Alright, let’s start this article up with an enormous caveat.

We are firmly in the realm of the theoretical and the hypothetical here.

You won’t catch us seriously advocating for the Vancouver Canucks to trade Quinn Hughes. We’re on the record as stating outright that he’s the greatest player to ever skate for this franchise, and that making the most out of the time the team has with him is almost at the level of a moral obligation.

But if we – meaning fans, media, and even President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford – are going to daydream about the possibility of Quinn’s brothers Jack and Luke coming to Vancouver for a family reunion one day, we have to at least consider what the other side of that daydream might look like. And make no mistake: folks in New Jersey have been thinking similar thoughts for a while, and they’re just as hungry to bring the brothers together.

In fact, one might reasonably argue that, of the two teams, New Jersey is in the better position to make it happen.

So, let’s imagine a scenario in which the Canucks decide, for whatever reason, that they’re going to move on from their captain and make a trade. And let’s imagine that said decision comes sometime this offseason.

That would entail the Devils trading for two full seasons of Quinn, along with the exclusive negotiating rights throughout those two years that would almost certainly result in a long-term extension. That’s an asset of some extreme value.

Even if the Devils were reasonably confident that this Hughes would sign with them as a UFA in 2027 anyway, this would give them an extra two seasons of him in his prime. Two seasons in which we have to imagine they’ve become premium contenders with the addition of a Norris-quality defender. It’s an appealing vision for any Devils supporter, but it won’t come cheap.

So, if the Canucks and Devils were to talk about a Quinn Hughes trade this summer, what would it cost the Devils?

Let’s just state, first and foremost, that Jack and Luke Hughes are probably off the table in any such discussions, for what we hope are obvious reasons.

Beyond them, we’re not entirely sure that the Canucks would be looking for much in the way of current roster pieces from the Devils if they were trading away their own Hughes. Such a trade might signal the beginning of another rebuild, and in that case, expensive vets don’t exactly help.

Still, the Devils do have some good players on hand.

Jesper Bratt just finished 15^th in league scoring with 88 points, and is still just 26 years old. The Devils would hate to part with him, but if the Canucks were looking for another genuine superstar in a Hughes swap, Bratt would certainly qualify.

There’s also plenty of appeal in the Devils’ own captain, Nico Hischier. He’s also 26, has scored as many as 80 points in a season, and is one of the league’s best defensive centres, period. Some have him as the leading candidate for the Selke Trophy this year, and he’s almost always in the running.

So, if the Canucks wanted to trade Hughes and still attempt to compete – a strange notion, to be sure – they’d probably be asking for at least one of Bratt or Hischier.

Past those two, we’d say that Timo Meier and Dougie Hamilton – while both still very talented players – are both too old and too expensive to matter much in a Hughes trade, not to mention both in possession of no-movement clauses.

The recently signed Brett Pesce has a no-trade clause of his own, and we’d have to guess he’d be earmarked as Quinn’s next partner, so he probably doesn’t enter the discussion, either.

Another interesting name, however, is Dawson Mercer.

The 23-year-old right-hander is still figuring out whether he’ll be a centre or a winger in the long term, but he has already scored as many as 27 goals in an NHL season, and remains loaded with potential. He’d be a desirable asset for the Canucks regardless of the direction they were headed post-trade, and doubly so if they believe he can stick down the middle.

The Devils do have many other quality roster pieces past Bratt, Hischier, and Mercer. But when we’re talking about a trade for someone as premium as Quinn Hughes, it’s fair to say that the bulk of them don’t ‘move the needle’ on negotiations, and thus don’t really bear much mention here.

PS: If you’re wondering if we have forgotten about Simon Nemec, we haven’t! We’re just counting him as a prospect at this point and stuffing him into the next section.

Hey, speaking of Simon Nemec…

It is a bit of an unfortunate truth that the Devils’ two most NHL-ready prospects are each RHDs – the position at which the Canucks might currently hold the most depth.

Assuming the Tom Willander situation eventually gets sorted out, that would mean that the Canucks had a right-side depth chart of Filip Hronek, Tyler Myers, Victor Mancini, and Willander heading into the next few seasons.

And so, Nemec and fellow RHD prospect Seamus Casey would still be of considerable interest to the Canucks from a pure value perspective. But they’re also not exactly the best fits for the franchise’s current needs.

Thankfully, the Devils’ top prospect overall is Anton Silayev, a 6’7”, 19-year-old LHD selected at 10th overall this past draft.

Silayev is a true blue-chip prospect, reportedly skating incredibly well for any prospect, let alone one of this calibre. The Athletic had him ranked as the 14^th best prospect overall in February – though we should also note they ranked Nemec at 12^th – and his reputation has only grown since then.

From where we’re sitting, Silayev is a veritable ‘must-have’ in any trade discussions regarding Quinn Hughes, theoretical or otherwise. If the Devils aren’t willing to give up this top-notch LHD prospect, they have no business inquiring about the best LHD in the world.

Past Silayev, Nemec, and/or Casey, the Devils have a relative abundance of future-based assets with which to sweeten the deal. Arseni Gritsyuk has become one of the top-scoring wings in the KHL at age 24, and has a terrific hockey name, to boot. The 20-year-old winger Lenni Hameenaho also has a great name and has become one of Finland’s best young offensive talents.

But when we’re talking about a rare gemstone like Quinn Hughes, we’re really only talking in premium terms. In a world where deadline rentals return a first and a good prospect on an annual basis, two years of a player like Hughes should return at least four blue-chip assets, minimum. And not just any four, but the best four. Negotiations should probably not extend beyond the top shelf, except as last-minute adjustments.

The Devils don’t possess their own first-round selection this year, having traded it away for Jacob Markstrom. But they do have two second-round picks, theirs and Edmonton’s. And they have first-rounders available in 2026 and 2027 that could definitely and probably should be included in any trade.

The Devils have some $12 million in cap space heading into the offseason, representing 19 signed roster players. In other words, they could accommodate Quinn’s current contract without much issue, and still have some room to burn.

That said, one of the players they’ve yet to sign is Luke Hughes, who is set to become an RFA. Some money will have to be earmarked for him, and that could leave the Devils looking to make at least a slight cap dump, either through the Quinn Hughes trade itself or elsewhere.

Ondrej Palat and Jonas Siegenthaler seem like the top candidates there, though we don’t think the Canucks would have much interest in either, aside from as potential throw-ins.

From where we’re sitting, the Canucks have two paths they could go down in a Hughes-to-Devils trade, and the outlines of two very large returns they could demand.

If the Canucks wanted to maintain some semblance of competitiveness, they should be asking for a package like:

If, on the other hand, the Canucks want to use a Hughes trade to springboard into another rebuild, and prefer future-based assets, then the package might look more like:

Now, we expect any Devils supporter to look at those packages and scoff. But we would strongly assert that this is the cost of business in attempting to acquire one of the best players in the world.

This is Quinn Hughes we’re talking about. At the same time, we know that most Canucks fans are looking at these packages and realizing that even such a weighty return would still pale in comparison to the almighty loss that would be moving on from the greatest player to ever put on a Vancouver jersey.

Thankfully, as we said at the outset, this is all hypothetical, anyway.