Hughes of Canucks named NHL Rookie of Month for February

to record a multi-goal game.Hughes posted three assists in a 6-2 victory Feb. 10 against the Nashville Predators to become the second rookie defenseman in NHL history to record four three-assist games in a season, joining Ray Bourque who also had four in 1979-80. Hughes notched his 50th point of the season Feb. 25 in Montreal, joining Nicklas Lidstrom (1991-92) as the only defensemen in NHL history to be the first rookie to reach the 50-point mark in a season. On Feb. 27 in Ottawa, Hughes notched his 43rd assist of the season to pass Dale Tallon (42 in 1970-71) for the most in a single campaign by any Canucks rookie.Hughes’ 13 assists in February were the second-most in a calendar month by a Canucks rookie (regardless of position) behind Tallon (15 in March 1971). It was the highest assist total in any calendar month by a Vancouver defenseman in 25 years (Jeff Brown 13 in February 1995).Hughes, 20, a native of Orlando, Fla., was selected seventh overall in the 2018 NHL Draft. In 2018-19, he had 5-28-33 in 31 games with the University of Michigan prior to joining the Canucks for five contests (0-3-3). He joins Victor Olofsson (October, December), Makar (November) and Kubalik (January) as 2019-20 winners of the “Rookie of the Month” award.