Jim Rutherford Gets Candid About Possibility of Having to Trade Quinn Hughes

The Vancouver Canucks are in a very difficult position heading into the 2025-26 season after Rick Tocchet, who Quinn Hughes said was his favorite coach, left the organization to pursue other opportunities.

During their season-ending media availability, Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford admitted there's a chance they could lose Quinn Hughes in the coming years as he's set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, 2027 and on Friday, he spoke further regarding his captain's future with the club.

During an appearance on the 100% Hockey podcast with John Shannon and Daren Millard, Jim Rutherford admitted that if they get to the trade deadline during the 2026-27 season and Quinn Hughes doesn't want to stay then they'll "have to do something".

Losing Quinn Hughes would be devastating for the Vancouver Canucks and would set the organization back by several years and likely at that point, they may need to enter a rebuild.

Hughes is eilgible to sign a contract extension as of July 1st, 2026 and with the salary cap rising to above $113 million by the time his new deal would kick in, there's no question he could become the highest paid defenseman in National Hockey League history.

Now, while the Vancouver Canucks would obviously like to get a deal done as soon as possible with Quinn Hughes in the summer of 2026, unless there's a significant change next season and the team becomes contenders again, which includes a deep playoff run, then don't be surprised if the captain waits to put pen to paper on an extension.

Quinn Hughes will want to see where the organization is heading before he signs a long-term extension and it's hard to blame him for that. It's hard to imagine that Hughes would want to stick around if the team isn't going to be competitive every year.

If that's the case and Quinn Hughes decides to leave, like Jim Rutherford mentioned last month, he wants to play with his brothers and it seems like the New Jersey Devils would be the most logical fit, if it gets to that point.