Now that the dust has settled after the blockbuster trade of Friday night, where the Vancouver Canucks traded franchise defenseman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild, it can be said that the New Jersey Devils were never going to get the eldest Hughes brother in a trade.
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While New Jersey Devils President and General Manager Tom Fitzgerald had every opportunity to acquire Quinn Hughes, the Devils could not offer what the Canucks wanted. Where was that young second-line center coming from? What about that young left-shot defenseman to fill the hole left by the Hughes trade? Could the Devils afford to give away other prospects they needed for different trades and a first-round pick?
The answer is no. And that was the reality from the start of this saga. Everyone connected the Devils to Quinn Hughes and rightfully so, once Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford told reporters last spring that he wanted to play with his brothers. Rutherford then clarified those statements after the trade, saying Quinn Hughes told him he wanted to play closer to his brothers and eventually with them.
What a day in the NHL
Quinn Hughes has been traded from Vancouver to Minnesota. They got the Yes Offer they wanted.
Always one team that sneaks and makes the deal.
Nice haul for Vancouver Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Öhgren and a 1st round pick. #mnwild #canucks
— Jim Biringer (@JimBiringer) December 13, 2025
Despite reports that the New Jersey Devils are among the six teams in trade discussions with the Vancouver Canucks, the Minnesota Wild’s offer of Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and a 2026 first-round pick was too good to pass up. The Canucks tried their best to have him go East at Quinn Hughes’ request, but those teams weren’t willing to give up players to acquire him. Not to mention that some of the teams acquiring him didn’t want to take the risk that he might not re-sign.
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While the Devils were willing to take the risk, the package they brought to the Canucks was not that strong. Again, as DevilsNation.com has documented through this venture, New Jersey needed to clear cap space. Dougie Hamilton (10-team No-Trade Clause) and Ondrej Palat (10-team no-trade clause) couldn’t get moved, and they were not going to go to Vancouver.
And with the Canucks wanting to get younger, Vancouver didn’t like the older players. So those two were out. Jonas Siegenthaler (10-team No-trade clause) is not moving. Johnathan Kovacevic, who has yet to play a game this season, has a full no-movement clause in the first couple of years of his new extension. Not to mention Jack Hughes, Nico Hischier, and Jesper Bratt were non-negotiables.
The Devils couldn’t clear the cap space they needed to do so in a timely, even manner throughout the summer. In addition, there was this belief that Simon Nemec would have been part of the deal. According to sources, Nemec was a sticking point in this deal not going through, as the Devils didn’t want to part with him.
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While Anton Silayev and Seamus Casey will be good players, Nemec has shown the ability to play at the NHL level. But he plays the right side. The Canucks want a left-shot defenseman and a center. Again, more strikes against the Devils. New Jersey didn’t have much to give up either. Was Dawson Mercer a center in the eyes of the Canucks?
Those around Vancouver didn’t think so. Again, this “strong” offer was not strong enough and was never going to be strong enough unless Quinn Hughes said I want to go to New Jersey and only New Jersey. By the sounds of it, that wasn’t the case. The eldest Hughes brother doesn’t want to disrupt Luke Hughes‘s development.
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Just another strike against the Devils. You paid Luke Hughes $9 million to be the number one defenseman on the left side. If Quinn Hughes comes in, Luke stays on the second defence pairing, and now what are you paying Quinn to stay?
The more you look at the deal, the more you realize it was never going to work in the New Jersey Devils’ favour, despite being a cool concept. New Jersey has bigger issues than Quinn Hughes can fix. And while adding the second-best defenseman in the NHL helps the team, it still leaves them as a small group.
In the end, it was best that this deal didn’t go down. Instead of playing fantasy hockey, the New Jersey Devils can save their assets and focus on the season and address other needs later on.
