He didn’t want to stay, so the Canucks traded him. Where have we heard that before?
Vancouver sent its captain Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for 20-year-old left-shot defenceman Zeev Buium, 24-year-old lefty centre Marco Rossi, and 21-year-old Swedish winger Liam Ohgren. The Canucks also acquired the Wild’s 1st-round NHL Draft pick in 2026.
According to Vancouver general manager Patrik Allvin, Hughes had started to indicate a desire to move elsewhere as early as last season. Hughes follows top centre J.T. Miller, traded this past January 31st to the New York Rangers, and head coach Rick Tocchet, who chose to leave this past off season for the Flyers organization, out the franchise’s door.
The Canucks are dead last in the NHL standings. The Wild are in a playoff position, third place in the Central Division.
Vancouver’s best bet at this point, now that they’ve chosen to go full rebuild, is to finish as low as they possibly can in the NHL standings, with hopes of winning a top draft lottery spot and landing the likes of big lefty centre Tynan Lawrence of Muskegon in the USHL, or the long-time projected potential 1st-overall pick Gavin McKenna, a winger at Penn State.
Spin it how they’d like, this is just another huge moment in the ongoing slow motion car crash that is the current Canucks management group. More to come.
Earlier Canucks:
— Canucks Lose Yet Again; Sabres Win 3-2
