Canucks: Dennis Kearns had pen-pal moment with Quinn Hughes after record broken

Dennis Kearns was the franchise’s first elite rearguard with the Vancouver Canucks .

Kearns ’ 55 assists with the Canucks in 1976-77 tied him for 10th spot in the NHL in that category.

It remained the Canucks ’ record for assists by a defenceman in a season for 45 years , until Hughes got 60 in 2021-22 .

Hughes has bettered that standard in each of the two seasons since.

Dennis Kearns didn’t debut in the NHL until he was 26 years old .

Kearns ’ 60 -point regular season in 1976-77 stood us the Canucks ’ mark for points by a defenceman until Doug Lidster totalled 63 in 1986-87 .

He’s split between Hal Laycoe and Orland Kurtenbach , who was the original coach of the Canucks .

Don Cherry pulled Kearns aside from intermission TV coverage to ask him what he thought of the Canucks .

“I told him that last year we played like clowns and this year we look like clown,” Kearns says.

Some people weren’t happy with that comment,’ says Kearns , who was a centrepiece of TV coverage then.