Quinn Hughes Trending in Direction of Leaving Vancouver: Insider

Is Quinn Hughes destined to be traded from Vancouver?

One of the biggest storylines of the coming NHL season will be what develops with the Quinn Hughes situation with the Vancouver Canucks.

After this past season ended, Canucks president Jim Rutherford dropped an unexpected bombshell by admitting that his superstar defenseman wanted to play with his NHL brothers, Jack & Luke, one day. Both currently reside with the New Jersey Devils.

Potential trade scenarios began to be floated on the rumor mill that would send Quinn to the Devils.

Could the Canucks be considering trading Quinn Hughes?

Per ESPN hockey insider Greg Wyshynski, speaking on the Big Show with Rusic & Rose on Sportsnet this week, the Quinn Hughes situation in Vancouver is trending in the wrong direction, as far as Canucks fans would be concerned. He was asked if it's just all hope & prayer that they can keep Hughes, or "is it just ending in a trade, eventually, out of Vancouver?"

If you're the Canucks, it'd be insane to let him walk (for nothing). You could see the situation becoming like another Matthew Tkachuk, where, you know where it's all headed, so you might as well get out ahead of it and make a deal before he leaves for nothing. It kind of feels like it's trending in that direction.
But, again, we've gone down this road in the past of just assuming that a guy wants to play in the States or play with a sibling, and then Brady Tkachuk signs for eight years (with the Ottawa Senators). We ultimately don't know what Quinn's feeling about the organization or the city is, he might have a different idea than we do.

Matthew Tkachuk had grown into a superstar in his age-24 season with the Calgary Flames back in 2021-22, but the Arizona native insisted that he would not be re-signing with the team and wanted to be traded to a U.S. market, and would eventually be sent to the Florida Panthers for what the Flames hoped was an equal return (Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar), and, of course, the rest is history.

His younger brother, Brady, signed his seven-year deal with Ottawa the year before, in 2021, and insists—for now, at least—that he wants to stay there.

How the Hughes trio eventually plays out is still up in the air.

Quinn, the Canucks' captain, has two years remaining on his six-year deal with Vancouver with a $7.85 million AAV. He's a Norris Trophy winner (2024) and a Finalist for the award (2025), and would obviously be impossible for the Canucks to replace.

But, as Wyshynski suggests, the team needs to make sure they get out ahead of it, however they feel it's going to unfold.