Why The Vancouver Canucks HAD To Trade Quinn Hughes

Why The Vancouver Canucks HAD To Trade Quinn Hughes

Holy. Just when I thought we would be getting a reunion of the Hughes brothers down in New Jersey, the Minnesota Wild of all teams come from the very top rope to pull off one of the biggest trades of the season. And last night, right as I’m wrapping up my weekly recap video for you guys, the biggest trade of the season was announced with the Wild and Canucks making a deal surrounding Quinn Hughes and Zeve Buou. So today I basically want to break down why this happened, why Minnesota made this deal, why the Conucks moved off of Quinn Hughes so early in the season, and who the biggest winners and losers are of this deal, if there really are any losers, cuz this is actually one of the best trades I’ve seen in some time. So if you guys are enjoying the content lately, toss this one a thumbs up, subscribe now, and let’s get into this breakdown. So, if you want a deep dive into why Quinn Hughes was even on the trade block, I posted a video less than a week ago, go check it out. I’m not going to give you the full recap, but here’s a quick summary. Following a very bad year in Vancouver, Quinn and then his brother Jack spoke publicly to the media about wanting to play with one another at some point in their career, which was then followed by more losing from Vancouver and even more public comments from Quinn about the rumors linking him back to the Devils. And naturally, these rumors started to gain more traction because one, Quinn Hughes needed an extension, and two, right now he’s on a very team-friendly deal, making just under eight million dollars per season for this year and the next. So, with the public comments, the losing, and the extension not looking likely, Vancouver started to poke around with New Jersey to gauge their interest. And little did we know, they were either poking around with other teams at the same time or other teams were calling to see what a potential trade would look like if they wanted to acquire the Canucks franchise defenseman. So, while we were all focused on New Jersey and what potential packages between the Canucks and Devils would look like, the Minnesota Wild, they pulled off the ultimate deal. And here’s the full breakdown. Minnesota sends Zeve Burium, Marco Rossi, and Liam Ogrren along with a first round pick in 2026 to Vancouver in exchange for Quinn Hughes who will now join the third place Central Wild at the time of this recording. Now, let’s look at both sides of this trade. Starting with Vancouver, at a minimum, they deserve an A minus grade for this. Not quite an A because you lost the best player, your captain, franchise defenseman, and all that. But when it comes to getting back a lot of value for a distressed asset who publicly was showing disinterest in playing for your team, I think they did a fantastic job here. Especially when you consider all of the public comments that Quinn made talking about really only wanting to sign an extension with New Jersey and never really showing interest in other places. I think that that makes this even more complicated for the Canucks Fred office because rebuilding teams like Philadelphia, San Jose, and Chicago were less inclined to make a trade for him because they weren’t sure if he was going to sign an extension. But Minnesota, Vancouver, both of these teams, I love the moxy that they had here. One, Minnesota trying to make a push for uh a big player to get themselves back in contention, and we’re going to talk about them in a minute. But more specifically, Vancouver finally recognizing that, hey, this isn’t working out. We need to get the best package we possibly can. And if that means we send Quinn Hughes somewhere else that’s not New Jersey, we’re going to make that move. And now I want to insert a clip from my video the other day because this is the exact conversation I was having a few days ago about why contenders should make this trade. So roll the clip. Lastly, the third point of this, should the Conucks be exploring other trade partners? And honestly, I think yeah. Quinn Hughes doesn’t have a no trade clause, so obviously they can send him wherever they want. But it does become complicated because if he really wants to play with his brothers in New Jersey, then why would younger teams like Chicago, San Jose, Philadelphia want to make that trade for 1 and 1/2 years of Quinn Hughes? And if their futures a little bit further down the road, this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to give up that many assets. So that leads to the next part of this. Should contenders be trading for Quinn Hughes? Like I said, he has no trade clause. He has a year and a half left on his deal. So, you do have a short window and he’s making a very, very good contract right now. So, it’s not like he’s not affordable. Imagine a team like Colorado going out and trading for him. You pair Quinn Hughes and Kale Mar, that’s insane. Edmonton could use a guy like Quinn, but obviously I don’t see Vancouver sending him to one of their biggest division rivals, but other teams like Toronto who’s in desperate need for a defenseman. Those are the type of teams that may be calling the Canucks about Quinn Hughes. And I think that they should be. Whether you believe he’s going to resign or not, who knows? there is a chance that maybe he is willing to sign a 4-year deal, say, with one of those teams. But even if he doesn’t, if you feel like your window is now, like Colorado, I don’t see why maybe you wouldn’t at least call to see what they’re asking for with this. All right, so we got why the Conucks made this trade out of the way. But now, let’s talk about what they got in return and how this is going to work for them in the future. Now, obviously, the GM for the Conucks came out and said that they traded Quinn Hughes because they understand they needed to go into a rebuild and they believe that these pieces they got back from Minnesota are going to help them more now than Quinn Hughes would. Obviously, down the line, Quinn Hughes was going to be more impactful for this organization, but if he didn’t want to play for them and he wasn’t going to sign an extension, you need