Get the best of Vancouver in your inbox, every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up for our free newsletter.
The thing that Vancouver Canucks fans have feared for years is slowly starting to seem like an inevitability.
Things could, of course, change. But at this juncture, with the Canucks at the bottom of the standings, it’s starting to look like Canucks captain and best player Quinn Hughes will be traded.
Let’s just say that Hughes referring to the general manager of the Devils (the team that his two brothers play on), Tom Fitzgerald, as “Fitzy”, seemed… like a disturbing level of comfortability.
So while it won’t definitely be the Devils that pickup Hughes, it does seem to be a rather obvious destination. And it’s hard to see another team ponying up a huge price for the rearguard when he is bound to hit free agency in 2027 and could find his way to New Jersey anyway. (Though there have been rumours about Hughes heading to Detroit—the family spent years in Michigan playing for the U.S. National Team Development Program. More on that in a future article, possibly.)
So let’s power up the (completely made up) Trade Generator and see what we can come up with here.
First, let’s get ChatGPT to weigh in. We asked it to create a fair trade for both sides that would send Hughes to the Canucks.
ChatGPT:
To New Jersey Devils:
Quinn Hughes
To Vancouver Canucks:
Defenceman Simon Nemec
Forward Dawson Mercer
Defenceman Kevin Bahl
First-round pick
Sort of a baseline, somewhat obvious answer from the ol’ GPT that doesn’t really satisfy what Canucks fans are going to be looking for. It does seem like Nemec, who is a strong right-handed defenceman and was the second-overall pick in 2022, would have to be part of any package here.
Nemec has 16 points in 30 games as a 21-year-old. Not bad. He makes sense as the anchor for this trade. The rest is slightly underwhelming. Just one pick, Mercer, who is a decent piece but has had two down years in a row prior to this one, and Bahl, who isn’t a major asset.
We’re going to say it’s not enough for Hughes.
New Jersey Devils Reddit:
A take on a similar proposal (Nemec, Mercer, and two first-round picks) here from user ShimOwleyFFXIV.
The overall take from the commenters is that Hughes would probably take more to get, even if the Devils fanbase wouldn’t feel great about letting Nemec walk.
Vancouver Canucks Reddit:
Hard to find anything super solid here. The Nemec, Mercer, first-rounder deal is talked about in the comments in this post (and downvoted to hell), as are many other possibilities. The consensus in the comments is that the Devils don’t have a ton to make a Hughes trade interesting.
Knowledgeable Canucks fans that are friends of mine:
Fortunately, I have many knowledgeable Canucks fans as friends. They keep me sane during times like these. I asked a few of them for their opinion on what an acceptable package from the Devils would look like for Hughes.
Knowledgeable Canucks Fan 1:
The answer is that there is no such package. But if I really need to create one…
Defenceman Simon Nemec
Forward Dawson Mercer
Defenceman Seamus Casey
2 unprotected first-round picks
Defenceman Dougie Hamilton (if they need to dump cap)
Knowledgeable Canucks Fan 2:
I don’t think they have a great package for Hughes. I don’t love Nemec. If it were ME, I would go purely for futures with NJD:
3 first-round picks
2 second-round picks
They probably send back Hamilton (who we then flip) to make the money work.
The Canucks will never do that deal, though. They will never trade for just draft picks. “Gotta be competitive”—even though we are 32nd in the league WITH Quinn Hughes.
Knowledgeable Canucks Fan 3:
Defenceman Simon Nemec
Forward Dawson Mercer
Prospect forward Lenni Hämeenaho or prospect defenceman Anton Silayev
2026 first-round pick
2027 first-round pick
It isn’t great. I don’t care about Nemec and Mercer; their prospects aren’t great, and their picks lose value once they have Hughes, but if I had to, I’d do that deal.
Knowledgeable Canucks Fan 4:
There isn’t a trade I would like—it involves too many current roster players.
I don’t want a Mercer, Nemec, Casey, 1st-round pick situation.
So there you have it. It’s going to be mighty hard for the Canucks to sell a Hughes-to-NJ trade to their fans. The good news: other teams are more enticing, so we’ll be firing up the generator for them soon. Stay tuned.