The morning after the Vancouver Canucks traded their captain and franchise defenceman, Quinn Hughes, to the Minnesota Wild, GM Bill Guerin met with the media to discuss the franchise-altering move.

Guerin opened by sharing that while it was a high price to pay, the opportunity to acquire a player like Quinn Hughes is seldom:

“It was a good night last night. Bringing a player like Quinn Hughes here, you just don’t get these opportunities all that often. You know, Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Öhgren, all great kids, great players with bright futures. Definitely hard to part with guys that you draft, develop, you spend time with, you get to know them, their families. But like I said, when a player of Quinn’s calibre comes available, and you have an opportunity to get them, there’s a cost to it. And you know, we were willing to do what it takes.”

The Wild GM shared that he called Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford last Saturday on the matter. Guerin mentioned that since he has a relationship with the Canucks front office, he knew how they deal with situations and that he could not screw around; he had to get right to the point and make himself a serious trade option:

“Look, with players of [Hughes] calibre, you cannot screw around. You’re not going to fool anybody. Jim’s been doing this for 40 years. I know Patrik. They do their homework. They know. We had to go to them with something real, right away, to tell them that we’re serious.

“That was our initial offer.

“Jim had other options. He had to, you know, kind of see things through. I don’t know who he was talking to or what his process was but we came out of the gates with that. Because they wanted to check certain boxes, and we had to check them for them. That’s the only way it gets done. We’re not going to sneak one by them. They’re smart.”

Guerin shared the hilarious truth that he was preparing meatballs for his Christmas Eve dinner when he got the call from Rutherford on Friday night saying, ‘We have a deal.’ But why was now the right time for Guerin to swing on Hughes?

“Because it’s Quinn Hughes. I don’t know what the right moment is, but if you wait for it, you’re going to miss it. When it’s a player of this calibre, the right time is always now.”

When asked if he could have done this trade without including 20-year-old defenceman Zeev Buium in the deal, Guerin said:

“I don’t think so. And look, Zeev, I love that kid. I mean, he’s a special kid. He’s a special human. Getting to know him and his family. Vancouver got three really good, young, quality guys. And you know, if Quinn Hughes wasn’t available, they’d still be here. And I was totally fine with that. But like I said before, you have to give something to get something.”

Guerin shared that Hughes won’t be in the lineup today for the Wild’s afternoon game against the Ottawa Senators, but that he and Chris Kelleher (assistant GM) were flying to New Jersey to pick Hughes up after his availability. Quinn will make his Wild debut tomorrow against the Boston Bruins.