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Bruce Boudreau to Canucks fans: 'Don't boo Quinn'

The former Canucks captain returns for his first game in Vancouver since his trade to Minnesota last December.

Published Oct 23, 2026  •  Last updated 8 hours ago  •  2 minute read

Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau applauds announcement of Quinn Hughes overtaking Doug Lidster as the all-time points leader for Canucks defencemen in April 2022. Photo by Arlen Redekop /PNG

The man who won the hearts of Canucks fans has a simple message for supporters who are (likely) feeling jilted about the return of Quinn Hughes to Rogers Arena on Sunday night.

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“I hope they don’t boo,” Boudreau told Postmedia this week. To Boudreau, Hughes was always a player who showed up and gave his all to the team that drafted him, hoping to win games.

Things blew up around Hughes. But that’s not on him, says the former Canucks coach.

Boudreau hopes Canucks fans will put aside how Hughes, in essence, represents the failure of the era. If there is anyone to blame, Boudreau says, blame Jim Rutherford, the guy who fired Boudreau and traded Hughes because it had become clear the captain and best defenceman in team history wasn’t going to stick around beyond his current contract.

Hughes, in Boudreau’s eyes, should be remembered for the heights he achieved, not for his departure.

“He just did his job,” Boudreau said of his experience with Hughes. Boudreau was hired in December 2021, with the Canucks reeling at the start of the season, and led a remarkable new-coach bounce. The Canucks won their first seven games in his charge. (Don’t forget that stretch was broken up by the COVID outbreak.)

The team’s resurgence under Boudreau won the hearts of the fans and the loyalty of his players. After their dreadful start, Boudreau nearly dragged the Canucks into the playoffs by season’s end, and Hughes played a big part in that. The next season, Boudreau was not the coach that president Jim Rutherford wanted, and it didn’t take long before Rutherford made that clear to all.

Boudreau’s Canucks struggled to find the cohesion they had shown the previous spring, and couldn’t kill a penalty either. By January 2023 the writing was clearly on the wall, and before the month was up, Boudreau was out of a job and Rick Tocchet was in.

Looking back on his time with the Canucks, Boudreau still commends Hughes’ professionalism.

“He’d ask you how you were,” the coach recalled. “He was just a veteran guy already, who was respected.” A veteran guy — at just 22 years old.

“He was a young man who wanted to play hockey. Nothing bothered him,” Boudreau added. “He gave everything he had every night. I hope he gets a good reception.”

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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