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Marco Rossi, Minnesota Wild (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Canucks Got a Great Haul in Quinn Hughes Trade

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Lukas Bernasiewicz | Last updated Dec 13, 2025 12:10 PM ET

Yesterday, the Canucks traded star defenceman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild in one of the biggest trades the hockey world has seen in a long time. The return for Hughes consists of forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Öhgren, along with defenceman Zeev Buium.

Vancouver also received an unprotected first-round pick from Minnesota as part of the transaction. “We would like to thank Quinn for his time with the Vancouver Canucks,” said Canucks president Jim Rutherford in a press release. “Quinn is a great person, a great player, and one of the greatest Canucks of all time.” It is obviously sad to see a player as good as Hughes leave Vancouver, but the Canucks got a fantastic package back for the former captain.

Useful Roster Players

In a trade as big as this one, you are unlikely to win if you are the team giving up the best player. But the Canucks were able to get three incredibly useful roster players from this deal. They didn’t just get futures or players that will be on their team in two to three years. They got players back who can be plugged into the lineup today.

Marco Rossi is exactly the type of player the Canucks need right now. He’s a useful centre who, when he comes back from injury, can be placed in the top six on Vancouver’s lineup and help the team immediately at that position.

As of right now, the Canucks have been playing David Kampf as their first-line centre with Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil out with injuries. Kampf does not fit in well in that role, but the acquisition of Rossi should push Kampf far down the lineup and give Vancouver a lot more depth at centre. Rossi also has two years left on his contract after this season at a reasonable $5 million cap hit, and will be a restricted free agent (RFA) at the end of the deal.

Liam Öhgren was a first-round pick from 2022 and has had trouble this season putting up any points at all, with zero in 18 games. But he has shown promise in the American Hockey League (AHL) as he scored 37 points in 41 games with the Iowa Wild last season.

Skill doesn’t just disappear from hockey players, and sometimes a new opportunity is good for young players. Öhgren also has some familiarity with the Canucks, as he and Jonathan Lekkerimäki played with each other at two World Junior tournaments in 2023 and 2024.

Get Excited for Buium

The big get for me is defenceman Zeev Buium. One of the most highly touted and talked about players from his draft class, the Wild traded up to pick him at number 12. Everywhere this player has gone, he has won. Two gold medals at the World Juniors in 2024 and 2025, gold at the 2023 U-18 World Championships, and a National Championship for the University of Denver in the NCAA.

In his draft year at Denver, Buium recorded 50 points in 42 games as a freshman, and in his sophomore season, he recorded 48 points in 41 games and did all of that as a defenceman.

According to Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff, many scouts compared Buium to Cale Makar in terms of the impact he could have on an average game. In his limited NHL action, the 20-year-old has played in 31 games this season and has 14 points. That is a player Canucks fans should be super excited to get in this trade. Losing Hughes is obviously not ideal and definitely sucks, but a player like Buium has a lot of the same qualities as he does and could be able to turn into him in the next few years.

Losing a player of Quinn Hughes‘ magnitude is a huge gut punch to the Canucks and their fans, but being able to add the players that they got should soften the blow for now. They were able to receive a cost-controlled centre in Marco Rossi, which they desperately needed, and two young players still on their entry-level contracts (ELCs).

Öhgren is looking to prove himself after a slow start, and Buium could be the Canucks’ next game-breaking defenceman and a potential replacement for what Hughes brought to the table. With a strong draft upcoming in 2026, the first-round pick they were given could help them, as well.

Only time will tell how this trade will look, but right now, Vancouver got a great return for a star player. Hopefully, these assets can help the franchise as it steps into a rebuilding world.