VANCOUVER – May 21, 2024, shortly before 6:00 a.m. CEST, or Canadian time on May 20, 2024, shortly before 10:00 p.m. Vancouver time.
The hockey players of the local Canucks just didn’t manage the seven-game series of the semifinals of the Western Conference against the Edmonton Oilers and went on vacation with their heads down. Still, the future looked bright in British Columbia. The team has clear pillars in the form of Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and around them a successful and strong team with a chance to fight for the Stanley Cup must be built.
Cut to December 2025. We open the nhl.com website and sort the league table from first to last, omitting the wild cards and the conference. The last set? Vancouver Canucks with 25 points and 11 wins from 30 games. Elias Pettersson is far from the performances to which the eight-figure contract predestined him, Quinn Hughes, the man from the narrow tip of the defenders on the planet Earth, is at the age when he wants to play for the Stanley Cup, not lick the bottom of the table and listen everywhere how the Canucks should “tank” to get the highest possible selection in next year’s draft.
According to the contract, the captain of the “orcas” should spend another season and a half in Vancouver and become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, 2027, that is, three and a half months before his 28th birthday. If it came to that, an unimaginable battle would break out over him. Of course, elite defenders are not created in 3D printers, and every team would want at least two if it were easy and possible.
Overseas, talk of a Hughes trade is growing stronger by the day, with the two most seriously hungry alligators in the pond being the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings. The connection with the Devils, where Šimon Nemec also plays and his name has already been mentioned several times in this regard, is nothing new. Hughes’ brothers Jack and Luke are playing for New Jersey, and Quinn himself has said that he would love to play with them one day.
Words are spoken, bread is eaten, nothing is as simple as it seems at first glance.
Devils fans blamed GM Tom Fitzgerald’s lackluster performance this summer and can’t understand why he didn’t do more to prevent a minor disaster when Jack Hughes, Newark’s offensive star, gets injured again.
The Detroit Red Wings currently lead their division in a loaded and mediocre Eastern Conference and last made the playoffs in 2016, getting eliminated in the first round by Tampa Bay. Since then, they embarked on a hard reconstruction and created a new team from the absolute bottom, in which only one player remained – today’s captain Dylan Larkin. Fan impatience grows and pressure mounts on GM Steve Yzerman, and “Hockeytown” would like to see a big trade and a new star in a red jersey with a tire and two wings.
The news from behind the “big pool” says that if the Canucks decide to trade their best player and thus make it clear to everyone that they are determined to make significant changes and rebuild the team, then they will ask for a lot.
There is talk of up to five essential parts of the exchange – in the case of the Devils, Šimon Nemec, 24-year-old forward Dawson Mercer, two picks in the first round of the draft and a second-round pick were mentioned. Too much? Sure. Adequately? If Hughes signs a long-term contract with his new employer, the exchange could be equal to the jackpot over time.
Photo gallery (2) Will Dawson Mercer be included in a possible trade for Quinn Hughes? Source: SITA/AP/Chris O’Meara
Going back to Detroit, only Dylan Larkin, Lucas Raymond, Alex DeBrincat, Moritz Seider and Simon Edvinsson should be untouchable for a possible trade. Therefore, the most promising young players in the organization – Marco Kasper, Nate Danielson, Carter Bear, Axel Sandin-Pellikka or goalkeeper Trey Augustine – can also be in their fate.
Everything is open. However, the Red Wings are not in a situation where they can turn their noses up and proudly say that they will not let this or that young player go. Hughes also has ties to Detroit’s home state of Michigan, having played two seasons for the University of Michigan, which is located in Ann Arbor, 70 kilometers west of Detroit.
Hughes’ future is an essential component of any negotiations and subsequent months. If he made it clear that he wanted to play with his brothers one way or the other, and other teams had no chance, Detroit or Philadelphia or anyone else would needlessly prepare an attractive package for the Canucks knowing that Hughes will leave in the summer of 2027 as a free agent.
But in the event that Hughes asks Vancouver for a trade (it can happen at any time, it’s hard to predict) and at the same time says that he doesn’t care where the Canucks send him (he has no non-exchange clause in his contract or a list of teams to which he can/cannot be traded), moreover, he will be open to subsequently signing a long-term contract with anyone, so we can be sure that anyone is really fighting for him.
Vancouver has Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Jake DeBrusk, Cnor Garland, guards Filip Hronek, Marcus Pettersson and goaltender Thatcher Demek under long-term contracts for a total of $51.6 million. That’s less than four-tenths of 50 percent of the total salary cap for the 2026/26 season. What’s most frustrating about the whole situation, at this point it’s obvious that the Canucks are a team on the decline and Hughes doesn’t have a bright future with them.
In contrast, sticking with Detroit and New Jersey, both teams and their futures have an upward trend. The Devils are on their way closer to the Stanley Cup, and Detroit has a larger supply of young talent, which could be more attractive to Vancouver.
If we compare the salary situation of both units, the Devils have $10.3 million available for next season and $47 million next summer. Detroit will have almost 42 million in the summer and even 77 million in the summer of 2027. Of course, the signings of young players or the mainstays of the team will also eat something – in Detroit, 22-year-old Simon Edvinsson, and in New Jersey after the 2026/27 season, they will talk about a new pact with captain Nico Hischier.
What is certain for now is not just speculation and wishful thinking of fans. Certified overseas journalist aces such as Darren Dreger and co. Of course, Vancouver doesn’t want to voluntarily trade Hughes because players like him don’t grow on trees. They would love to see him sign a new eight-year deal at the stroke of midnight on July 1, 2026, but that seems unlikely at the moment.
Perhaps we will be wiser at the March transfer deadline. It should not be forgotten that a team that would poach Hughes would have him available for two playoff runs, which would increase the price from high to astronomical. Assuming Hughes is still on the cards and says he’s keeping his options open, the Canucks shouldn’t hesitate. They can get a fantastic package for one of the best defensemen in the world and make for one of the biggest trades of the NHL’s salary cap era.
Time does not stand still, on the contrary. Adam Foote’s team is crouching at the very bottom of the Western Conference and needs to pick itself up as soon as possible. If this does not happen, it may be the end – not only of the chances of a real fight for the playoffs, but especially of Hughes’ tenure in British Columbia.
- Author: © List/ Ondrej Herceg
- Source: Sports shoes
