One of the best defensemen in this era of the NHL is potentially going to be traded and the Philadelphia Flyers are one of the teams who are expected to have some interest.
Quinn Hughes has planted himself at the top of the pile of blueliners across the world and for the Vancouver Canucks, has been a major difference-maker ever since he stepped foot onto the ice at Rogers Arena. But with the team going nowhere but mediocrity and Hughes’s upcoming unrestricted free agency status in 2027, the Canucks might try to get something back for one of the best hockey players on the planet.
Trades like this rarely happen. Hughes just turned 26 years old last month and would immediately transform the fortunes of whatever team he ends up on. But the Canucks have dug themselves in such a hole where there really is no future without needing to get more and more younger talent and potentially even get involved in a few draft lotteries. That’s no place for Hughes to be in through his prime years. Vancouver just needs to bite the bullet and make the hardest decision in franchise history to move on from their star player to go in a new direction. And one team who is eyeing up the situation and might try to be a benefactor from the misery over there on the West Coast are the Flyers.
According to Frank Seravalli on Monday’s episode of Oilers Now, the Flyers are in the mix to land Hughes.
“I think they’re one team in the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference that would be salivating to try and get their hands on Quinn Hughes, but they’re far from alone,” Seravalli said.
It is maybe the most obvious conclusion ever — a team that wants to get better and needs a top-pairing defenseman is looking at one of the best defensemen to play the game this millennium, who might be available for trade. As Seravalli said in the hit, so are a lot of teams looking at Hughes.
There has been a notion that the rival New Jersey Devils seem to be the frontrunners to land Hughes for some time, but Seravalli continued to say that it isn’t a sure thing and to not make it a supposed obvious conclusion just because his two brothers play for that team. Especially after the Devils handed Luke Hughes a sizeable contract with a $9-million AAV — it was pointed out that it might not make the perfect sense for them to acquire Quinn and shuffle Luke down as an overpaid second-pairing defenseman who isn’t even on the top power-play unit potentially.
Which is possibly why the attention is now turned to the Flyers and their want for a game-breaking player like Hughes.
Flyers make sense as landing spot for Hughes
The Flyers have desperately needed a No. 1 defenseman ever since Chris Pronger had to unfortunately hang up the skates. There have been several very solid top-pairing blueliners, but not a player that can simply take over a game and be the go-to player from the back that makes all teams worry. It’s been a point of conversation for so long that it feels automatic.
But that could all change if the Flyers really set their eyes on Hughes. Of course, it won’t be easy as roughly 31 other teams will be vying for their trade package to be the most enticing for the Canucks to accept, but there are just so many factors that makes it make sense for Philadelphia.
First, they have the assets. Whether it’s top prospects or first-round picks, the Flyers’ cupboards are full enough to make the future look bright in Vancouver — but also they have enough NHL-level talent to supplement any trade necessary. Whether it’s a player off their blue line, or one of the many wingers they boast, there is a perfect fit for the Canucks to get back players, picks, prospects, and whatever else they want from the Flyers for this elite-level defenseman.
And if we’re talking about New Jersey so much, Hughes would still be extremely close to his brothers and while that isn’t a selling point for a trade to go down, it would certainly increase the chances that there is a contract extension coming before free agency in two years.
Plus, we’ve gone on endlessly about how the Flyers are aiming to do something “big” to really jump into an era where they’re competing for the playoffs for several years. Adding Hughes to this team right now would get them so much closer to exactly that. Oh, and throw in that Rick Tocchet is one of Hughes’s favorite coaches ever and there’s a real bundle of reasons why the Flyers might be trying to make this happen.
But does it make sense right now?
Hypothetical Hughes trade might not happen until summer for Flyers
The Canucks might try to squeeze as much value out of Hughes and that could be selling him off to a team to get two guaranteed playoff runs with him instead of waiting later as a potential one-year rental. That would mean trading him in the next few months, but can such a complicated deal formulate in such a short amount of time?
And, Vancouver might even be better off waiting until the offseason when there’s more cap space and teams are more willing to make big splashes like this without rustling up their locker room dynamic or some other silly little reasons. If the Canucks wait until the summer to pull this trigger, that only heightens the likelihood that the Flyers will be getting involved — they might not really see the desire to nab Hughes up for a “playoff run” that might feel a little fake to begin with. Instead, just make the move in the summer to then approach next season as one that truly has expectations to be a playoff team.
That would make a little bit more sense. But, we’ll just have to wait and see. The Canucks have the leverage right now and if they have decided that their season is done and it’s time to focus on trades for the future, there’s an easy connection to Philadelphia.