. He’s only taken one penalty this season and is averaging 19:40 a night.  

He’s had seven games this season where he’s put up three or more points and has a total of 16 multi-point games.  

Through 40 games, Pettersson has been on the ice for 37 goals at five-on-five while only giving up 24 – giving him a 60.7% control of the goal share. He’s gotten an assist on 10 different players’ goals this season with J.T. Miller being the player he has the most assists to with nine. Pettersson’s hottest streak of the season came in the first baker’s dozen games of the season when he had seven goals and 17 assists for 24 points in 13 games.  

Prior to this season, Pettersson has been an all-star three times in his career.

Filip Hronek

Hronek is a trusty defenceman for Vancouver, averaging 23:44 minutes per game, which is second only to his blue line partner Hughes. 

His average ice time on the power play is 1:54 per game, and has tallied nine points on the man-advantage (2-7-9) throughout 40 games.

He’s amassed 32 points (2-30-32) and is tied for fifth among defencemen for assists.

Hronek has been on the ice for 56 goals at five-on-five while only giving up 31 – giving him a 64.4% control of the goal share. Just midway through the season, that’s the highest number of goals for of any team he’s played on for an entire season.

J.T. Miller 

Currently sitting tied for 5th in league scoring, J.T. Miller is off to an incredible start to the season and is averaging 1.35 points per game with 19 goals and 35 assists through 40 games. His most impressive offensive stretch saw Miller put up 12 goals and 19 assists for 31 points over 20 games. 

The 30-year-old centre has been on a tear since night one of the NHL season when he put up four points in the season opener against the Edmonton Oilers. Miller has picked up 17 multi-point games this season and on top of his offence, Miller has been primarily used in a matchup role against the opposition’s top lines all season long. 

Miller has won 53.8% of his 772 faceoffs this season and at five-on-five, through the tough matchups, Miller has kept a positive control of the goal share, being on the ice for 33 goals scored and 22 goals against — shoutout to the Sedins. He’s also picked up 83 hits on the season, which is good enough for second on the Canucks.  

The patent-pending ‘Miller swing’ around the top of the zone on the power play has been ultra-successful for Miller this season. He’s currently tied for sixth in the league for power play points with 22 on the season. 

Miller has never been to an All-Star game.

Thatcher Demko

Thatcher Demko has helped the Vancouver Canucks to a 26-11-3 start and is posting a career-best save percentage of .916. 

He was the fastest NHL goaltender to 15 wins this season, and the third Canucks goaltender to achieve this feat in 22 games or less. Demko suited up for 29 out of the 40 games for Vancouver and holds an 20-8-1 record while boasting a 2.54 goals against average.

Through 26 games he has three shutouts, which is third-most in the NHL on the season, backstopping perfect performances against Dallas, St. Louis and Florida. He stopped all 36 shots he faced against the Panthers on the night of Roberto Luongo’s induction into the Ring of Honour which Demko said was “poetic”. It was the sixth shutout of his career, tying him for seventh in franchise history with Richard Brodeur, Garth Snow, and Eddie Lack.

He was named the NHL’s Second Star of the Week on December 18th after he went 3-0-0 with a 1.33 goals against average, a .957% save percentage and one shutout. Demko also had six-game streak without a loss from the end of November to the beginning of October with the team taking on the Nashville Predators twice, Dallas Stars, Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks and St. Louis Blues.

His win against the New Jersey Devils, Demko earned his 100th career win as a Canuck, having played 196 games in his NHL career. He currently sits in the top-five for goaltender wins in franchise history.