NEWARK, N.J. – A weekend that started with goodbye, ended with hello to a new era as the Vancouver Canucks beat the New Jersey Devils 2-1 Sunday in their first game since Friday’s titanic trade of Quinn Hughes.
The prized piece among the four assets the Minnesota Wild surrendered for Hughes, Zeev Buium collected more points (two) in his first seven minutes as a Canuck than the former captain did in his final seven games with Vancouver. So, clearly, the Canucks won the biggest National Hockey League trade in years.
Actually, it may take another seven years to really determine that. But what was starkly evident in Sunday’s matinee was the dramatic change of course the Canucks have embraced.
Buium, 20, who was still a teenager a week ago, ably quarterbacked the Canucks power play that scored two early goals and was the difference in the game.
Jake DeBrusk, who signed a seven-year contract 18 months ago to join Vancouver for the chance to win a Stanley Cup while playing with a star centre, scored for the last-place Canucks while skating with new centre Marco Rossi.
Buium scored the other goal by missing Brock Boeser with a pass through the slot and watching the puck bounce in off Devils defenceman Brenden Dillon.
Former Wild prospect Liam Ohgren was on the fourth line, Lukas Reichel was on waivers and Hughes, of course, was in Minnesota to make his Wild debut Sunday against the Boston Bruins after spending the first 6.5 years of his NHL career with the Canucks.
“You don't even know what these guys have yet because they’re so young,” Boeser, the longest-tenured Canuck, told Sportsnet after the game. “But today was a step in a new direction. And I'm looking forward to it.”
Like all the other Canucks who signed long-term contracts to play on Quinn Hughes’ team and have been asked about the trade, Boeser said his commitment to the franchise is not wavering with his friend’s departure.
“I’m not the kind of guy who’s like, ‘We traded Huggy? OK, see you later,’” Boeser explained. "(The trade) happened a little faster than I thought it was going to happen. And it hit me hard. I had a lot of different feelings, emotions. But I do think we got some good players back, and we have a lot of good young players now.
“Obviously, it's going to be difficult, but you know, I have to be a good leader and a good veteran, and kind of help lead these guys. We want to kind of change what's been going on in Vancouver, and I do think these young guys are capable of that. We have so much talent in that room. If we learn how to play the right way and mature the right way, and learn to play that hard hockey that it takes to make the playoffs, I think we can do it.”
Before Hughes boarded Wild owner Craig Leipold’s private jet on Saturday, he had a final dinner out on Friday night with a few of his closest teammates.
“It was really important because it was obviously a big shock,” Boeser said. “Just to kind of grasp the whole thing ... you want to get to say goodbye, and so it meant a lot that we got to have a dinner with him and kind of say our goodbyes. We all tried to have (upbeat) attitudes, but obviously some of us were sad.”
“Losing your captain, I mean, it's always different,” DeBrusk said after the Canucks' second win in eight games. “Having new guys ... they're excited, all the younger guys. And they all have different energy that they bring, so that's the positive side of it. But yeah, it's definitely an adjustment. But we got enough to win tonight.
“I think it's kind of hard to judge off one game, but I liked what I saw in my centre (Rossi). I thought that he was fast, quick. He was on pucks. He was looking for me. I felt like I wasn't ready for some pucks that came, so I told him just to be patient with me. Wasn't necessarily my best, either. I thought Ohgren played well, was really hard on pucks. He seems like a strong kid. I thought that he was really heavy on the forecheck, and he's got good speed as well. And then obviously, Zeev, lots of skill there. Really fluid skater. I thought he was comfortable out there. Seems like he's pretty confident in himself.”
Buium, who logged eight minutes in the first period and finished with 19:50 of ice time on a pairing with Tyler Myers, said playing the game was the easiest part of the last 48 hours.
“I think that's definitely the easiest part, being on the ice,” the dynamic defenceman said. “There's obviously a lot of noise and, you know, things that you could probably overwhelm yourself with. But the second you step on the ice, it’s just hockey.
“I think it all clicked pretty easily. Mysie was unbelievable to me. Throughout the whole game, I think there's moments where you see a little bit of a new guy on a new team. But I think it came pretty easy and, like I said, it was nice to get the win.”
“It's different,” coach Adam Foote said of the tone around his team. “You can tell it’s different. It's just a really different feeling that ... the noise, what you said, is gone. It was hard on Huggy. It was hard on the players when that's out in the public. We’ll miss Huggy, you know.
“But as far as going forward with your team, it was a distraction, and you could feel it. I'm sure there was a couple of guys today that lost a lot of energy because they lost their buddy, right? It just happened so quickly that they might not have their legs, but it was important to get that win. The players really fought hard for it, and it's good to see that happen right out of the gates.”
Thatcher Demko was excellent in net for Vancouver, making 25 saves, a couple of the best ones during a five-on-three New Jersey power play late in the first period. Hughes' little brother, Luke, was the only Devil to get a puck past the Canuck.
Until Myers’ interference penalty at 13:03 of the opening period, the Canucks outshot the Devils 7-1. In the final 47 minutes, shots were 25-8 for New Jersey.
Still, the Canucks did not yield many high-quality chances.
“I mean, obviously, it's not what we wanted as a team,” DeBrusk said of the new Canucks world without Hughes. “No one wanted this; I can tell you that for free. But sometimes sports are weird, and you learn a lot about yourself when the times are tough. Obviously, like I said, we’ve got a lot of younger guys. But I don't have any regrets ... and I'm still happy to be here. We're building something here.”
• Foote scratched forwards Aatu Raty and Arshdeep Bains to make room in the lineup for Rossi and Ohgren. To bring Rossi off injured reserve — he was hurt in Minnesota on Nov. 11 — top centre Elias Pettersson was placed on IR retroactively to Dec. 5. Pettersson has missed four games but is close to returning ... The Canucks visit the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
