Jack and Luke Hughes both missed Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs' first-round series. The New Jersey Devils are short-handed against the Carolina Hurricanes, but that hasn't stopped the brothers from being in the headlines this week. That's because the Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford said in his end-of-season press conference that they could discuss bringing the Devils' stars to Vancouver in an attempt to re-sign Quinn Hughes long term.
The media ran with the comments, talking about all of the Hughes brothers' futures. Of course, the Devils don't seem at all likely to trade either Jack or Luke Hughes, let alone both of them. It seems much more likely that Quinn Hughes would be traded to or sign with the Devils to join his brothers in the Garden State.
Tampering aside, it's an interesting thought exercise to discuss what it would cost to get Jack and Luke Hughes in Vancouver. It obviously won't be easy. It's incredibly hard to get one franchise player away from a franchise, especially one that expects to be in contention. Getting two future pieces who are both under 24 years old, with one signed long term and the other likely signing a long-term deal with years of control this offseason, would cost just about every piece the other team has.
The problem with this even as a thought exercise is the Canucks don't have remotely the right pieces to make a trade work. Even in a fantasy world, the Canucks are way short. We've seen someone try, and it seems remarkably short. Scott Maxwell with Daily Faceoff tried his luck, and this is what he came up with:
The trade proposals for Jack and Luke Hughes are terrible
It's just not enough. Using just the Canucks pieces doesn't provide nearly enough. In this trade, the Devils get a former star center whose value is down (Elias Pettersson) and a goalie who was a superstar but can't stay healthy (Thatcher Demko). They also get a decent defensive prospect in Tom Willander and former first-round pick Jonathan Lekkerimaki. Plus, they get a 2026 first-round pick.
There is not one slam dunk in that trade. It's a risk (Pettersson), a huge risk at a position they don't need (Demko), a decent defensive prospect, but far from the sure thing Luke Hughes is, and a first-round pick in a bad draft.
No shade to Scott Maxwell. This is an impossible trade to make work with just the Canucks. They don't have the right pieces. However, they do have pieces other teams could covet to make something work. Pucks and Pitchforks writer Jon Bailey wrote for the Canuck Way that the Devils could target a three-way trade that brings the Buffalo Sabres into the fold. We won't spoil the entire trade, but the stars coming the Devils' way include Tage Thompson and Owen Power.
Even then, it feels like the Devils are downgrading. Power was actually drafted before Luke Hughes, but most agree Hughes has become the better prospect. And Tage Thompson is a great young player, but Hughes has an insane ceiling that few players in the league can match. Even with the injury issues, the Devils have to think they have a better chance of a championship with Hughes in the lineup over most anyone else.
The deal just doesn't work in a fantasy world or in reality. That's why it makes much more sense for the Devils to just target Quinn Hughes. Put the Canucks out of their misery early, and get the Hughes brothers in New Jersey, where they can negotiate extensions. The Devils have pieces that would help facilitate a Canucks rebuild, which they seem poised to enter after a disastrous season.