By Corey Pronman, Shayna Goldman and Dom Luszczyszyn
Wild get: Defenseman Quinn Hughes
Canucks get: Forward Marco Rossi, forward Liam Öhgren, defenseman Zeev Buium and a 2026 first-round draft pick
Corey Pronman: Hughes is an elite NHL player. He’s one of the best skaters in the league, with outstanding edge work and escapability. He’s very skilled, with elite hockey sense and playmaking ability. The offense in his game is obvious but his defense is closer to average. He competes well and his skating is so good that he makes stops even with his lack of size, but that’s not the selling point of his game and he’s not overly physical.
He provides the Wild with a superstar at a premium position, something they have dearly lacked. It also puts them into win-now mode. They paid a massive price, especially since it’s questionable whether, even with Hughes, they are a top-five NHL team. They are obviously markedly better, though.
Buium is an extremely intelligent puck-mover who can run a power play. He makes high-end plays routinely and can break shifts open with his puck-handling and passes. Buium is a strong skater who can activate off the blue line and create off the rush. He has good edge work and is proficient at making checkers miss. Buium’s defense is a minor issue. He’s not very physical or big, and fast forwards give him issues. He competes well enough that, in time, he should be an adequate pro defender who adds tremendous offense. He projects as a major-minutes defenseman who can run a PP1, even though he may frustrate coaches at times.
Rossi is a highly competitive and skilled center. He has legit hands and playmaking abilities on the power play. He’s not that big or fast, but he works hard, plays both ways and wins more battles than expected for his size. His lack of natural athleticism has always been an issue, but he’s continued to be productive. He’s a legit middle-six center.
Öhgren won’t land on many highlight reels, but he does a lot of things well. He has good skill and speed. He’s good at creating offense between the circles and projects as a bumper or net-front type on an NHL power play. He also has a great wrist shot and has the touch to score goals from the perimeter. He’s not overly creative with the puck and won’t drive a line offensively, but he competes hard and could be a steady two-way winger that coaches trust, likely on a third line.
This is a big haul for Vancouver given Hughes’ limited contract status. They acquired highly gifted players at two premium positions, with Buium being one of the most talented under-23 players in the league despite his bumpy rookie season. Getting three or four potential NHL players is a significant trade for Vancouver and helps the next iteration of their rebuild significantly, even if none of those players is guaranteed to equal Hughes’ impact.
Wild grade: B-
Canucks grade: B+
Shayna Goldman: This is a franchise-altering move for the Wild. There are only 10 MVP-caliber players in the league, and Hughes is one of them as the second-best defenseman behind Cale Makar. And up until this trade, all 10 of those players were drafted and developed by their current clubs. Only six of the 22 players in Tier 2 of our Player Tiers rankings were acquired via trade. So when there is a rare opportunity to add a player of this caliber, teams have to be ready to make that kind of swing. Factor in a weak free-agent class in 2026, and the very slim chance of any stars making it to market in 2027 at this rate, and there is even more reason to be bold when players hit the trade block.
And that really isn’t on brand for the Wild, a team that generally takes a more mild approach (and then has to live with the consequences of a first-round exit). Not today — Minnesota may have just made the biggest trade of the season and added the best player involved in the process.
The risk, obviously, is that Minnesota gave up a ton for someone who could walk next July. But the Wild are now in a strong position to extend him, as the only team that can offer him eight years before the start of the new CBA (barring another trade). Even if Hughes ultimately does walk, this move still gives this team up to two playoff runs with a true game-breaker on the back end, alongside Kirill Karpizov, Matt Boldy and Brock Faber in the primes of their careers. So while there is still work to do around the fringes for the Wild, a team with even weaker center depth without Rossi, and a team that is likely on a collision course with the Avs or Stars in the spring, Hughes adds game-breaking skill to the back end, and that is a massive leap forward.