to get the most that you could back. And when you look at the deal, Ze Buham is one of the top young defensive prospects in the league. He’s already showed so much promise with Minnesota and getting him back a few years down the line, he should maybe not reach the level of Quinn Hughes, but be a very high level defenseman that can play as a top pairing guy for you for years to come. What you also get back is some much needed center depth with Marco Rossi, who hasn’t really been given quite the opportunity to succeed in Minnesota. Obviously, they have a lot of talented forwards over there. He just signed that extension in the off season. And I think playing for Vancouver, a team that desperately needs help with that position, he should get a lot more looks and be able to put up a pretty solid season down these next couple of years with his contract. And if all things work out, the Canucks not only get themselves a future defenseman to play on their top pair, but also get themselves that center depth that they have been needing all season or at least since they lost JT Miller. Now, here’s the question I have for Vancouver. Does this mean Elias Person is also on the outs? Because if we’re talking about a rebuild, we’re talking maybe 3 4 years before the Canucks are relevant and you just signed Elias Peterson to that massive ticket. Are we shopping him? Are we shopping players like Heronic? Are we just going to keep them Thatcher or Demco and have this sort of middle of the pack team? Because while I do believe the Canucks are capable of being bottom 10 in the league with this roster, I think that they’re ceiling is going to be a bit higher. And if these guys start to overachieve, you might not hit that sort of reset that you’re looking for. So, just a question rolling around in my head. I’m interested in seeing what happens with Person, but I think this is a really good return for them. They also got that first round pick and a player like Offman who hasn’t really shown a lot in his career yet, but there is some potential there. So, Vancouver made out pretty well here. I’m happy with this trade for them and I think moving forward it’s a better option than just continuing to ride out this mediocre success that they’ve been having over this year and last year, if you even want to call it success. Now, let’s talk about the Wild because this was a ballsy move for Minnesota. And let’s just lay it all out there. Minnesota hasn’t exactly found success since we were all kids, or at least since I was a kid. Every year, they’d make the playoffs, get bounced in the first round, or just flat out miss. They had talented players, but they didn’t have those gamechanging guys like Pereiz was always there. You had Sudtor playing well there for a while. And then Capriovv comes in, and it’s still sort of the same formula. So now since they’re out of cap hell from those Perez and Sudter contracts and you have the capability to make this move, I’m very happy to see that they understand this and are making that big leap. So yes, it does come at the cost of potentially getting rid of your future because Buium is one of the top prospects, but there is a chance for them to retain Quinn Hughes if he likes the team and they have a lot of success this year and he feels like there’s a culture there that he can be a part of. But then there’s the other side of this deal that’s like, well, if you can’t extend Quinn Hughes as your window really this season because next year, if you don’t have him resign, you’re probably going to have to trade him at the deadline, which is scary to think of because that’s a very short window for Minnesota. And there are some really good teams, not only in the West, but specifically in the Central Division, with Dallas and Colorado looking like the teams to beat. So, it’s a very interesting move for Minnesota. I don’t know how exactly I feel about it. I would say it’s an A+ just because one, you got the player and two, you gave up assets, but not assets that I’m like, “Oh, no. This team is cooked now cuz you still got Capri off. You still got all of your NHL ready players. You just gave up a little bit of your future, even though one of those pieces was a big part of your future. But I’m very excited for Minnesota. I love this team. I’ve always wanted to see them succeed. And I’m actually really excited to see another contending team be added, not only to the Central, but to the Western Conference as well. So, all in all, that’s kind of all I got on this deal. Let me know what you guys think about all of this. I don’t know when this video is going to come out. Like I said, I have a weekly recap that’s coming out either today or tomorrow, whenever you’re seeing this video. So, maybe I won’t put as many edits on this uh just to kind of get it out for you guys to give you my reaction. But again, drop your thoughts in the comments below. Who do you think won this trade? Vancouver fans, how are you feeling about losing Quinn Hughes? And do you think you got a good return back? And Wild fans, are you excited about having Quinn Hughes come in? And do you feel like uh the organization made the best decision possible to make this team uh get back into contention? As always, thank you guys so much for watching these videos. I have this one and my weekly recap coming out this weekend. So, it’s very important that you give this a thumbs up and subscribe so you get that notification when those videos come out. I also have a few other pieces of content for you guys to check out if you’re bored and you want to watch these. One of them is the recap of the whole Quinn Hughes trade and why the Canucks were shopping him in the first place. So check that out if you want more information. And again, thank you guys so much for watching and supporting the channel. I will see you in the next upload.

Quinn Hughes has officially been traded to the Minnesota Wild and today let’s break down not only the trade details and the future for Vancouver, but also why this could end up being the championship move that Minnesota has been searching for for years. Subscribe to Jimmy Hockey for more NHL News and Breakdowns.

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