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Trade Framework Already in Place for the Canucks to Deal Quinn Hughes to the Devils in a Marner-Like Scenario


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Maverick Mitchell
August 28, 2025  (5:45 PM)
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Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes and Vegas Golden Knight star Mitch Marner
Photo credit: Canucks Daily

The Vancouver Canucks are dealing with a hard situation where Captain Quinn Hughes' future is not set and stone, and the framework for him to leave feels all too similar to that of Mitch Marner's departure from the Toronto Maple Leafs.

In just under a year, 10 months to be exact, captain Quinn Hughes will be officially eligible to sign a contract extension with the Vancouver Canucks.
But, as a UFA, he also has the opportunity to go join his brothers Luke and Jack on the New Jersey Devils, which seems like a very real possibility after the constant reports and rumours of his desire to be with his family.
The Vancouver Canucks do indeed hold significant leverage over Hughes under new Collective Bargaining Agreement, where the maximum contract lengths have been shortened going from eight to seven if you're re-signing with your current team or from seven to six years for those signing with a new club.
"This is relevant for the #Canucks re-Quinn Hughes.

Per these rules, the team could sign him to an eight-year contract next summer. If he then hit free agency in July 2027, he'd only be eligible to sign for six years with a new team.

That's a potential ~$30 million difference." - Noah Strang

Trade Framework for the Vancouver Canucks to deal Quinn Hughes already feeling to similar to the Mitch Marner saga with the Toronto Maple Leafs

Although Hughes will lose a ton of money if he goes to New Jersey as a free-agent, it may not even matter as Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford claimed that for the captain, it might not even come down to money, but wanting to play the rest of his career on the same team as his siblings.
With that in mind, the team has already expressed that if a deal is not struck sooner rather than later, they will have to think about moving on from the Norris Trophy winner as they can't risk losing him for nothing.
The same trade framework for him to depart has already been set by a similar situation in Toronto with Mitch Marner.
It is starting to feel eerily similar as the Leafs spent the entire season stuck in a back and fourth of whether he will sign or not, but it obviously came to an end by dealing him to the Vegas Golden Knights in a coveted sign and trade.
Quinn Hughes and the Canucks now find themselves in a similar spot, where the team is going to have to answer constant questions and rumours about the future of their captain during a year where they need a major bounce back.
Maybe Vancouver surprises and has a huge bounce-back season that convinces their captain to stay. Feels unlikely to me, to be honest. Otherwise, they have to start contemplating what a blockbuster trade might look like.
We all know how the Marner/Leafs situation ended, and General Manager Patrik Allvin needs to take a long hard look at how the Maple Leafs handled things, and try to do the opposite.
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Trade Framework Already in Place for the Canucks to Deal Quinn Hughes to the Devils in a Marner-Like Scenario

Do you think Quinn Hughes fate with the Vancouver Canucks will end up the same as it was for Mitch Marner and the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Yes106050.4 %
No104449.6 %
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