Vancouver Canucks fans, sorry about your luck, but your captain is eventually going to be traded this season.
The Quinn Hughes-saga is reaching an all-time high at the moment, as trade talks have ramped up in a major way since Elliotte Friedman dropped the bomb that the New Jersey Devils and Canucks have started to discuss their trade packages.
While Hughes told Jim Rutherford he prefers to eventually play with his brothers in New Jersey, with Hughes not having any trade protection on his current contract, he can be moved anywhere. The Canucks aren’t going to give their captain up to the Devils just to make the Hughes family happy, they will accept the best offer that’s going to allow them to re-tool on the fly, and that might not be from New Jersey.
While there’s certainly the link there, keep an eye on the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Detroit Red Wings. All three teams have been linked by multiple insiders these past few days, and all have interesting trade packages to present to the Canucks.
The Penguins are intriguing because Rutherford and Patrik Allvin know the organization very well, and they have a number of different routes they can go with this trade. Ben Kindel would be the main piece the Canucks would likely ask for as the rookie center is turning heads across the league.
The Red Wings are loaded with NHL ready prospects and picks, along with cap space, so there’s plenty to choose from in Detroit. Meanwhile, the Rangers are a dark horse, and could be open to including Alexis Lafreniere in the package, along with Noah Laba and defenceman Braden Schneider.
Talks have picked up, it’s only a matter of time before Hughes is shipped out of town and the Canucks are searching internally for a new captain.
