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  • Wild Acquire Quinn Hughes From Canucks In Shocking Blockbuster Trade

    Image courtesy of © Bob Frid-Imagn Images
    Thomas Williams

    By Thomas Williams -

    The Minnesota Wild have made the biggest trade in the NHL's modern era. They have acquired world-class defenseman Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks.

    Reported by Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman first and then multiple other sources confirmed with more details, the Wild have moved several key pieces for the future to go all-in for at least the next couple of seasons with one of the best defensemen the world has seen in this century.

    To bring Hughes to St. Paul, the Wild reportedly sent top rookie defenseman Zeev Buium, center Marco Rossi, young winger Liam Ohgren, and the 2026 first-round pick to the Canucks.

     

    Essentially, the Wild took a large chunk out of their future to commit themselves to this current team. Rossi is the oldest of the bunch at a ripe 24 years old and would've been top-of-the-lineup building blocks for the Wild, but have now been shipped to Vancouver to get one of the best talents the NHL has ever seen available via trade.

    But that's just focusing on what the Wild gave up.

    Quinn Hughes is, obviously, one of the best players in the world. Without him, the Canucks would be finishing at the bottom of the league for multiple years in a row and he instantly transforms any single team he is on into one that matters.

    The only downside of the Wild getting Hughes is his contract situation.

    The 26-year-old world-class blueliner is set to hit free agency in the summer of 2027 and unless general manager Bill Guerin and the Wild can convince Hughes that he actually doesn't want to go and play with his brothers in New Jersey and re-sign in Minnesota, the Wild will be getting a whole two playoff runs.

    It is a trade that is going to affect both organizations for decades to come and now the Wild have put a very small and ticking timer on their team to see if they can really make some more noise than they ever have in franchise history. It certainly is a whole lot easier with Quinn Hughes on your team compared to not.

    In 459 career NHL games, Hughes has scored 61 goals and 432 points while averaging 24:32 TOI.

    By Thomas Williams  

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    Dango

    I wonder if theres any nepotism rules that would prevent 3 brothers from playing for the same team ive seen many brothers of 2 play for the same team but i dont remember ever seeing more than 2 at the same time as that could create a mini union on a team

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    mnfaninnc

    WOW! Just WOW!

    That's a great player to get, and a lot of really, really good to give up!

    I'm trying to figure out how they will cover all those empty spots now. 

    One thing's for sure, if we resign Hughes, it'll probably be worth it, if we don't, that will set this franchise back a long time! I have to believe that Guerin has talked to Quinn's agent and there will be a resigning. This should make for an interesting July-September next year again. 

    But, here is a key point that we hadn't talked about: Will a Boldy/Kaprizov/Hughes team be more attractive for would be free agents at the deadline?

    This isn't the way I would have done it, but it's done now so we have to root for the team and what they've done. 

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    ColoradoWildFan

    I'm not sure how I feel about this trade. I liked Rossi and the hard work he seems to put in, but with Yurov starting to mesh on the first line where do you put him? Scary as it is, you don't break up Boldy, JEE, and Mojo.Third line? 4th line🤣.

    I like Zeev and think he will be elite in the future. But he's there yet.

    So you've made this trade to buy a sure thing and accelerating Zeev's timeline. My problem is that this leaves Senko as the best winger to put with KK97.

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    mnfaninnc
    55 minutes ago, raithis said:

    We don't know if Guerin has a verbal commitment from Hughes for the Wild to have a realistic chance to re-sign him.  Maybe he's on board if the Wild can make a run in the playoffs.  I feel like it would hinge on that at the very least.

    And, that's the thing, we don't know and we probably won't until it's over. But, we'll see how much of a draw playing with Boldy and Kaprizov is

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    Rohn

    Now ask Santa for that 1-C.  Instead of leaving out milk and cookies for Mr. Claus, offer the entire Iowa Wild, their bus and any St. Paul player not named Boldy, Faber, Gustavsson or Wallstedt. Also give up our next 10 or 20 first round picks. If we have the dough at the deadline, push in all the chips.

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    raithis
    2 minutes ago, mnfaninnc said:

    I have to believe that Guerin has talked to Quinn's agent and there will be a resigning.

    Yes, that could very well be the case for Guerin if Hughes ends up leaving.

