The New Jersey Devils, by all accounts, did make an earnest effort to trade for Vancouver Canucks superstar and captain Quinn Hughes and reunite him with his brothers, Jack and Luke Hughes, but as it turns out, their offer was nowhere near up to snuff.
On Friday night, the Canucks finally pulled the trigger on the blockbuster trade, sending Hughes, 26, to the Minnesota Wild for prospects Liam Ohgren and Zeev Buium, center Marco Rossi, and a 2026 first-round pick.
According to Canucks president Jim Rutherford via Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet, the Canucks had negotiated with Eastern Conference teams as Hughes wished, but "nobody else came close" to the Wild's offer once GM Bill Guerin said he wanted in.
Rutherford said Canucks were talking to eastern teams re Quinn Hughes, as per the player’s wishes, but Wild GM Bill Guerin called a week ago and asked if he could get in.
— Iain MacIntyre (@imacSportsnet) December 13, 2025
Once Wild put together its offer, Rutherford said “nobody else came close to it.”
Now, The Athletic and TSN NHL insider Pierre LeBrun added to the fire that is the Devils, reporting on his X account, "Hearing the New Jersey Devils made what they feel was a strong first offer to Vancouver on Quinn Hughes, but it didn’t generate enough traction obviously."
LeBrun has historically worked closely with Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald, so it is more than reasonable to assume that this call comes from inside the house regarding Quinn Hughes.
The biggest issue for the Devils, based on the return the Canucks got from Minnesota, has to be the lack of a young center. Rossi is a young, natural center, and the closest the Devils could have gotten to that is Dawson Mercer, who has primarily featured as a winger and only shifts to center in dire emergencies, such as the persistent Jack Hughes injury situations.
Devils defense prospects Anton Silayev and Seamus Casey would have been good places to start, but it's unclear if the Devils offered both or either player, while Buium of the Wild is an NHL-experienced, more likely 1:1 replacement of Hughes as an offensive-minded left-shot defender.
As for Ohgren, well, the Devils don't have much that adds up to a former first-round pick at forward, aside from maybe Lenni Hameenaho or the now-indispensable Arseniy Gritsyuk. Alexander Holtz and Fabian Zetterlund were traded in successive seasons, and as such, the Devils' prospect forward cupboard remains depleted.
Based on all we've established, we can deduce a few different things. Of the most importance is that Quinn Hughes wanted to go East, but the Canucks took the best offer. This could make it more likely Hughes bails once his contract expires in 2027, especially if the Wild don't come close to seeing a Stanley Cup.
And in the smaller picture, the trade package the Wild sent the Canucks for Hughes ended up being far greater than anyone's expectations, given the lack of perceived leverage Vancouver had, and given how injuries are razing the Devils' 2025-26 season, Fitzgerald could not afford to spare any NHL depth, now or in the future.
Thus, the Devils will have to wait their turn to sign Hughes and circle July 1, 2027 on their calendars.