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When Rutherford hinted at trading for Jack and Luke Hughes to keep Quinn in Vancouver: Top 10 Canucks stories of 2025 – #9

Photo credit: © Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 24, 2025, 09:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 23, 2025, 13:53 EST
Welcome to our annual series here at CanucksArmy, where we ring in the new year by looking back at the top 10 Vancouver Canucks news stories of the past calendar year.
NUMBER 9: Jim Rutherford hints at Canucks trading for Jack and Luke Hughes to help keep Quinn in Vancouver
If there’s anyone who knows how to prepare a hockey market for heartbreak well in advance, it’s Jim Rutherford.
At last season’s end-of-year media availability back in April, the Canucks’ president of hockey operations surprised many people with the way he chose to answer a question about keeping his captain in Vancouver long term.
“The one thing that we will be sure of is that we will have enough cap space to offer him the kind of contract that he deserves. That’s the one thing we can prepare for. And it may not boil down to money with him. He’s said before he wants to play with his brothers, and that would be partly out of our control, in our control, if we brought his brothers here. So there’s many moving parts here. [I] agree 100% this franchise cannot afford to lose a guy like Quinn Hughes, and we will do everything we can to keep him here. But at the end of the day, it’ll be it’ll be his decision.”
And as we know by now — and will certainly see later in this year’s countdown — Hughes did make his decision, and that decision was that he wouldn’t be re-signing with the Canucks. The Canucks got off to a dreadful start this season, and around American Thanksgiving, Hughes informed the Canucks he wouldn’t be sticking around. This gave them ample opportunity to maximize what they could get for in a trade involving Hughes, and they did just that when they traded Hughes to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren, and a first round pick.
But can we take a moment to appreciate once again how remarkable it was that Rutherford casually suggested trading for Jack and Luke the first time he was asked about keeping Quinn in Vancouver? Clearly, he’d thought about it before. And if there’s any consolation to Canucks fans, it’s that the New Jersey Devils weren’t able to match the quality of the Wild’s trade package, meaning that it remains to be seen if Hughes will actually sign with the club in free agency…
Check out our other top 10 stories of 2026 so far!
#10 – Canucks sign Garland and Demko to contract extensions on day one of free agency
#9 – When Rutherford hinted at trading for Jack and Luke Hughes to keep Quinn in Vancouver
#8 –
#10 – Canucks sign Garland and Demko to contract extensions on day one of free agency
#9 – When Rutherford hinted at trading for Jack and Luke Hughes to keep Quinn in Vancouver
#8 –
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