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    Imyourhuckleberry
    1 hour ago, Will D. Ness said:

    I have mixed emotions.  I really liked Zeev and he is on a trajectory.

    I wish I had mixed emotions. I hate this trade!

    Buium might be as good as Hughes in a year or 2, and the Wild gave up two first round forward talents with him. If anything, the Wild should have been getting the 1st round pick in this case.

    I'll grant that Hughes is better than Buium today, but I don't think he's better than Buium, Rossi, and Ohgren combined. Why the hell would the Wild add a 1st round pick to reduce their ability to make other deals?

    How the hell did the Wild not at least get Kiefer Sherwood in the deal coming over with Quinn Hughes??? Quinn Hughes alone is not worth what the Wild sent over to Vancouver. Canucks fans must be ecstatic!!!

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    raithis
    2 minutes ago, Enforceror said:

    So is Yurov our 1c now?

    Unless there is a plan to go back to Kaprizov/ Ek / Body, I'd guess he'd have to be unless they plan to play Sturm.  Hartman hasn't shown anything to elevate him higher than the 3rd line.  Yurov has been positionally good, but he really needs to improve that faceoff percentage though.  Offensive awareness needs to improve a bit too.  He's still a tad slow to react in offensive situations.

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    Enforceror
    Just now, raithis said:

    Unless there is a plan to go back to Kaprizov/ Ek / Body, I'd guess he'd have to be unless they plan to play Sturm.  Hartman hasn't shown anything to elevate him higher than the 3rd line.  Yurov has been positionally good, but he really needs to improve that faceoff percentage though.  Offensive awareness needs to improve a bit too.  He's still a tad slow to react in offensive situations.

    This mirrors my thoughts. We also don't have any trade chips now unless we send Yurov and Jiricek packing as well. 

    I hope Hughes really does make the impact for us. 

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    mnfaninnc

    I'm just wondering what else Guerin has up his sleeve? Is there enough to bring some Sabres here? Can he hypnotize Tkachuk to demand a trade here? Are Pitlick and Jones here to stay this season? 

    And further, I wonder how long the acclimation period is for Quinn? I assume he'll be playing with Faber. This also seems to send Jiricek a message, that he's got to start picking things up quicker. I'll maintain that he and Brodin could be a pretty good pair. 

    I've been looking to see if the 1st is protected. I know it's very optimistic now that we'll make the playoffs, but, I'd still like to have that assurance. 

    One last item, Guerin is a competitor. He now has a defenseman as dynamic as Heiskanen and Makar. I won't even mention player size here. Could it be that it is Guerin that got tired of being a mushy middle team and just had to match in the arms race? We've got Yurov, Eriksson Ek, Sturm down the middle. I guess that means Hartzy is full time center again. I sure hope we can get some more scoring out of this lineup!

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    raithis
    Just now, Enforceror said:

    This mirrors my thoughts. We also don't have any trade chips now unless we send Yurov and Jiricek packing as well. 

    I hope Hughes really does make the impact for us. 

    I wouldn't say there's none, but there certainly isn't much at the NHL level since most of the NHL-ready prospects just went out the door.  It's mostly players like Heidt, Spacek, and another player im completely blanking on.

    There's still good prospects in the system, though I think Stramel is now so done that needs to be what the Wild envision him to be.  Given that he's spent a lot of time in the NCAA, that's probably better than spending time anywhere else in the Wild's system, so he probably has a leg up on most of them.

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    raithis
    20 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    I wish I had mixed emotions. I hate this trade!

    Buium might be as good as Hughes in a year or 2, and the Wild gave up two first round forward talents with him. If anything, the Wild should have been getting the 1st round pick in this case.

    I'll grant that Hughes is better than Buium today, but I don't think he's better than Buium, Rossi, and Ohgren combined. Why the hell would the Wild add a 1st round pick to reduce their ability to make other deals?

    How the hell did the Wild not at least get Kiefer Sherwood in the deal coming over with Quinn Hughes??? Quinn Hughes alone is not worth what the Wild sent over to Vancouver. Canucks fans must be ecstatic!!!

    I don't really think we needed Sherwood.  I would have felt better getting a center back though, maybe Räty.  We could use more centers who can win faceoffs even if he is another lefty.

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    Imyourhuckleberry
    1 minute ago, raithis said:

    I don't really think we needed Sherwood.

