The Vancouver Canucks traded Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild on Friday.
The last 48 hours have been a whirlwind for Vancouver Canucks fans. On Friday, the Canucks traded captain Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild, which sent shockwaves throughout the entire NHL. The return has also sparked plenty of debate as Vancouver acquired a 2026 first-round pick, Marco Rossi, Liam Öhgren and Zeev Buium for the former Norris Trophy-winning defenceman.
Since the trade, more details have started to emerge regarding what happened behind the scenes leading up to the move. One of those reports, courtesy of "Sportsnet" Elliotte Friedman, indicated that Hughes let Vancouver know around American Thanksgiving that he would not be re-signing before his contract expired in 2027. Around that time, the Canucks were playing in California, which is where Hughes' agent, Pat Brisson, is located.
On Sunday, Michael Russo of "The Athletic" released an article where he spoke to Brisson about the trade. The first major quote that stuck out from the interview was Brisson saying, "If they were in a better place right now, we wouldn’t be having these conversations". Vancouver is currently ranked 32nd in the NHL and has won 11 of their first 31 games this year.
Russo's article also revealed that not only did Hughes has conversation with management, but also ownership. In his first paragraph, Russo wrote, "Roughly three weeks ago, NHL superagent Pat Brisson and his client Quinn Hughes began having conversations with Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, general manager Patrik Allvin and owner Francesco Aquilini about the captain’s future."
Lastly, an intriguing part of the interview revealed that teams knew going into the process that Hughes may not re-sign with whoever acquired him. Russo wrote, " The one thing Brisson made clear to every team, especially the half dozen that made official trade offers to the Canucks, was that Hughes couldn’t and wouldn’t promise anybody that he’d sign a contract extension next summer."
Trading Hughes is going to be a move that stings the Canucks organization for the foreseeable future. Regardless of the results, the conversation will revolved around how Vancouver could not build a winning team around one of the best players in franchise history. Ultimately, it will be interesting to see how Hughes performs in Minnesota and how the pieces that came back can impact the Canucks future.
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