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Buium, Rossi, and Öhgren: Reviewing the 3 Canucks since the Quinn Hughes trade
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Photo credit: © Marc DesRosiers-Imagn Images
Jacob Fraser
Jan 17, 2026, 09:00 ESTUpdated: Jan 17, 2026, 02:26 EST
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It’s been just over a month since the Quinn Hughes trade, and because of that, it feels like a good time to take a look at how the new guys are doing as members of the Vancouver Canucks. 
Since joining the team, all three players have received more opportunities than they had with the Minnesota Wild. Zeev Buium’s ice time has jumped up from 18:28 minutes a night to over 20:00, while Liam Öhgren’s has gone from 9:32 to 12:18. Marco Rossi has had less of a jump with a much smaller sample size due to an injury that has him currently out of the lineup. 
Let’s kick things off with Rossi. 
The Austrian centreman was brought in as a much-needed second-line centre for the Canucks’ lineup. Immediately, Rossi was given a top-line opportunity, as Elias Pettersson was out with an injury. 
It maybe hasn’t been the start to his Canucks tenure that fans and he had hoped for. Two points through eight games certainly isn’t the production that is necessary to be considered a legitimate top-six forward. 
What we do need to keep in mind, though, is that at the time of acquiring Rossi, he was coming off another injury. This makes it difficult to really give him a fair evaluation, given that he’s essentially had two separate injuries since joining the team. Though in his very limited sample of play in the team’s lineup, it’s fair to be concerned to a degree about his ability to produce offensively in the future. 
It’s not by any means time to hit the panic button with Rossi, but when he does rejoin the Canucks lineup fully healthy, we certainly want to see his offensive output increase.
Shifting over to Buium, the hope was that he could take on the Quinn Hughes role, to a much lesser extent, but he has taken over the top powerplay unit in most of the games he’s played as a member of the Canucks. 
Recently, Buium was a healthy scratch taken out of the Canucks lineup for their matchup with the Montreal Canadiens on January 12th. Head Coach Adam Foote said he wanted to give Buium a rest. 
Sure. Buium has had some struggles defensively since joining the team. There have been some instances of bad turnovers and questionable positioning at times that have led to scoring opportunities and goals for the opposing teams, but this is a 20-year-old defenceman. 
Overall, since joining the team, Buium has been solid, and taking him out of the lineup while some of the veterans are making the same, if not more egregious, mistakes defensively. It doesn’t make sense as a rebuilding team to take him out of the lineup. 
Focusing on Buium’s deployment, he’s mostly been paired alongside Tyler Myers playing on the second pairing, given the fact that this team is committed to rebuilding. It might be time to put Buium on the top pair with Filip Hronek. Together, the two of them have looked good. It’s a very limited sample, but assuming the Canucks plan to keep Hronek long term, that’s likely what your top pair looks like in the future, so why not use this season as a chance to build their chemistry? 
Overall, for Zeev, since joining the Canucks there have been some ups and downs. That’s expected with a young defenceman in their rookie season. The flashes of potential, though, have been showing particularly on the offensive side. He’s clearly a dynamic skater with loads of talent. Once he becomes more comfortable, we can expect him to take bigger steps in both the short and long term. 
As for Öhgren, some may have thought he was more of a throw-in to this trade. A prospect that Canucks management liked in the 2022 draft, but given his struggles in Minnesota, wasn’t expected to be much of a factor in the Canucks’ lineup this season. 
However, he’s been the guy who’s blown people away. 
The production maybe isn’t outstanding. Five points through 16 games as a member of the Canucks, but the size, speed, and effort that he puts in every single shift have been very noticeable. 
Night in, night out, Öhgren has been one of the team’s best players. He’s primarily seen his time in the team’s bottom-six but has gotten a few looks further up the lineup, and given his play, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see more of that. Once he does get more of those opportunities, his offensive production could certainly go up. 
Though the return for Hughes obviously hasn’t filled the hole this team is missing. There have been some promising signs from the three new Canucks. For a rebuilding team, you can’t ask for much more at this point. 
The Canucks certainly have given all three players more opportunities to play higher in the lineup than they had as members of the Wild, and with the season headed in the direction it is, we can expect that they will continue to get these chances and that they can develop more and more as the season goes on.
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