On Friday night, the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Wild linked up to execute one of the biggest trades the NHL has seen in years.

The Canucks sent captain Quinn Hughes to the Wild in exchange for 20-year-old blueliner Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and the Wild’s 2026 first round pick.

Hughes had been in trade rumours for the last week, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reporting on Thursday night that trade talks involving Hughes were underway. Speculation around Hughes’s future has been a heavy topic of conversation in Vancouver, as the Canucks’ captain was going to become extension eligible on July 1st.

It appears now that the Canucks knew Hughes wasn’t planning on sticking around long term.

Shortly after the trade was made, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that the Canucks had “known for a while” that Hughes wasn’t going to extend. :

Shortly after that, Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy spoke with Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford, who confirmed that it was indicated to the Canucks in the offseason that it was “highly unlikely” that Hughes would sign long term with the club.

“We would like to thank Quinn for his time with the Vancouver Canucks,” Rutherford said following the trade. “Quinn is a great person, a great player, and one of the greatest Canucks of all time. With the circumstances surrounding JT and now Quinn, we are fortunate to acquire these very good young players from Minnesota. They will be a key part of the rebuild that we are currently in, giving us a bright future moving forward. The hockey club will continue to build with talented young players using that as a blueprint to become a contender sooner rather than later.”

Originally drafted 7th overall in 2018, Hughes leaves the Canucks as the club’s all-time leader in points by a defenceman with 432, passing Alex Edler earlier this season. Hughes also took home the first Norris Trophy in Canucks franchise history back in 2023-24 as the league’s top defenceman.