The Vancouver Canucks might be battling it out for last place in the NHL with the Calgary Flames right now, but they’re the ones with all the smoke.

The trade winds have been blowing in BC for more than a month now, and have recently approached near-hurricane velocity with the revelation that the Canucks and the New Jersey Devils have “had a conversation” about Quinn Hughes.

The topic itself is nothing new. Folks have been talking about Hughes-to-Jersey since at least this past April, when President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford brought it up unprompted in a year-end presser.

But what is new is that, for the first time ever, Rutherford and GM Patrik Allvin seem to be opening the door ever-so-slightly to openly discussing the trading of Hughes. If and when that happens, it’ll be the biggest and perhaps most consequential trade in franchise history.

As it stands, Hughes has a season-and-a-half remaining on his current contract and no trade protection. That’s why, although the logical outcome may be joining his brothers in New Jersey, that’s far from the only possible outcome. Any contender in the league could use Hughes’ services for the next two playoff runs, and several of them would be happy to make a bid or two towards acquiring him.

In other words, if the Devils want to get their hands on Hughes early – and retain the ability to sign him to an eight-year contract – they’re going to have to pay for the privilege. And pay mightily.

The importance of this trade means that it is one that the Canucks cannot afford to mess up, with ‘messing up’ here equating to getting anything less than maximal value back.

So, what’s the most that the Devils could offer up in return for Hughes?

Any Hughes trade should be focused on quality over quantity (or, perhaps, quality and quantity). If the Canucks aren’t walking away with multiple blue-chip pieces, they’ve done something catastrophically wrong. The Devils do, indeed, have a couple of interesting names to consider.

The 21-year-old right-shooting defender was selected second overall in the 2022 Entry Draft, but has taken a little longer than average to arrive. This 2025-26 season appears to be a bit of a breakout, however, with Nemec already up to six goals and 15 points through 29 games.

Nemec’s overall game is still a work in progress, and his deployment remains relatively sheltered. Still, he’s stepped up into a bigger role to cover injuries before and seems to grow with each new opportunity. Most still believe he has top-pairing potential in the long term, even if he’s unlikely to reach that in New Jersey with Brett Pesce occupying the top 1RD slot for the time being.

Nemec isn’t an ideal centrepiece for the Canucks, who already have Tom Willander and Victor Mancini on the right side, not to mention veterans Filip Hronek and Tyler Myers. But if they’re focused on getting the single-most value they can, present and future, that’s probably Nemec, one way or another.

Silayev is considered the Devils’ top prospect by a long shot after having been selected 10th overall in the 2024 Entry Draft. The LD stands out from the crowd due to his 6’7”, 207-pound frame that still might be growing, but that’s not his only gift. Silayev is a great skater, and not just for his size, which allows him to provide both puck-carrying abilities and a wide range of defensive coverage. Such an enormous player obviously has a bit of a learning curve ahead of him. Still, Silayev is expected to come over to North America next season to really start that NHL career in earnest. He’s a true blue-chip prospect, and plays at a position that the Canucks will suddenly be in need of should they trade Hughes.

Even if the Canucks were to get both big pieces we’ve already listed, that still wouldn’t really add up to the full value of Hughes. That will need to be supplemented with at least one or two medium pieces, too.

Mercer is a player the Canucks have reportedly had their eye on for a while. After a starring role at the WJC, Mercer has had an incredibly uneven arrival in the big leagues, scoring as many as 56 points as a sophomore, and as few as 33 the very next year.

The 2025-26 season seems to be an upswing for Mercer, as he’s now up to 21 points in 29 games. He’s a little undersized at 6’0” and about 180 pounds, but Mercer makes up for it with a clever approach to the game and a shifting skating style.

All that said, the Canucks would almost certainly be looking at Mercer as a potential centre solution. Although, he’s had more success on the wing at the NHL level, including this season, where he’s mostly spent time on Nico Hischier’s flank. It’s hard to know exactly what they’d be getting in Mercer, and that’s why he can’t be anything more than an additional piece in a trade like this.

Again, the Canucks aren’t particularly interested in RD prospects. But the Devils’ next best future asset is still probably Casey. The 5’10”, sub-180-pound defender who has enough skill to still be considered a future NHLer despite that size.

Casey is an expert puck-handler in every sense of the word, capable of carrying it up the ice, along the blueline, or even deep into the offensive zone when the situation calls for it. He’s an offensive defender, to be sure, but is also working on rounding out his defensive game to the best of his abilities down in the AHL right now.

The fit is less-than-ideal for the Canucks, but if they’re selling off a multitude of veterans, maybe having some redundancy at every position is a fine idea, anyway.

The Canucks aren’t interested in draft picks as the primary returns in the veteran trades, but that doesn’t mean they will turn them down. With the Devils seeming to overall have fewer interesting pieces to offer, they’ll need to supplement somehow, and a first-round pick goes a long way toward that.

The Devils have all future first rounds in hand. But the 2026 pick would be especially nice to acquire, because it has the potential to end up pretty high. Right now, the Devils are one point out of a playoff spot. But they’re also just three points ahead of the bottom-10. Acquiring New Jersey’s first – without any protective clauses – could be smart business with high upside.

To fit Hughes now and into the future, the Devils may require some cap cleanup. Whether that comes from the Canucks helping them out or some other side deals, there are some names worth thinking about.

Hamilton, and his $9 million cap hit until 2028, looks like the odd man out in a Hughes arrival. Maybe the Devils would want to keep him around if they had to deal Nemec away, but at some point, Hamilton’s contract is going to be a problem that needs solving.

He has a 10-team no-trade clause, and given his experience in Calgary, we kind of doubt Hamilton would waive it to go to Vancouver – nor would Vancouver have much need for an expensive veteran RD. But perhaps the Canucks could be a middleman, acquiring Hamilton and then flipping him elsewhere for a second-round pick or something similar.

The Devils would especially like to ditch Palat and his $6 million cap hit. Unlike Hamilton, Palat is no longer a high-level player and has just 16 points in his last 100 or so games. Palat also has a 10-team NTC, and it’s unlikely he waives that to go from a contender to a rebuilder, but maybe the Canucks could play middleman with him, too.

Of course, the Canucks could always retain on Hughes’ contract to make a trade even more worth the Devils’ while. That would cost assets, though, to the tune of at least one extra medium piece, if not more. With the Devils already a little short on interesting things to offer, especially compared to some other potential suitors, one wonders if they can cobble together enough to swing Hughes at 50% – does a four-piece package of Nemec, Silayev, Mercer, and a first even get them there?