Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
Nucks Fan Rebuild & Retool Center - Come For The Banter - Stay For The Disappointment
Never publish what you want people to read on a Friday night. That maxim holds for politics, business, and apparently not for the Vancouver Canucks. Their captain and arguably the best player in team history has been traded to the Minnesota Wild for some names and a draft pick.
Let's take a look.
Leaving town:
Coming back:
Okay, one thing Vancouver didn't get was bigger. There is a pile of skill here, though, and all of them are younger than Hughes. Young enough that Öhgren is still between leagues and Buium just broke in with the Wild this season.
The biggest name returning to Vancouver is the smallest player, 5'9" centre Marco Rossi. Rossi has plenty of skill, hitting 21 and 24 goals in his first two full seasons. His numbers are running a little lower than that this season, but he has been a bit unlucky on the ice, with a PDO of 96.4 (100 is average). And while his size may stand out at first, it's not like he hasn't reached the NHL. He regularly played against adults in the second-tier Swiss League before coming to the OHL. He's not someone who plays scared.
That Rossi was the target of the Canucks in the off-season was one of the worst-kept secrets in town. The missed trade involving Aatu Räty, Arturs Silovs, and their 15th overall pick heading to Minnesota may have been enough to prevent this one from even being considered. A different - and also rejected, by Vancouver this time - package included Tom Willander. With Rossi and Minnesota in a dispute, he was their best bet to shore up the middle of the ice.
They couldn't finish the deal, famously starting 2025-26 with Filip Chytil behind Elias Pettersson. That didn't work out as hoped, and it got even worse with the loss of Teddy Blueger. But if there's one thing GM Patrik Alvin and President Jim Rutherford are known for, it's acting to correct their mistakes. Not always to their benefit, but usually quickly.
Going over his stats, it's worth remembering that Rossi needed to recover from a serious bout of COVID-19. How serious? Not many players lead off an article in Scientific American serious. It's safe to say that he's fully recovered, though given the history of this team, maybe we should whisper that.
Since his 19-game, one-assist debut in 2022-23, Rossi has scored 49 goals and 119 points in 200 NHL games. He scores from in front, finding holes in defences and passing it out of trouble and into dangerous locations when his opportunity vanishes. Vancouver fans will like what they see with him.
Rossi is signed for two more years at $5 million per, becoming an RFA in 2028.
Okay, no one is saying he's Quinn Hughes, but Zeev Buium isn't a bad choice to be the top-pair defenceman very soon. He's nowhere near the skater Hughes is, but is deceptive, making opponents miss and giving him the opportunity to move the puck up and onto the attack. He is more of an attacker than a defender, which, given Vancouver's other prospects, is what they need.
There are some growing pains in his first season, but they are livable. His three goals and 14 points in 31 games are absolutely fine. He's a smart player and will take advantage of other teams' mistakes. Expect him to be running the power play from the left side, even if he isn't the first choice on the kill.
Buium is signed for another season on his entry-level $967K deal.
Hey, you know how Linus Karlsson is showing how valuable a big, somewhat belligerent winger is? Keep that in mind when you look over Liam Öhgren's stats. Yes, his boxcars are zeroed out in 18 NHL games this year, and not a whole lot more before then. But the wrist shot is there, if he gets the opportunity to use it. With the right linemates, he will be the one challenging the defence to stop him.
It is funny to compare him to Karlsson, given Öhgren outweighs him by a good 20 pounds. But Karlsson has grown into his role, buoyed by the confidence from Abbotsford's Calder Cup run last season. Öhgren is younger by four years, and shouldn't take as long to reach Karlsson's level of contribution.
Personal admission: Öhgren was the player I was hoping the Canucks would draft in 2022 from the Swedish line of him, Noah Östlund, and Jonathan Lekkerimäki. Perhaps a deal with the Sabres is in the making...
Like Buium, Öhgren is in the second year of his three-season entry-level deal at $887K.
Deep breath. Okay, no one who came back is Quinn Hughes. You can't make up for that level of talent in volume, and the Vancouver Canucks are a worse team right now.
And that's fine.
It looks like there is a target time frame, given the ages of the players who came back. That there was only one draft pick in return, and it for 2026, also tells us their goal. They may not get better this season, but what they are going to do is live with the growing pains of a young team. That's promising.
Rossi and Buium are both very talented, top-end players starting their NHL careers, and Öhgren should emerge in support soon. Minnesota's draft pick isn't going to be a high one, likely somewhere in the mid-20s. But picks are the ultimate in fungible assets: everyone can use them, so they always have value in any situation. They'll get something with that fourth piece.
Of course, given recent history, who knows if that draft pick will even make it to the end of the year? But whether it burns a hole in their pocket or becomes a name in June, other names are out there. This isn't going to stop at Quinn Hughes, making Vancouver more interesting off the ice than on it once again.
