Trade Grades: Is the Quinn Hughes Blockbuster a Win-Win?

The shoe finally dropped on Friday night, as the hockey world was shocked to see the news, not just that Quinn Hughes had been traded, but that he was headed to the Minnesota Wild.

After so much speculation about the New Jersey Devils and almost every other team in the Eastern Conference as a landing spot, Bill Guerin swooped in with an offer Vancouver couldn’t refuse.

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That, of course, was thanks to a package of Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren, Marco Rossi, and a 2026 first-round pick.

So, now that the dust has started to settle, how did each side fare in the blockbuster deal? Let’s dive into it with some trade grades and analysis.

Minnesota Wild: A

Talk about a big swing from Minnesota. The number of teams in the Hughes sweepstakes was expanding every day, though nobody ever mentioned the Wild, which, looking back on it now, seems silly.

After locking up Kirill Kaprizov to an eight-year, $136 million extension in the summer, Guerin showed he means business and that the window to add around their superstar and pursue a Stanley Cup is wide open.

Just over two months later, he doubled down on that sentiment, landing arguably the second-best defenseman — and a top-10 player — in the world in Hughes.

The package to land the 2023-24 Norris Trophy winner was undoubtedly steep, but Minnesota has drafted as well as anyone in the NHL for quite some time now, and that’s what allowed them to make such a massive move.

With Kaprizov, Hughes, and Matt Boldy, the Wild now possesses one of the most electrifying trios in hockey, which they’ll need to keep up with the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars in the Central Division. Not to mention, possibly the best six-pack on defense in the league, now with Hughes, Brock Faber, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin, Jake Middleton, and David Jiricek playing in front of an elite goalie tandem in Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt.

All that prevents this from being an A+ is the uncertainty around Hughes’ future beyond the 2026-27 season, though Minnesota can’t and won’t worry about that until the time comes. For now, it’s all in to win for the next year and a half.

Vancouver Canucks: A

A lot has gone wrong for Jim Rutherford and Patrik Allvin in Vancouver over the last few years, and while losing their captain is another slap in the face, they did about as well as they possibly could in this trade.

It certainly helped that Hughes had no trade protection on his six-year, $47.1 million contract, allowing Vancouver to maximize the return. That being said, even backed into a corner — with the league aware the face of their franchise had no plans of staying long-term — they still managed to hit a home run.

Buium (12th overall, 2024), Ohgren (19th overall, 2022), and Rossi (9th overall, 2020) are all former first-round picks under the age of 25 with plenty of potential and upside to tap into. Add a first-round draft pick in what’s projected to be a very deep 2026 draft class, and the Canucks landed four pieces that perfectly fit a rebuild, whether they want to call it that or not.

The 20-year-old Buium is the most exciting of them all, having flashed his dynamic skill set from the blue line throughout his rookie season with the Wild. Ohgren hasn’t had much success in his brief NHL career thus far but has the talent to become an impactful player given more opportunity. And lastly, Rossi, while undersized, is a very smart and skilled center coming off a 60-point (24 goals, 36 assists) 2024-25 campaign who can slot in behind Elias Pettersson, a position Vancouver has been desperately searching to fill.

Having to trade Hughes was always going to hurt, but the Canucks needed to turn the page, and this injection of youth should help tremendously for years to come.

Next: Trade Grades: Oilers Land Tristan Jarry and Spencer Stastney