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Let’s start with this.

Losing Quinn Hughes, one of the very best defencemen in the NHL, at the age of 26, is about as heartbreaking as it gets for a franchise that has been through all the heartbreaking things. That part is impossible to avoid. 

So when it was announced that the Canucks dealt their captain in his prime to the Minnesota Wild, the first reaction became one of pain. This franchise always, always seems to get the shaft in some way or another. It wasn’t long ago that the team had Bo Horvat, J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, and Quinn Hughes—all relatively young and performing at a high level. Now only Pettersson, the whipping boy for much of the Canucks’ fandom, remains. 

But really the move is more reminiscent of when the Canucks lost Pavel Bure. A human highlight reel gone in a way that just didn’t really happen to other teams. 

And sure, the politics of it made some sense. Hughes apparently made it known, according to Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, that he would likely sign somewhere closer to home in the U.S. when he became a free agent in 2027, and that he showed interest in wanting to play with his brothers in New Jersey. 

Trading him became a foregone conclusion. And so, with the caveat that dealing Quinn Hughes on the face of it is a complete loss for a franchise that has once again swirled the toilet bowl of despair only two seasons after a playoff run that briefly united a city, we must evaluate the return. 

The one positive thing to say off the top is that it finally (FINALLY) appears that Canucks’ ownership has given management the approval to actually take a nosedive down the standings. There cannot be a retool; there must be a rebuild at play here. Getting prospects and draft picks must be the goal of the next couple of years. 

This trade, unlike the ones that moved out Miller and Horvat, in which Vancouver ended up flipping the first-round picks that they got for veteran defencemen Filip Hronek and Marcus Pettersson (picks that became No. 17 and No. 12 in their respective drafts), signals a refreshed view from management. Accumulating future assets has become the goal. 

The return in the trade signals as much. In exchange for a franchise defenceman and arguably the most talented player to ever wear a Canucks jersey, Vancouver received a first-round pick, defenceman Zeev Buium, forward Liam Ohgren, and forward Marco Rossi. 

Sure, the Canucks could flip that Wild pick and make everyone angry again, but I don’t think they will. The team will head toward the bottom of the standings, hopefully collect a high first-round pick of their own, and use both the Wild’s pick and a first-rounder that they get for Kiefer Sherwood to keep bolstering the prospect pool. 

It also must be said that, unlike in notable past circumstances, like the J.T. Miller deal or the Ryan Kesler trade, the Canucks weren’t hamstrung by a player forcing his way to a particular destination, even though the spectre of Hughes potentially joining his brothers in a year and a half will loom large over Minnesota until or if a deal gets done there. 

The return for Hughes is, on its face, something of a haul. 

The first-round pick was a necessity, and while it might not be a high one, the Canucks need to start collecting draft picks now (and not stop for awhile). 

Marco Rossi is a 24-year-old centre who is small (5’9), but crafty and smart. He was drafted No. 9 overall in 2020 and had been on the trade block for some time, mostly because the Wild and general manager Bill Guerin didn’t think he was a No. 1 centre. Guerin is also the general manager of the U.S. men’s hockey team for the 2026 Winter Olympics. He’s about to make some picks there that will prioritize being big and hard to play against. Those choices may or may not work, but in an era that priotizes skill, it’s probably not the thinking we’d endorse. 

In any case, it was clear Rossi was on the outs in Minnesota, despite scoring 60 points in 82 games last season and putting another 13 points up in 17 games this year before getting hurt. His name kept getting brought up in trade rumours (including with the Canucks), and him getting dealt was an inevitability. At age 24 and already having a 60-point season under his belt with a palatable cap hit of $5 million until 2028, it’s easy to see why the Canucks were attracted to Rossi. He’s the smart, offensive second-line centre that the Canucks had clearly hoped Filip Chytil would be before a concussion derailed his career again. 

Liam Ohgren is a Swedish left-winger who was drafted No. 19 overall in 2022. It hasn’t fully worked out for Ohgren so far in the NHL, where he has posted seven points in 46 games. But the potential is still there. Ohgren put up 37 points in 41 games in the AHL last season and spent a considerable amount of time in the Swedish Hockey League with Canucks forward Jonathan Lekkerimaki. He’s talented and should at least be able to hold down a middle-six role with the Canucks in the future. 

Where this deal will be won or lost (even if it’s already kind of lost because the Canucks traded their captain and best player) will be with Zeev Buium, the rookie defenceman who was drafted 12th overall in the 2024 draft. He’s put up 14 points in 31 games for the Wild this year, which is really good for a 19-year-old blueliner (he turned 20 on December 7). He quarterbacked the team’s powerplay for large chunks of this season, including recently, and is a dynamic puck-mover who, in his draft year, was compared to Hughes and Cale Makar. 

Whether he can round out his game defensively or take that next step offensively at the NHL level will be the big question. I think it’s possible, if not likely, that he’s at least 80-percent of Quinn Hughes in his prime. There aren’t many under-21 defencemen in the world, other than the Islanders’ Matthew Schaefer, that you would take over Buium. 

Grade: B

Look, it sucked that they had to trade Quinn Hughes. It’s devastating.

I do think they made out as well as they possibly could have in such a deal. The Wild took a pretty big swing (and good on them), but the Canucks were able to position themselves here and recoup what amounts to four first-round picks. 

You can be upset that the Canucks lost their captain and the soul of their team. But you can’t be too mad at the haul they got back. Yes, the team is in for some dark, dark years. Hughes wasn’t coming back though. At least they got a nice headstart on what’s going to be some tough times.