While rumors have swirled that the Detroit Red Wings were one of, if not the frontrunners for defenseman Quinn Hughes on the trade market, they ended up the bridesmaid, not the bride, once again.
As reported by Elliot Freedman and later confirmed by ESPN and other outlets, the Minnesota Wild traded for the 26-year-old former Canuck. The Wild traded defenseman Zeev Buium, center Marco Rossi, and forward Liam Ohgren to the Canucks, along with a first round pick.
Buium’s name may be familiar to some Red Wings fans because he’s the younger brother of Red Wings prospect Shai Buium. The younger Buium boasted a strong playoff debut last season and is off to a quality start to his first true pro season this year. He and Rossi were the Wild’s sixth and seventh leading scorers.
The package tracks with what many rumored mock scenarios by analysts had in the past few weeks, with a strong center, a forward piece and a young defenseman to help keep the Vancouver blue line stable as they enter a rebuilding phase. A comparable package from the Red Wings likely would have included one of Marco Kasper or Nate Danielson as the center and maybe Axel Sandin Pellikka, plus another top younger player (Ohgren was a first rounder) and a first round pick.
J.T. Compher was mentioned in rumors, but we can guess the Canucks were never really interested in Compher, especially with Rossi’s name in the mix. Rossi is 24, and he already has scored 20 or more goals twice, and he has 13 points in 17 games this season. That projects to a 62-point season.
The bottom line: the Red Wings didn’t have a center like Rossi who projects to be Vancouver’s No. 1 center. Buium and ASP may be comparable. Buium and Hughes are both left shot defenseman, while Sandin Pellikka is a right shot. The Canucks may like Buium better than Sandin Pellikka.
With the trade, the Red Wings are unlikely to acquire the third Hughes brother, as players are rarely traded more than once in a season in the NHL. Mikko Rantanen’s 2024-25 notwithstanding.
He will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2027, but Hughes is more likely to sign with New Jersey, where his brothers are playing