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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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    Pablo
    1 minute ago, Pewterschmidt said:

    This is where I’m at today too.  

    Points are points. They all score the same obviously. With Hughes on the ice 24min a game, it makes Yurov or any other C better. It makes our PP better and definitely our 5 on 5.  It’s tough losing all the young guys but we are now a better team in 25 & 26.  St. Paul is gonna be rockin at another level!! 

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    Neutral Zone Dangles
    22 hours ago, Mateo3xm said:

    Where’d you come from nim rod? Guess you’re too smooth brained to realize we lost a really good center when we’re short on centers.

    Settle down Matty. I know you’re grieving, but that’s not kind. Also, a ‘really good center’ is a bit of an exaggeration. The Wild are now considered contenders, buckle up. 

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    raithis
    On 12/12/2025 at 10:34 PM, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    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.

    I don't disagree that the Wild gave up a lot to make this trade (see my earlier comments about this topic), but with higher end talent and free agency/trade market being what it is, costs are going to be high.  Even a few years ago, the Matthew Tkachuk trade to Florida seemed like a lot for one player.  Players like Huberdeau and Weegar were more highly regarded that Rossi and Buium at the time too.  Unfortunately it takes a lot to pry those players away from teams.

    I'm personally a little conflicted on the trade, though that's mostly about whether Guerin can get Hughes to sign an extension next season and the fact that the Wild had to part with so much of their better young players, but I can accept it.  I just really don't want to see Hughes walk or end up on the trade block next season so we don't lose all that for nothing.  Some people seem to think that the Wild can recoup that loss by trading Hughes or pick up players in free agency if he doesn't re-sign, but I don't think that will be the case.  If it's evident that Hughes only wants to play in New Jersey 2027-28, I don't see anyone sacrificing players as good as what was given up to secure a rental.  And while I also think that Quinn's presence helps make the Wild more of a free agent draw in this next off-season, I think his departure has the opposite effect.  It's a huge (Hughes) gamble, and I'm not a person who would make that kind of move, but that's also why I probably wouldn't make a good GM.  A couple days ago, I argued why trading for Hughes was a bad idea and I still think that's probably the case.  It all really hinges on whether he likes it here and is willing to stay.

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    raithis
    13 hours ago, Imyourhuckleberry said:

    Just felt like the Wild needed another skilled forward A LOT more than they needed an offensive defenseman.

    I don't disagree with this either, but having an offensive defenseman like Hughes should also get more out of the forwards we already have.  We were seeing that effect a bit with Buium on the ice.  I would think we would see that amplified up even more with Hughes.

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    Gavan

    I sincerely wish your boy Rossi good luck in his new home. 

    It's Quinn fucking Hughes. Wild now have the 5 or 6 big-time players (incl 2 or 3 future HoF'ers) plus big time goalie(s) required to compete for a Stanley Cup. 

    Indisputably, this is all Guerin and is one of the greatest trades of all time. Period.

    USA Hockey

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    MacGyver

    I wonder if Hughes will skate right out of one of his skates on his first shift! 🤣

    Seriously I think both teams have something to like and get excited about this trade and that's the way it should be. Not being a Billy fan I'm certain he did a little tampering with Hughes probably during the 4 Nations thing about possibly being here and signing on. That's Billy doing Billy things. If he didn't tamper or have some sort of assurance of Hughes resigning then he is as bug eyed crazy as I thought. 

    Hughes is going to be in the Kaprizov position of, you will pay me what I want you to pay me when the time comes.  That's a lot of egg on the Wilds face if they don't pay up and he walks to New Jersey. If Boldy ratchets it up another notch he surpasses Kaprizov as the best player on the team. Boldy doesn't have the turnover problem and wins more battles than Kaprizov. Personally I think he is more creative with the puck than #97. If Hughes lives up to or goes beyond the hype here then he is the best player on the team with Boldy then #97. Wonder how #97 feels about that? So now you got $17M tied up in your third best player with your number one guy with the keys to your vault. It would be wise to win this thing this year or next for sure. 

    Edited by MacGyver
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    bisopher
    1 hour ago, MacGyver said:

    I wonder if Hughes will skate right out of one of his skates on his first shift! 🤣

    I was wondering if anyone else would remember that 😅 Hopefully he can keep both skates on and get a point (or two).

     

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