But what is new is that, for the first time ever, Rutherford and GM Patrik Allvin seem to be opening the door ever-so-slightly to openly discussing the trading of Hughes. If and when that happens, it\u2019ll be the biggest and perhaps most consequential trade in franchise history.<\/p>\n
As it stands, Hughes has a season-and-a-half remaining on his current contract and no trade protection. That\u2019s why, although the logical outcome may be joining his brothers in New Jersey, that\u2019s far from the only possible outcome. Any contender in the league could use Hughes\u2019 services<\/a> for the next two playoff runs, and several of them would be happy to make a bid or two towards acquiring him.<\/p>\n In other words, if the Devils want to get their hands on Hughes early \u2013 and retain the ability to sign him to an eight-year contract \u2013 they\u2019re going to have to pay for the privilege. And pay mightily.<\/p>\n The importance of this trade means that it is one that the Canucks cannot afford to mess up, with \u2018messing up\u2019 here equating to getting anything less than maximal value back.<\/p>\n So, what\u2019s the most that the Devils could offer up in return for Hughes?<\/p>\n The Big Pieces<\/p>\n Any Hughes trade should be focused on quality over quantity (or, perhaps, quality and quantity). If the Canucks aren\u2019t walking away with multiple blue-chip pieces, they\u2019ve done something catastrophically wrong. The Devils do, indeed, have a couple of interesting names to consider.<\/p>\n The 21-year-old right-shooting defender was selected second overall in the 2022 Entry Draft, but has taken a little longer than average to arrive. This 2025-26 season appears to be a bit of a breakout, however, with Nemec already up to six goals and 15 points through 29 games.<\/p>\n Nemec\u2019s overall game is still a work in progress, and his deployment remains relatively sheltered. Still, he\u2019s stepped up into a bigger role to cover injuries before and seems to grow with each new opportunity. Most still believe he has top-pairing potential in the long term, even if he\u2019s unlikely to reach that in New Jersey with Brett Pesce occupying the top 1RD slot for the time being.<\/p>\n Nemec isn\u2019t an ideal centrepiece for the Canucks, who already have Tom Willander and Victor Mancini on the right side, not to mention veterans Filip Hronek and Tyler Myers. But if they\u2019re focused on getting the single-most value they can, present and future, that\u2019s probably Nemec, one way or another.<\/p>\n Silayev is considered the Devils\u2019 top prospect by a long shot after having been selected 10th overall in the 2024 Entry Draft. The LD stands out from the crowd due to his 6\u20197\u201d, 207-pound frame that still might be growing, but that\u2019s not his only gift. Silayev is a great skater, and not just for his size, which allows him to provide both puck-carrying abilities and a wide range of defensive coverage. Such an enormous player obviously has a bit of a learning curve ahead of him. Still, Silayev is expected to come over to North America next season to really start that NHL career in earnest. He\u2019s a true blue-chip prospect, and plays at a position that the Canucks will suddenly be in need of should they trade Hughes.<\/p>\n The Medium Pieces<\/p>\n Even if the Canucks were to get both big pieces we\u2019ve already listed, that still wouldn\u2019t really add up to the full value of Hughes. That will need to be supplemented with at least one or two medium pieces, too.<\/p>\n Mercer is a player the Canucks have reportedly had their eye on for a while. After a starring role at the WJC, Mercer has had an incredibly uneven arrival in the big leagues, scoring as many as 56 points as a sophomore, and as few as 33 the very next year.<\/p>\n The 2025-26 season seems to be an upswing for Mercer, as he\u2019s now up to 21 points in 29 games. He\u2019s a little undersized at 6\u20190\u201d and about 180 pounds, but Mercer makes up for it with a clever approach to the game and a shifting skating style.<\/p>\n All that said, the Canucks would almost certainly be looking at Mercer as a potential centre solution. Although, he\u2019s had more success on the wing at the NHL level, including this season, where he\u2019s mostly spent time on Nico Hischier\u2019s flank. It\u2019s hard to know exactly what they\u2019d be getting in Mercer, and that\u2019s why he can\u2019t be anything more than an additional piece in a trade like this.<\/p>\n Again, the Canucks aren\u2019t particularly interested in RD prospects. But the Devils\u2019 next best future asset is still probably Casey. The 5\u201910\u201d, sub-180-pound defender who has enough skill to still be considered a future NHLer despite that size.<\/p>\n Casey is an expert puck-handler in every sense of the word, capable of carrying it up the ice, along the blueline, or even deep into the offensive zone when the situation calls for it. He\u2019s an offensive defender, to be sure, but is also working on rounding out his defensive game to the best of his abilities down in the AHL right now.<\/p>\n The fit is less-than-ideal for the Canucks, but if they\u2019re selling off a multitude of veterans, maybe having some redundancy at every position is a fine idea, anyway.<\/p>\n The Canucks aren\u2019t interested in draft picks as the primary returns in the veteran trades, but that doesn\u2019t mean they will turn them down. With the Devils seeming to overall have fewer interesting pieces to offer, they\u2019ll need to supplement somehow, and a first-round pick goes a long way toward that.<\/p>\n The Devils have all future first rounds in hand. But the 2026 pick would be especially nice to acquire, because it has the potential to end up pretty high<\/a>. Right now, the Devils are one point out of a playoff spot. But they\u2019re also just three points ahead of the bottom-10. Acquiring New Jersey\u2019s first \u2013 without any protective clauses \u2013 could be smart business with high upside.Cap Considerations<\/p>\n To fit Hughes now and into the future, the Devils may require some cap cleanup. Whether that comes from the Canucks helping them out or some other side deals, there are some names worth thinking about.<\/p>\n Hamilton, and his $9 million cap hit until 2028, looks like the odd man out in a Hughes arrival. Maybe the Devils would want to keep him around if they had to deal Nemec away, but at some point, Hamilton\u2019s contract is going to be a problem that needs solving.<\/p>\n He has a 10-team no-trade clause, and given his experience in Calgary, we kind of doubt Hamilton would waive it to go to Vancouver \u2013 nor would Vancouver have much need for an expensive veteran RD. But perhaps the Canucks could be a middleman, acquiring Hamilton and then flipping him elsewhere for a second-round pick or something similar.<\/p>\n The Devils would especially like to ditch Palat and his $6 million cap hit. Unlike Hamilton, Palat is no longer a high-level player and has just 16 points in his last 100 or so games. Palat also has a 10-team NTC, and it\u2019s unlikely he waives that to go from a contender to a rebuilder, but maybe the Canucks could play middleman with him, too.<\/p>\n Of course, the Canucks could always retain on Hughes\u2019 contract to make a trade even more worth the Devils\u2019 while. That would cost assets, though, to the tune of at least one extra medium piece, if not more. With the Devils already a little short on interesting things to offer, especially compared to some other potential suitors<\/a>, one wonders if they can cobble together enough to swing Hughes at 50% \u2013 does a four-piece package of Nemec, Silayev, Mercer, and a first even get them there?PRESENTED BY VIVID SEATS<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Vancouver Canucks might be battling it out for last place in the NHL with the Calgary Flames…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-333035","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}