It has been a rough start to the year for the Vancouver Canucks as they currently sit in 8th place in the Pacific Division with 23 points and at the bottom of the league standings. Knowing how bad the start to the year has been for the Canucks at 10-15-3, Vancouver is expected to have a sell-off by the time the Trade Deadline comes around.
But if the Canucks do go this route, if they think there is no path to the playoffs by the Trade Deadline, they are expected to sell off their veterans on short-term deals or guys that can net them a high return. According to NHL insider David Pagnotta, do not expect the Canucks front office to deal Quinn Hughes.
Yes, there is a scenario where if the Canucks did try to trade Hughes, they could set his price super high at a couple of first-round picks plus more. But it sounds like they want to try to build their team around him and keep him around for the long run.
“I don’t anticipate anything happening in-season with regards to Quinn Hughes.”
Despite swirling rumors, @TheFourthPeriod doesn’t see a Quinn Hughes trade happening during the season.
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— NHL Media (@NHLMedia) December 6, 2025
If the Canucks did try to trade the superstar defenseman, there would be almost no pieces to build the roster around in a rebuild outside of forward Elias Pettersson. And even then, if the Canucks chose that, Pettersson has been streaky the last year or so and has not been the most consistent player.
So it seems wise that the Canucks do not want to deal Hughes as he is the franchise cornerstone. He is the piece to build around when the Canucks go into a full rebuild soon.
Teams likely would not meet high price for Hughes if Canucks entertained it
It would be expected of general manager Patrik Allvin to set Hughes’ price seriously high as he is one of the most dominant players in today’s game. Whenever he is out there on the ice, he is always super noticeable and can chip in a bunch on offense and can play very good defense.
Along with multiple first-round picks as a likely starting price by general manager Patrik Allvin, he also would likely ask for some teams’ best players or best prospects in return for him. Teams that would likely call him about Hughes, likely would not meet the asking price.
Hughes is a one-of-a-kind player as he is getting close to the level of Cale Makar as an offensive defenseman. He is that good and a price for him would be at the top of the ceiling and no teams are likely to meet it.