    You like Pitlick that much? Without Rossi and Ohgren, you should expect to see a lot of Pitlick now.

    Pitlick hits people, but he doesn't score and he's 34 years old, so that's why I'd rather have Sherwood.

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    FredJohnson
    1 hour ago, Dango said:

    I wonder if theres any nepotism rules that would prevent 3 brothers from playing for the same team ive seen many brothers of 2 play for the same team but i dont remember ever seeing more than 2 at the same time as that could create a mini union on a team

    Impossible.

    yeM.gif

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    raithis
    25 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    You like Pitlick that much? Without Rossi and Ohgren, you should expect to see a lot of Pitlick now.

    Pitlick hits people, but he doesn't score and he's 34 years old, so that's why I'd rather have Sherwood.

    No, I don't much care for Pitlick, but with a lot of the players we have. I agree with the article from a couple days ago that it doesn't make sense to get more of the same type of player.

    More goals from Foligno, Trenin, and Hartman would be nice though.  I get that Sherwood can score more, but I also think two many moves disrupts team defense enough that it would nullify any small gains in that department.  Guerin needs to be careful doing too much or it could backfire.

    Rossi hasn't been playing, Buium was still becoming a presence, and Ohgren hasn't really been a factor.  The biggest disruption the the team at the moment is Buium, and Hughes is a significant upgrade.

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    FredJohnson
    2 hours ago, Secord Sucks said:

    2020 1st: Rossi

    2022 1st: Ohgren

    2024 1st: Zeev

    2026 1st: TBD

    Is Hughes worth FOUR first round picks? I sure hope so.

    Rossi the as been made obsolete by Yurov.

    Oggie is a 3rd liner that needs to get better (but might never).

    Losing Zeev hurts but Hughes is possibly the best offensive defenseman in the NHL.

    1st round picks mostly don't pan out or are just okay (most of ours anyway).

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    raithis
    39 minutes ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    You like Pitlick that much? Without Rossi and Ohgren, you should expect to see a lot of Pitlick now.

    Pitlick hits people, but he doesn't score and he's 34 years old, so that's why I'd rather have Sherwood.

    Also, even with Rossi hurt, Ohgren and Pitlick weren't playing every game, so I don't really understand what your getting at.  Foligno and hinostroza being out have more to do with Pitlick playing than anything.

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    Imyourhuckleberry
    20 minutes ago, raithis said:

    I don't really understand what your getting at.  Foligno and hinostroza being out have more to do with Pitlick playing than anything.

    I'm getting at the Wild giving up more than they should have in this deal. They had multiple players under team control and Quinn Hughes is due for a new deal in 2027. The cost of that deal is going to be enormous and I don't know if he's good at defense. He's undersized and fast, but is he an all around player who drives winning?

    Hughes is not currently a top 3 defenseman in the NHL, and I wanted to see a lot more of the young guys the Wild traded.

    With fewer forwards to play in front of Pitlick, I think you'll see more of him. The Wild should have gotten more in return than just Hughes if they were giving up more than just Buium and Rossi. It would be different if Vancouver didn't need to trade Hughes, but they absolutely had to move him at some point, so I believe the Wild should have made a deal that was better than this.

    Vancouver is going to be bad this season, but this is going to be a huge boon for their rebuilding and in a few years, they could be fully restocked with high end talent.

    I hope it goes better than it feels like it could, but I believe in the future of Buium more than the future of Quinn Hughes(beyond the next 2 seasons) and the Wild traded a lot to swap them.

    Edited by Imyourhuckleberry
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    Pablo
    3 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    I wish I had mixed emotions. I hate this trade!

    Buium might be as good as Hughes in a year or 2, and the Wild gave up two first round forward talents with him. If anything, the Wild should have been getting the 1st round pick in this case.

    I'll grant that Hughes is better than Buium today, but I don't think he's better than Buium, Rossi, and Ohgren combined. Why the hell would the Wild add a 1st round pick to reduce their ability to make other deals?

    How the hell did the Wild not at least get Kiefer Sherwood in the deal coming over with Quinn Hughes??? Quinn Hughes alone is not worth what the Wild sent over to Vancouver. Canucks fans must be ecstatic!!!

    Canuck fans are p oissed😂

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