What the Canucks Got Back for Hughes & What Has to Go Right
Here’s the way life is in the NHL when you make a big trade. Patience is easy to preach in a rebuild. It’s much harder to justify once the player you traded is thriving somewhere else.
When the Canucks Traded Quinn Hughes, They Reset Their Timeline.
When the Vancouver Canucks moved Quinn Hughes, they weren’t just trading a franchise defenseman—they were choosing a different timeline. This wasn’t about replacing Hughes one-for-one. It was about betting that a collection of young players, taken together and given time, could reframe the organization’s future. That’s a delicate wager, and one that highlights or hot takes won’t settle. It will be decided quietly, over seasons.
What About the Canucks’ New Young Players?
At the center of that bet is Marco Rossi. For this trade to work, Rossi can’t merely be helpful—he has to become a true top-six center. That doesn’t mean flashy point totals every night, but it does mean driving play, taking hard matchups, and becoming someone a coach leans on when the game tightens. If Rossi tops out as a middle-six contributor, the math of this trade becomes much harder to defend.
Behind him are Liam Ohgren and Zeev Buium, two very different players with very different paths. Ohgren needs to translate promise into pace. Can he become an everyday NHL winger who can play up and down a lineup without disappearing? Buium’s task is subtler but just as demanding: he has the chance to become a legitimate depth defenseman who can handle minutes without being sheltered. If he can, the Canucks win big time. Upside matters here, but issues of reliability matter more.
Why the Long Term Matters for the Canucks
This is where rebuilds often falter—not in drafting talent, but in developing it without rushing or stalling. Vancouver needs these players to rise together, not in isolation. One breakout season won’t be enough. What matters is whether this group can avoid stagnation and keep pushing toward their ceilings rather than settling into comfortable roles.
Of course, individual growth only counts if it moves the needle. The Canucks didn’t do this to win a spreadsheet argument. They made this trade to build a team that can win consistently. If this young core matures into a group that plays meaningful games in March and April—without panic trades or shortcuts—that patience will start to feel justified.
The Gamble for the Canucks Shows Up in the Future
That’s the real gamble here. Vancouver is betting on projection, development curves, and time. If these players hit, the trade will be remembered as a necessary turning point. If they don’t, the organization risks drifting—neither rebuilding nor contending, just waiting.
Rebuilds don’t fail loudly. They fail quietly when potential goes unmet. That’s the standard this trade will ultimately be judged against.