Canucks Must 'Start contemplating what a Blockbuster Quinn Hughes Trade might look like'

Will the Canucks start to ponder Quinn Hughes trade this coming year?

As the Vancouver Canucks get prepared for the 2025-26 season, it's hard to overlook the elephant in the room. Team MVP and captain Quinn Hughes has two years left on his six-year deal, but the rumblings have been ongoing all summer about his potential eventual exit to join his two brothers, Jack and Luke, currently with the New Jersey Devils.

What will it take for Hughes to consider re-signing in Vancouver? For one, a strong winning team would help. And that's where James Mirtle of The Athletic is having a hard time envisioning the Canucks captain staying long-term.

If you’re Hughes, indisputably now one of the best players in the league and with two years left on your deal, it feels natural to wonder about your future if this Canucks team isn’t going to break through and win.
Maybe Vancouver surprises and has a huge bounce-back season that convinces their captain to stay. Feels unlikely to me, to be honest, but that’s their best-case scenario.
Otherwise, they have to start contemplating what a blockbuster trade might look like and whether it’s all about futures.

It was a tumultuous season last year in Vancouver, with the team taking a big step back, trading star center JT Miller, and finishing with 90 points, only 18th overall in the NHL, and out of the playoffs. What, exactly, have they done to rekindle thoughts of a big move back up the standings?

Yes, a revitalized Elias Pettersson would help (and he says he'll be on a "revenge" tour this season), and Evander Kane adds some toughness, but how high can this team really go?

Should the Canucks consider trading Quinn Hughes this coming year?

"The ceiling feels too low to compete with the real contenders in the West," writes Mirtle, and hence, his suggestion that the Canucks better start to at least think about a 'blockbuster' Quinn Hughes trade, sooner than later.

Hughes, 25, was once again one of the top defensemen in the league, a finalist for the Norris Trophy, which he won in 2024. He was well over a point-per-game for the second straight year, with 76 points in 68 contests, while logging close to 26 minutes of ice time per night.

"For the Devils," says Mirtle, "if Hughes wants to go there to join his brothers, how do you not make that commitment next summer?"