The Carolina Hurricanes haven’t been afraid of making bold moves.
And apparently, they came close to making a blockbuster deal with the Vancouver Canucks.
Shortly after the Canucks traded Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild, ESPN reported that the Hurricanes made a serious offer to try and acquire the former Canucks captain.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shed more light on that report in his latest 32 Thoughts column.
Friedman reported that the Canucks did everything they could to send Hughes to the Eastern Conference, which was his initial preference, before the Wild stepped up with their offer.
And, as we heard after the fact from Hughes’ agent, Pat Brisson, the Canucks defenceman quickly warmed up to the idea of playing in the State of Hockey.
According to Friedman, one of the big reasons why Hughes didn’t end up in the Eastern Conference was because the major players either didn’t have the necessary assets or weren’t willing to give them up. That included the Buffalo Sabres, Philadelphia Flyers, New York Rangers, Washington Capitals, and the Detroit Red Wings.
Among all Eastern Conference suitors, Carolina may have been closest to acquiring Hughes.
Canucks president Jim Rutherford was down in Carolina for the 20th anniversary celebration of their 2006 Stanley Cup win, before the Hughes trade. Friedman alluded to the fact that face-to-face conversations could have occurred at that time.
He also provided some insight into how close the Hurricanes were to getting Hughes, along with his take on a potential centrepiece of the trade.
“There was something in that offer the Canucks liked (I assume 23-year-old defender Alexander Nikishin was involved), because a few sources indicated Vancouver looked hard at it,” Friedman wrote.
“I don’t know if we’ll ever find out for sure, but a couple other teams thought the Hurricanes were the frontrunners until Minnesota showed up.”
If Nikishkin was available, that would have created an interesting dilemma for Canucks management.
The 23-year-old Russian defenceman was considered untouchable by Carolina for years before he eventually joined them last season.
Ironically, both Nikishkin and Zeev Buium made their NHL debuts in the playoffs last season. Each player got four games of NHL playoff experience before making their full-time rookie debuts in 2025-26.
Even this season, both players have similar stat lines. Nikishkin has registered four goals and 13 points in 33 games with Carolina, while Buium has four goals and 16 points in 34 games.
There are a couple of key differences between the rookies. Nikishkin is much bigger, listed at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds. Buium checks in at 6-foot, 185 pounds.
While Nikishkin certainly has some offensive pop to his game, based on his KHL production, he profiles more as a top-pairing, shutdown defenceman, as opposed to a power play quarterback, like Buium.
The other main difference is that, while both are rookies, Nikishkin is 23 years old, while Buium is only 20.
It will take years to learn which of the two players will have a more prolific NHL career, but the possibility that Nikishkin almost joined Vancouver creates another interesting “what-if” wrinkle in a post-Hughes world for Canucks fans.