When the Vancouver Canucks traded Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild, all eyes were on the players they were getting back.

In the time since the trade with the Wild, the play of Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi and Liam Öhgren has obviously taken centre stage, with all three under the microscope to recreate Hughes in the aggregate. And the early returns have been pretty positive; Buium is taking his first steps into a top-pair defender, while Rossi and Öhgren have seemingly found their place in the Canucks’ top six as two-thirds of the BRÖ Line.

We’ve talked about the players acquired in the Hughes trade plenty over the last few months, but what about the rest of the team? What about all the players who started this season with high hopes, and are ending it on the NHL’s last-place team? How did they fare under those circumstances?

Let’s look at a few players whose stock has risen since Hughes left.

With such a big power vacuum to fill on the blue line, it’d be hard to imagine any Canuck that’s had bigger shoes to fill than Filip Hronek. Surrounded by young, inexperienced defenders, Hronek has been forced to take on a much bigger role and has done pretty darn well with it.

Without Hughes around to take half a game’s worth of ice time, Adam has needed more Foote soldiers to eat up that gap. Hronek was already averaging over 23 minutes a night in 2024-25, but this season that number’s gone up to 24:43. At 42 points, he’s a touch behind the pace to beat his personal best 48 in 2023-24. However, considering the difference in quality of those two Canucks teams, his numbers are still nothing to sneeze at. His role has also slightly changed with youngsters like Zeev Buium and Tom Willander trying to make their mark on the scoresheet.

Hronek’s stock as a locker room leader has also risen, with plenty of rumours that he’s a key candidate to succeed Hughes as team captain. Whether or not the team will actually anoint a new captain next season is anybody’s guess, but it’s clear Hronek wants the role. Hope he likes talking to the media every day.

The rise of Linus Karlsson seemingly came out of nowhere this season, putting together a 30-point season in his first full year at 26 years old. After leading the Abbotsford Canucks to a Calder Cup championship with 26 points in 24 playoff games, it was time for Karlsson to graduate to the NHL full-time, and he’s run with that opportunity.

His work in the team’s middle six this season has been enough to earn a two-year contract extension in January. According to HockeyStatCards, which measures a player’s advanced stats value at both ends of the ice, Karlsson’s average GameScore of 0.32 is the fourth highest on the team, and the third-ranked forward behind Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk.

Karlsson’s point production has dipped in the latter part of the season, but as far as finding an AHL success story this year, Karlsson has been the club’s biggest. If he can carry his game over to next year and take another step forward, he’ll end up as a bargain contract and a real win for the Canucks’ development program.

If there was one Canuck you expected to take on a bigger scoring role in the absence of Hughes (and Kiefer Sherwood if we’re being honest), Drew O’Connor’s name probably wasn’t the highest on your list. But the DO’C is in with the most goals on the team since Hughes was dealt on December 12, and the only player to hit double digits in that span. His 17 goals are tied with Jake DeBrusk for the second most on the team, only behind Brock Boeser’s 21.

O’Connor’s two-year extension with a 12-team modified trade clause last year drew a few raised eyebrows, but in year one, he’s found his way onto Elias Pettersson’s wing and produced admirably in a top-line role. While he’s not on pace to break his personal high of 33 points scored as a Pittsburgh Penguin in 2023-24, like Hronek’s case, that can be attributed to the difference in quality of both teams, as well as the amount of line juggling Adam Foote has done to try and find some chemistry. What O’Connor could bring in a more stable lineup with regular linemates could help him surpass his efforts this year and get him to his first 20-goal season in the NHL down the line.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Which of the veteran Canucks have impressed you the most this season? Let us know in the comments below.