Vancouver Canucks trade captain Quinn Hughes to Minnesota Wild for 3 players, 1st-round pick
CBC
The Vancouver Canucks announced Friday that they have traded captain Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild.
In exchange for the star defenceman, the Canucks will receive forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren, defenceman Zeev Buium and a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL entry draft.
When asked at a Friday night news conference about the leadup to the trade, Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said "you probably go back even a year ago when this started to come to our attention that this might be the path that Quinn wants to go."
"We were trying to do everything to convince him to stay and work through it."
"When we were not able to do it, that's where we started the process of looking to see what potential destination that would be out there and what potential teams that can come up with the best return for the Vancouver Canucks moving forward."
The trade comes a day after the Canucks' 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at Rogers Arena.
Vancouver is at the bottom of NHL standings with 25 points, and a record of 2-7-1 in their last 10 games.
Hughes was among the faint bright spots for the struggling franchise, with 23 points this season, including two goals.
Picked seventh overall by the Canucks in the 2018 draft, the 26-year-old from Orlando, Fla., won the Norris Trophy in 2024 as the NHL's top defenceman.
Over 459 regular-season games, he amassed 432 points, and set a new record for points by a Canucks defenceman in October when he passed Alex Edler (409).
In the Canucks' statement, team president Jim Rutherford thanked Hughes and called him "one of the greatest Canucks of all time."
Rutherford said the team was fortunate to "acquire these very good young players" in the trade.
"They will be a key part of the rebuild that we are currently in, giving us a bright future moving forward," Rutherford said.
Allvin said the team's current situation is a far cry from where Vancouver sat in the spring of 2024 when they advanced to the second round of the post-season and took the Edmonton Oilers to seven games.
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