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It’s game day where we’ll see if the Canucks can continue their momentum after winning the first game after the Quinn Hughes trade.

Patrick Johnston has posted a story on his interview with Jim Rutherford where the Canucks president admits ownership was fully on board with the trade and fully behind the need for the team to get younger and deeper.

It seems like most fans are on board too. While it’s far from scientific, the poll we ran on yesterday’s Canucks Live asked for your grade on the trade, where 70 per cent gave an A, 25 per cent gave a B. That’s a resounding number for a fan base that can often by cynical and fatalistic. But getting a first-round pick and three first round picks that are young prospects is offering hope.

Elsewhere, the Hughes ripples are being felt around the NHL. ESPN did a big takeout on how this trade has shaken out across the NHL.

To understand why Hughes is no longer with the Canucks, it’s important to understand how things got so bleak as to have him want to leave now.

In May 2020, former Vancouver GM Jim Benning announced that amateur scouting director Judd Brackett could not reach a new contract agreement and would part ways with the team.

Brackett and highly respected scout Dan Palango left Vancouver and joined the Wild under GM Bill Guerin. In a short time, Brackett transformed the Wild’s prospect field. He had a hand in drafting every player the Wild just traded to Vancouver for Hughes — who, it should be said, Vancouver selected at seventh overall in 2018 on Brackett’s advice.

The next five Canucks drafts after Brackett left produced just one selection who played more than 50 NHL games: defenceman Elias N. Pettersson, taken 80th overall in 2022.

As the Canucks’ prospect pool was drying up, there was trouble among the veterans.

In September 2022, Vancouver signed J.T. Miller to a seven-year, $56 million contract, which started a domino effect. The Canucks essentially chose Miller over pending free agent centre Bo Horvat, who was traded the following January to the New York Islanders. In doing so, the Canucks overlooked the personal issues between Miller and star centre Elias Pettersson that had been growing since the regime that preceded Rutherford and his general manager, Patrick Allvin.

In January 2025, the internal drama had intensified to the point where Miller was traded to the New York Rangers.
So began Vancouver’s need to bolster the centre position, which was among the team’s strongest prior to Horvat’s trade. Many in the league still wonder how the Canucks’ fortunes would be different if Horvat had been extended in the summer of 2022.

It’s a deep and excellent piece on how the trade came about, but it’s interesting to see the angst in this market about ownership’s refusal to admit the team being stuck in the mud is now finally being acknowledged in national media.

Vancouver continued to make counterintuitive decisions for a team on the road to a potential post-Hughes rebuild. The Canucks extended 30-year-old goalie Thatcher Demko (three years, $25.5 million) and 29-year-old winger Conor Garland (six years, $36 million), who both would have been unrestricted free agents next summer. They brought back unrestricted free agent winger Brock Boeser, 28, on a seven-year, $50.75 million deal that carries a full no-movement clause until 2029.

Trying to convince Hughes to stay extended to off-ice moves. When Tocchet left for the Flyers, the Canucks elevated assistant coach Adam Foote — who had one year of previous head coaching experience, with the Western Hockey League’s Kelowna Rockets in 2019-20 — to the big job. Foote was responsible for coaching the Canucks’ defencemen, and the hire was immediately labelled as a way to curry favour with Hughes.

You should go an read the piece as it has some excellent insight into why New Jersey couldn’t do the deal, but this was one nugget that seems really interesting:

Rutherford said Allvin asked him to take the lead on fielding trade offers, as the general manager “had a lot on his plate.” 

The young GM asks the old president to take over the biggest trade in franchise history? That should certainly raise some eyebrows.

One thing the trade has instantly done is boost the Canucks future outlook. It may not be fair to tab the three players the Canucks acquired in the deal as ‘prospects’ because they’re playing in the NHL. But suddenly now with that trio on top of Tom Willander, Jonathan Lekkeriermaki and Braeden Cootes, suddenly Canucks fans have hope that they’re building something.

The Athletic highlighted the top prospect in each organization and here’s what Thomas Drance had to say.

Braeden Cootes, C

The Canucks’ first-round pick at the 2025 draft, Cootes’ scoring rate has taken a step forward in his draft-plus-one campaign in the WHL, and he was recently named to Team Canada’s U20 training camp (where he’s expected to make the World Junior team as an 18-year-old). Cootes is skilled and fast, has mature details in his game and brings leadership qualities to boot. He’s clearly on the fast track and trending toward being a full-time NHL player as a teenager as soon as next season.

TSN went to a man who would know, former coach Bruce Boudreau, about the state of the Canucks after the trade. And he suggests they could be in full sell-off mode suggesting moving Thatcher Demko, Conor Garland and Elias Pettersson.

“I don’t think they are going anywhere as the team they are now. They’ll be at the bottom end of the spectrum the way they are now. I think they can move more players out. One of them would be Thatcher Demko, if he can stay healthy until the trade deadline, they could get a lot back for him for a team that’s really got a chance at a Cup run.

