Canucks Icon Dennis Kearns Praises Quinn Hughes with Intimate Email after Smashing his Longstanding Record

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Cooper Godin
November 11, 2024 (4:01 PM)

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Former Vancouver Canucks defenceman Dennis Kearns says he reached out to Quinn Hughes after having his record broken.

The Vancouver Canucks have had their fair share of great defenceman in history, including Dennis Kearns, who spent his entire ten-year National Hockey League career with the club, and current captain Quinn Hughes, who is well on his way to be the best blueliner the franchise has ever seen.

For quite a long time, we're talking decades, Dennis Kearns held numerous franchise records for the Vancouver Canucks and over the years, some of those have been broken.

Dennis Kearns reached out to Quinn Hughes after he broke his record

In an interview recently with Steve Ewen of The Province, Dennis Kearns revealed that a couple of years ago, he emailed Quinn Hughes after the Canucks captain broke his record for the most assists by a defenceman in a single season in franchise history. The previous record, held by Kearns, was 55 assists and it stood for 45 years until Quinn Hughes passed it during the 2021-22 campaign. Hughes has broken his own record now twice in the last couple of years, putting up 69 assists in 2022-23 and 75 in 2023-24.

"Kearns, 79, lives in West Vancouver. He's remained a fan of the team and routinely takes in games from the alumni suite at Rogers Arena. When Hughes broke his assist record, Kearns tracked down an email for him and sent him a congratulatory note." Ewen said.

Kearns told Steve Ewen that Quinn Hughes even replied to his email, thanking him for the congratulatory note. The 79-year-old Kearns called the reply from Hughes a really classy move.

"He didn't have to write me back, but he did. So a very, very classy move by the young man," Kearns said.

Hughes, who's only 25, has a long way to go in his professional hockey career, but he's getting closer and close to breaking Alex Edler's record for most points by a defenceman in Vancouver Canucks franchise history. The current record is 409 points, with Quinn Hughes only 61 points back at 348 for his career. What Quinn Hughes has managed to do in his career so far is remarkable and by the end of the season, he could be the Canucks' all-time defensive points leader for a franchise that's 54-years-old. That just shows you how special of a player Quinn Hughes truly is.