Elliotte Friedman reported on Hockey Night in Canada’s Saturday Headlines segment that the Devils and Canucks had been in touch about Quinn Hughes after Vancouver let it be known to the whole league that they were listening on their “veteran” players. As Elliotte noted, this doesn’t mean any deal is imminent.
The Canucks and Devils have been in contact before, going back to even last summer. How far down the road are they in actual trade talks? It’s far from a certainty that there’s any deal to do here between now and March, but Simon Nemec’s name is certainly out there along with Dawson Mercer, and any of New Jersey’s first-round picks in the next three years would be in play.
And the market for Hughes may be much wider than just New Jersey. The Canucks believe there are teams completely open to the idea of trading for Hughes to have him as a two-year rental without any assurances he’ll stay past his contract expiring in 2027. These teams see Hughes as a final piece that could help them win or be a threat in 2026 or 2027.
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This strategy harkens back to Carolina’s trade for pending UFA Mikko Rantanen last season, acquiring the scoring winger without any confirmation that he would re-sign with them. The Canes were hoping to sell Rantanen on their franchise and location, but when that ultimately didn’t happen, they traded him again. The difference with Hughes is that a team would have two seasons to try and convince him to stay, whereas the Hurricanes had about a month to do so with Rantanen.
Could Detroit be one of those teams? They have what it would take to quench Vancouver’s thirst for young centres. Anaheim, Chicago and San Jose are others that could get involved in this as they start to become more competitive.
Right now, it seems the going rate for a team wishing to acquire Hughes is a combination of four or five pieces, including roster players, prospects and first-rounders. The Canucks are seeking those first-rounders to be unprotected so that if they end up in the lottery, Vancouver wouldn’t have to worry about waiting another year to receive the return and would maximize the potential package.
As we know, Jim Rutherford has a history of acting quickly and decisively so while a Hughes deal doesn’t seem at all close today, that outlook could change at any given moment.
What I’m hearing…
• Chris Tanev rejoined the Maple Leafs at practice recently in a non-contact jersey and it was an even better sign that he was on the ice for Monday’s skate in a regular jersey. He will be evaluated this week, but it’s still to be determined if and when he’ll get medical clearance to come back.
At this point, Tanev and the team are considering whether or not he will have some sort of structural surgery that will help him return and a decision on that will be made this week. If he does lean towards having surgery, the hope would be for him to return well before the end of the regular season.
The anticipation on which direction Tanev goes has many people reminded of Jake Muzzin, another hard-nosed Leafs defenceman who took an awkward hit in October 2022 that ended his season even though he skated off the ice on his own. The following summer in 2023, Muzzin needed to run through the possible scenarios between surgery or no surgery and the risks of temporary and permanent damage he might have to deal with after his career was over, if he continued to play. He ended up never returning to NHL action.
The biggest concern for Tanev is if he takes another hit similar to the one he received on Nov. 1 that knocked him out of the lineup. What are the risks of him further exacerbating the symptoms he’s had since? The hope is that any potential surgery would help alleviate that risk.
While we wait to hear what officially is ailing Tanev, we now know that Muzzin sustained a cervical spine injury that put him at risk for permanent paralysis if he took another big blow.
By Friday, Tanev will have been on the shelf for six weeks with his latest injury.
• Tyler Seguin is yet to have surgery, but his season-ending injury has opened a bit of a hole in the Stars’ lineup and so now they are becoming a likely destination for Nazem Kadri should he get traded. However, this also doesn’t appear to be an urgent deal to get done. The Flames are still not ready to give up on the season and have said they’re not looking to trade Kadri, so things won’t start taking off until Kadri is ready to go to management and tell them it’s time to move on. No indication he’s even close to doing that yet, if at all.
Seguin’s injury is another in a long line of NHLers heading to the sidelines and there is a big worry around the league about the condensed schedule. Teams have less time to practice and recuperate and it only gets more difficult from here – the scheduling after the Olympics is even tighter down the playoff stretch.
• With so many of the most notable pending UFAs having re-signed with their teams already, Artemi Panarin’s situation will be closely monitored all season. The 34-year-old is still contributing over a point per game for the Rangers, who are holding a wild card spot right now and not looking to trade away players who will help them get back in.
Panarin makes $11.642 million against the cap this season and is seeking another high-end salary as the cap rises, which he should be able to get on the open market. However, it’s believed the Rangers want him to take an Anze Kopitar type of contract. Kopitar made $10 million against the cap on his previous deal with the Kings, but signed a two-year extension with a $7 million AAV that will take him to the end of his career after this season ends.
• There’s some trade noise kicking up around Phillip Danault out of Los Angeles. I’m hearing this may stem from his unhappiness over ice time and his role under head coach Jim Hiller. While Danault averaged 17:40 of ice time per game last season, he’s down to 16:25 in 2025-26.
With a shortage of available centres around the league right now, particularly hard-checking ones, I don’t anticipate the Kings will move Danault unless they can get an adequate replacement for him in the lineup.