This is also a franchise-altering move for the Canucks, just in the complete opposite direction. And it was a necessary decision after years of mismanagement. Despite one impressive regular season, the year-to-year volatility shows that this organization is not ready to contend. So Vancouver had to be realistic about its current position and the situation with Hughes (and the chances of him extending after years of chaos), and start building a new path forward.
It’s surprising just how quickly this all came together. The Canucks could have dragged this out, in hopes of a bidding war, and potentially lost leverage along the way. Instead, Vancouver actually extracted some talent out of Minnesota that addresses key areas of need.
The return was never going to be perfect — not for the team that lost the best player in the trade. Rossi isn’t a play-driving center, which is why the Wild weren’t high on him last summer. Buium is raw defensively, and Öhgren is the least proven of the bunch. An unprotected 2026 first-rounder could still be a late-rounder if this team makes a real playoff push. But Buium’s offensive ceiling and overall growth is worth betting on. Rossi could have some untapped potential, too. So the Canucks checked off what were clearly important boxes for a Hughes return, and stopped this situation from blowing up into even more of sideshow.
Wild grade: A
Canucks grade: C+
Dom Luszczyszyn: The team that gets the best player in the deal usually wins the deal. There’s a reason that’s an old adage in sports, and it feels especially relevant after this blockbuster, which sent the second-best defenseman in the world to the Wild.
Hughes is a massive needle-mover, capable of shifting a team up several tiers. What it takes to acquire such a player rarely compares favorably to what is sent the other way. In this case, it’s three first-round picks — Rossi, Buium and Öhgren — and Minnesota’s 2026 first-rounder. That’s a massive haul on paper, sure, but it’s unlikely that group will ever collectively provide what Hughes can do on his own. It’s quantity vs. quality. Hughes is worth 17.4 goals to Minnesota’s goal differential while Rossi, Buium and Öhgren, combined, aren’t close.
Buium has the best chance to reach that level, as a highly touted prospect with top-pair upside. But he still might not live up to potential, something that’s frequently ignored when a shiny prospect gets traded. Erik Karlsson is one of Buium’s top comps. So is Erik Brannstrom, once the centerpiece of a Mark Stone blockbuster, who never panned out.
Buium’s defensive deficiencies, even at age 20, are a red flag regarding his ultimate ceiling. What separated Hughes and other current franchise defensemen is that they showed strong stuff early, something Buium currently lacks. He could be a star or top-pair defenseman, and if Corey Pronman believes it, I’m more than willing to give the benefit of doubt. But based on his NHL stuff to date, there’s a nearly equal chance that Buium ends up as something less. That’s the gamble Vancouver is taking.
Rossi, at age 24, probably is what he is at this point: the 2C the Canucks have been dreaming about since they traded their other two. He’s fine, and even underrated defensively, but if you’re looking at his point totals and expecting a star, just know Kirill Kaprizov isn’t part of the deal. As for Öhgren, I wouldn’t expect much: he has the profile of a bust, with zero points in 18 games and a ghastly 30 percent xG rate that would make Lukas Reichel blush.
So we’ve got one of the best players in the world for a defenseman who might be a top-pair defenseman one day (but also might not be), an undersized second-line center, a player who likely won’t contribute and a below-average first round pick. Is that really that much of a haul for what Hughes brings to the table? That feels good as a rental price, but for two years it feels light for Hughes, one of the best trade assets to hit the market in the salary-cap era.
It also signals two franchises moving in opposite directions, despite it being a “hockey trade.” The Wild move up a tier toward the top of the West, while the Canucks are kidding themselves if they think this will keep them competitive. It’s a half measure on their part that suggests they’re kind of looking to the future, but kind of still not committing to a rebuild. If you’re trading a franchise icon, one of the best players in the world, it can’t be anything but all-in.
The Wild pushed their chips in to the middle of table and got a great deal. The Canucks seem content to fizzle out with yet another bad hand played.
Wild grade: A
Canucks grade: C
