The Vancouver Canucks felt last season that they had no choice but to trade Quinn Hughes.
He was a superstar defenseman, one of the best in the sport, only months away from winning an Olympic gold medal with Team USA. But they also heard the ticking clock of his contract and an eventual departure, and so they cut ties by trading him to the Minnesota Wild.
“It’s difficult trading a player like Quinn,” said Jim Rutherford, Vancouver’s president of hockey operations, at the time of the trade. “We love him as a person and as a player, one of the greatest players that’s ever played for the Canucks. I think that we have to respect what he’s done here, and respect the fact that he was getting closer to free agency and he’d have a choice to go where he wanted.”
The deal sent forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren to the Canucks, as well as defenseman Zeev Buium and a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.
That first-round pick ended up being No. 24 and was used on Adam Novotny.
So far, the Wild sure seem to have won the trade.
Canucks’ Return in Quinn Hughes Trade
These pages have already featured plenty of words about the young defenseman Buium.
But because he plays the same position as Hughes, he’s more in the spotlight here, and Buium hasn’t been good enough so far. He was recently demoted to the third defensive pairing in Vancouver.
Rossi is a 25-year old center, and he does seem to be the player the Canucks hoped they were getting. He’s got four points through eight games this season with three goals and an assist, and he had 22 points in 33 games to end last season with the Canucks with eight goals and 14 assists.
Ohgren had 18 points in 51 games with Vancouver last season but does have three assists and a goal through eight games so far this season, so the 22-year old winger can boost this, too.
Novotny is currently playing in the OHL for the Peterborough Petes and had 65 points (34 goals, 31 assists) in 58 games last year and nine points in eight games this year (4 goals, 5 assists).
Nothing about this return is bad, although Buium is certainly the swing piece.
It’s just that none of them are Hughes.
Quinn Hughes Future
Hughes hasn’t signed a contract extension in Minnesota, and there’s at least a little inkling that a trade could eventually come.
But before it arrives, the Wild will continue to benefit from one of the most impressive players in the entire NHL.
It’s hard to win a trade when you give up the guy who is a near-generational talent, and that’s what the Canucks gave up in Hughes.
No matter what the players they got back turn into, it’s unlikely that they’ll find another Hughes.
The deal may have been necessary, but there will always be aspects of it that feel like a loss.
Canucks’ Quinn Hughes Trade Isn’t Aging Well