Why is Frank Seravalli trying so hard to manifest Quinn Hughes away from the Devils?

Quinn Hughes is apparently on the table. Like, not publicly. Publicly, the Vancouver Canucks will say he’s off the table, but there’s a wink and a nod that goes with it. Quinn Hughes can be had for the right price. What is the right price? Who knows? It has to be something that puts the Canucks in a position to compete in the future without a Norris-caliber defenseman. 

Obviously, every rumor account is talking about this, and even legitimate insiders are making it part of their platforms. Hughes could be moved, and he’d be the biggest trade piece since Erik Karlsson was traded to the San Jose Sharks. While players like Jack Eichel and Matthew Tkachuk have been traded since then, Karlsson was a finished product and a fellow Norris winner. 

With that being the conversation piece, there’s no surprise that there will be opinions all over the map. However, most analysts won’t ignore the elephant in the room. With Jack and Luke Hughes signed long-term to the New Jersey Devils, especially Luke, who signed a seven-year deal back in October, Quinn Hughes’s path to the Devils seems set in concrete. 

Of course, anything can happen. Other teams would love to have Quinn Hughes even for just two Stanley Cup runs. If the Canucks traded him to Detroit and he got to win a Cup in that legendary city in front of his parents, he might be compelled to re-sign. 

There are other ties around the league, like his tie to the Florida teams since he was born there, his tie to Toronto, where he grew up while his dad worked for the Maple Leafs, and Philadelphia, where his former head coach, Rick Tocchet, is now the bench boss. 

These still feel like stretches. If Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald doesn’t cheap out on a deal, then it feels like this is a formality. However, one analyst is working overtime to say something different. 

So far this week, Bleacher Report’s Frank Seravalli has said that people “closest” to Hughes say that he’s “100% committed” to Vancouver and doesn’t plan on going anywhere. Then, he says that the Devils aren’t “as seamless a fit” as we think. He thinks “there are other teams nearby” to New Jersey that would want him, including Philadelphia. 

Seravalli has had some interesting takes when it comes to the Devils in the past. He dismissed them last year as “going nowhere fast.” He said during the offseason they need “size” and “brawn” on the back end, despite having Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, Brenden Dillon, etc. back there. 

And then, there were the Jesper Bratt trade rumors. He put him on his trade block for two seasons in 2021 and 2022. He still claims that Bratt was on the table to see what his value was in the market. It sounds crazy now, and it was crazy then. 

Something stinks here. Seravalli always seems to push things away from the Devils. He will always tie them to secondary players like Kyle Palmieri or Blake Coleman, who happen to be former Devils themselves.

To be fair, Seravalli said really nice things after the Devils traded for Timo Meier, but that's one example in a long list of interesting analysis on the team when things feel a little obvious.

Who knows what the motivations are here for Seravalli. Maybe he's hearing things and is excited to produce a contrarian take. When these rumors start to light on fire, everyone and their mother likes to talk. No, literally, mothers can even be the source of some of these rumors. We're not questioning Seravalli's sources, we're more questioning why he's avoiding common sense. Sometimes the most obvious path forward is the path forward.

Is there an unfair hate towards the Devils by Seravalli? It really doesn't matter. That would impact him and Bleacher Report more than it would impact trade talks. Analysts and insiders do hold an important role in the process of getting a trade across the table. They are the conduit to public pressure, which can push a trade forward.

As of now, Seravalli has only gotten the Flyers and Canucks fans hopes up. Maybe he ends up being right. However, it would go against conventional wisdom. And maybe that's the point, but it's a huge stretch to get there.