Garland is a guy who’s a very useful forward who can help in a playoff run yet. I think lots of teams would want him.

I think they’re going to be doing a few more moves because the team as it’s structured now isn’t ready to win. So I’ve got to believe they’ll do more. And Jim always ends up doing a lot of stuff. I’m sure they’ve talked to every team and I’m just throwing Pettersson out there, they can make that trade. It’s a dicey situation, but I think everything is on the table, but if you want to make it happen, you can make it happen.”

In the meantime there’s probably more interest to watch the Canucks tonight, and it does look like former lightning rod J.T. Miller will play after an injury worry. He did play in the Rangers loss to the Ducks on Monday.

It could have been a much different game tonight. The Canucks won’t reunite with Hughes until April 2nd in Minnesota. The Wild are done with their visits to Vancouver so Hughes will have to wait until the summer to clear out his condo. But they could have been facing him tonight as all these stories are coming out that the Rangers were serious suitors for Hughes.

The Canucks were seeking a young, top-six centre as the centerpiece of any deal, of which the Rangers have none. Filip Chytil was the closest thing, but concussion concerns sapped his value before he was shipped to Vancouver as part of the Miller trade. Rookie Noah Laba has since emerged as the organization’s best under-25 center, and while the 2022 fourth-rounder has been a nice find, he’s viewed as a bottom-sixer on a good team. After that, New York is painfully thin on up-and-comers down the middle.

The Rangers had little choice but to try and work around the centre dilemma. Based on my own dot-connecting, their most realistic Hughes offer would have been something along the lines of winger Alexis Lafrenière, defenceman Braden Schneider and at least one of their two 2026 first-round draft picks.

It makes sense from New York’s perspective. Dangling Lafrenière would have made the salaries work for the remainder of this season, with his $7.45 million average annual value lining up well with Hughes’ $7.85 million AAV. Lafrenière’s former agent, Émilie Castonguay, is now assistant GM in Vancouver, which the Rangers could have used as a selling point as well. Schneider is another player the Canucks have previously shown interest in, with a league source indicating they requested him in the Miller trade before settling on a less-proven right-shot defenceman in Victor Mancini.

Sports Illustrated have their eyes on both the new Canucks and Quinn Hughes if you’re looking for wagers for tonight.

Vancouver Canucks (+105) at New York Rangers
The Canucks made headlines over the weekend by trading top defenceman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild, receiving a few young roster players and a draft pick in return. They won in New Jersey the next day, and have a chance to make it two wins in a row on Tuesday night.

This still isn’t a team that is going to make much noise this season, but the Canucks could see improved results in the short term with the Hughes situation resolved.

We’re backing the Canucks just as much as we’re fading the Rangers tonight. The Rangers lost 4-1 on Monday night to the Ducks to fall to 4-9-3 at home this season. New York is 0-4-1 on no days rest this season, getting outscored 15-4 in those five contests.

Minnesota Wild (-115) vs. Washington Capitals
The Wild were on the other end of the aforementioned Quinn Hughes trade, acquiring the top defenceman to really bolster their blue line. They went out and beat the Senators 3-2 and Bruins 6-2 over the weekend to extend their winning streak to four games.

Minnesota has a goal differential of 18-7 during its four-game winning streak, and has really been impressive for over a month now. The Wild are 12-2-1 in 15 games since November 15, and 16-3-2 since the start of November.

The Capitals are no slouch themselves, but they’ve lost two straight games and three of their last four contests. They’re also just 8-5-2 on the road as opposed to 10-5-2 at home, and the Wil have been similarly impressive on home ice with an 11-3-4 record. 

 

Vancouver Canucks (12-17-3, last in the Pacific Division) vs. New York Rangers (16-14-4, seventh in the Metropolitan Division)
New York; Tuesday, 4 p.m. SNET.
BOTTOM LINE: The New York Rangers and the Vancouver Canucks meet in a non-conference matchup.
New York has a 16-14-4 record overall and a 4-9-3 record in home games. The Rangers have a 14-1-1 record when scoring three or more goals.
Vancouver has an 8-7-2 record on the road and a 12-17-3 record overall. The Canucks are 3-5-1 in games they serve more penalty minutes than their opponents.
The teams play Tuesday for the second time this season. The Rangers won 2-0 in the last meeting.
TOP PERFORMERS: Artemi Panarin has 11 goals and 23 assists for the Rangers. Mika Zibanejad has four goals and six assists over the past 10 games.
Kiefer Sherwood has 13 goals and four assists for the Canucks. Linus Karlsson has two goals and one assist over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Rangers: 5-3-2, averaging 2.8 goals, five assists, 2.9 penalties and 6.1 penalty minutes while giving up 2.7 goals per game.
Canucks: 3-6-1, averaging two goals, 3.4 assists, 4.1 penalties and 8.2 penalty minutes while giving up 2.9 goals per game.

Check back for more Canucks news throughout the day …