December 12, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

Apparently NHL general managers were in a dealing mood on Friday. Hours after the Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins swapped goaltenders, the Vancouver Canucks and the Minnesota Wild dropped a behemoth blockbuster of a deal on us. 

Related: Jarry for Skinner is a lateral move for the Oilers

Quinn Hughes has been traded to the Wild in exchange for Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ӧhgren, and a 2026 first round pick.

Breaking: Quinn Hughes is being traded to Minnesota

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) December 13, 2025

The Canucks captain has been one of the highest scoring defencemen in the league over the past eight seasons. Hughes led NHL defencemen in points with 92 in 2023-24 and won the Norris Trophy. The 26-year old has one year left on his contract before becoming an unrestricted free agent in 2027. There have been rumours about him wanting to go to the New Jersey Devils to play with his brothers, but all of that noise just seemed like wishful thinking from people wanting to stir the pot.

I didn’t think that there was any merit to the idea of the Canucks trading Hughes right now. If it was looking unlikely that he was going to re-sign with the Canucks before the 2027 trade deadline, I would’ve considered a move; but this seems early to make such a move.

Then again, there’s evidence to suggest that we shouldn’t be so surprised. After all, the Canucks are currently in last place in the entire league just two seasons after winning the Pacific Division. Canucks president Jim Rutherford let everyone know that the Canucks were willing to talk about moving their veterans earlier this season. I didn’t think Hughes would be in that mix, but here we are.

The Canucks were looking for a centre. Elias Pettersson’s performance over recent seasons has been a far cry from the $11.5 million cap hit he carries, Filip Chytil can’t stay healthy, and they had nothing beyond those two. Rossi will give the Canucks a boost up the middle. The 24-year old got 60 points last season, and has thirteen points in seventeen games this season. The ninth overall pick from the 2020 draft has started living up to his potential over the past couple of seasons.

Canucks fans should be excited about Buium. He had two fantastic college seasons with the University of Denver where he averaged over a point per game as a defenceman, and he has fourteen points in his first 31 NHL games with the Wild. The 20-year old is a far cry from Hughes and might never get to his level, but Buium is a fantastic young defenceman.

The Wild are taking a huge swing here. Hughes is an impact player that will significantly improve a defence group that was already tremendous. He’s a great weapon to pair with winger Kirill Kaprizov, who will become the highest paid player in the NHL next season. 

The risk for them is that they gave up four first round assets for one and a half seasons of a player that might bolt. Wild GM Bill Guerin might be taking a play from Carolina Hurricanes GM Eric Tulsky’s playbook. The Hurricanes traded for Mikko Rantanen last season, then flipped him to the Dallas Stars at the trade deadline when it became clear that they wouldn’t be able to sign him to an extension. If Hughes tells the Wild that he wants to play in New Jersey or elsewhere, then they are still in a position where they could trade him to recoup some of their assets.

The Hurricanes gave up Martin Necas in the Rantanen trade and ended up with Logan Stankoven in the end. The Wild gave up Rossi. The relationship between Rossi and the Wild wasn’t exactly peachy as demonstrated by their contract dispute, so there was reason to believe that Rossi wasn’t in the Wild’s long-term plans anyway. Hughes will still be valuable by the end of next season, so the Wild could still get a quality package in return for him if they decide to flip him before July 2027 like the Hurricanes did for Rantanen.

Losing Rossi leaves the Wild with a gaping hole at an important position. Reports suggested that the Wild didn’t want to include Rossi in a deal for Hughes, but you have to give to get. They have Joel Eriksson-Ek, Ryan Hartman, Danila Yurov, and Yakov Trenin up the middle right now. They’re operating under the hope that the offensive strength from Kaprizov, Matthew Boldy, and Mats Zuccarello on the wings is enough to make up for the lack of high-end centre talent.

Rossi, Buium, and Ӧhgren were a part of an impressive young core for the Wild. With Kaprizov in his prime and a formidable goaltending tandem in place, the Wild clearly wanted to accelerate their timeline.

They see what the Stars and the Colorado Avalanche are doing ahead of them. The Stars have been to two consecutive Western Conference Finals, and the Avalanche have been unbelievable this season. Neither of those teams are going to take a step back from contention any time soon. The Wild know that the road to a Stanley Cup goes through those two teams for them, and they have just bolstered their roster in a big way.

If the Wild don’t win a Stanley Cup in the next two seasons and they lose Hughes for nothing, then this will be a giant flop of a deal for them. If they can extend him, then it’s well worth the price.

I don’t know how it will work out for them, but I love the entertainment value of a surprise blockbuster trade on a Friday night in December.