The Quinn Hughes trade will go down as probably the most significant in Vancouver Canucks history. The post-mortems have already begun, and the dissection of this deal will continue for decades to come. The Post-Hughes Era begins now, and it begins with an examination of how we got to this point.

As most opinions on the trade have already stated, the Canucks did very, very well here. Zeev Buium is one of the best young defenders in all of hockey. Marco Rossi is a 2C already at 24 with the potential to be even more. Liam Ohgren is a 21-year-old former first rounder who still profiles as a top-six talent with character. And a first round pick is a lottery ticket, sure, but it’s the best kind of lottery ticket.

This was, of course, absolutely crucial. If the Canucks were going to be forced to trade their franchise player, they needed to absolutely nail this trade and maximize the return. And it seems like, in the present moment, they’ve done so. POHO Jim Rutherford said that many teams made offers, but no offer ever came close to the value given up by Bill Guerin and the Minnesota Wild. This was the most on the table right now.

It’s only natural, then, to wonder about the timing. If this is the most the Canucks could get for Hughes right now, is it the most they could get for him at any point? In other words, was this the best time for the Canucks to trade their captain, or might a greater value have been gleaned if they waited for another opportunity?

The answer, fortunately, is probably not. Given all that we’ve learned prior to and following the trade, within the 2025-26 season looks like it was in fact the prime time to move Hughes.

We have to assume that we’re being told the truth that there was some indication from Hughes and his camp that he was not likely to extend with the Canucks. We’re told that indication came in various stages throughout the offseason and into training camp, and then most directly at American Thanksgiving, and we’ve got no reason to doubt that.

So, if Hughes was intending to walk as a UFA, then there’s little debate that trading him at some point was the right call. To have a franchise walk for nothing is an unmitigated disaster to be avoided at all costs.

But the Canucks still had options. Had they not traded Hughes now or by the 2026 Trade Deadline, they could have traded him in the offseason. Or, they could have traded him at some point within the 2026-27 season.

Now, however, seems like it truly was the best of times.

We can safely write off next deadline, as Hughes would be a straight-up rental at that point. It comes down to now, or this offseason, as the two best potential times for a trade.

The major point of dispute on this topic has always been this: what’s more valuable, two potential playoff runs with Hughes, or the ability to talk extension with him right away? A team trading for Hughes now gets him for the rest of this regular season, the 2026 playoffs, the whole 2026-27 season, and the 2027 playoffs, if they wish. That’s an awful lot of hockey for one of the best defenders in the sport, and carries immense value.

If a team were to trade for Hughes during the upcoming offseason instead, they’d lose out on using him for the 2026 playoffs, which is a detriment. But if they traded for him around July 1, they’d also be able to start talking extension immediately – and still be able to offer him a max term of eight years and full signing bonuses, an opportunity that is going away shortly. That, too, has immense value.

But from the Canucks’ perspective, trading Hughes after he has the ability to sign an extension might have actually hurt his trade value.

Right now, Hughes and his camp were firm that they would not be giving any team any reassurance of extending, and that reportedly includes the Minnesota Wild. So, none of the teams attempting to trade for Hughes right now were able to guarantee they’d re-sign him. But each of those teams had the freedom to believe they could re-sign him, or at least spend the next one-and-a-half years convincing him to re-sign.

Were we past July 1, that illusion would come crashing down. As soon as teams were able to talk terms with Hughes and camp, they’d soon learn whether he was willing to sign an extension with them. And we are guessing that, for many teams, the answer would be ‘no.’

So, had they waited until the offseason, there is the likelihood that teams would have pulled out of the bidding, or reduced their offers, as Hughes informed them that he wasn’t willing to re-sign.

Sure, if Hughes was willing to re-sign with a team, there is a chance that team might be willing to give up even more in return for him, since they’re obtaining a more long-term investment. But we’re not too sure about that. In a sense, it could actually lead to a team reducing their offer, as they felt more secure about Hughes joining them eventually – especially if they were part of a relatively short list of teams he was willing to sign with.

In other words, by trading Hughes now, before he’s eligible to be extended, the Canucks made a market out of every team who was happy with just a year-and-a-half of Hughes, and/or who felt confident they had a chance to re-sign him.

Had they waited until the offseason, the Canucks would have a smaller market of teams who were either happy with a one-year rental of Hughes, or who knew first-hand he was willing to extend.

On top of all that, we think the 2025-26 regular season, in particular, was an especially good time to wring maximum value out of Hughes. The league standings are so tight right now, that we’ve definitely got more teams out there than usual that think they can make some noise in the playoffs this year – and that thus might be interested in adding a player like Hughes to their roster. Not every regular season goes like this. It’s also the first season with a playoff salary cap, which makes Hughes’ $7.65 million cap hit an extra-valuable bargain.

Plus, trading Hughes right now, as opposed to toward the 2026 Trade Deadline, has the dual benefits of avoiding this storyline continuing any longer than it has to, and of avoiding the awkwardly interrupted trading schedule brought on by two impending roster freezes.

It really does seem like the Canucks managed to trade Hughes at the point at which the most teams would bid for him, and one has to think that equates to the point at which they’d receive the most value. Really, it’s hard to imagine any realistic bid outdoing the Wild’s offer of Buium, Rossi, Ohgren, and a first. And it’s especially hard to imagine a better bid coming with fewer suitors in the running for his long-term services.

It’s tough to feel good about making the best of a bad situation, because it’s still a bad situation at the end of the day. But if the Canucks had to trade their captain – and it sounds like, at this point anyway, they had little choice – they’ve at least picked the very best time to do so.