Will Quinn Hughes eventually be one of the Canucks players moved this season? 

When the Vancouver Canucks announced that they were looking to sell off some players this season in the wake of a disappointing start to the year, all eyes immediately went on Quinn Hughes. While the reports specified that he is not one of the players on the table at this point in time, many feel like it’s a matter of when, not if, he does leave Vancouver, whether that be to join his brothers Jack and Luke with the New Jersey Devils, to his college roots with the Detroit Red Wings or any other team willing to take a swing at the Norris winner.

But will that move come this season, or will the Canucks wait until next season when his contract is set to expire. Jeff Paterson from Canucks Army joined Daily Faceoff Live to talk about Hughes and if (or when) a move should be expected.

Jeff Paterson: I’m in the camp that thinks he will finish his career elsewhere. Does that mean that the trade’s coming this season? Probably not. But they certainly can’t let him walk for nothing. And so at that point, it’s a question of who’s got their hands on the wheel, who’s in control, who is ownership trusting to make this trade?

You probably don’t win this kind of trade, right? Generally, when you punt on a superstar, you’re going to get pieces back, but they’re not going to add up to the level that Quinn Hughes has played at. Quinn Hughes owes this organization nothing. The organization has failed Quinn Hughes, they haven’t been able to build around the best defenseman, and one of the best players, in franchise history.

He’s got the brothers, we know that. But I think more than anything, he’s 26 now. He wants to win. And so I can’t blame Quinn Hughes if he’s got his eye somewhere else and has a foot out the door here. They can throw all the money in the world at him, and I think they will. That’s their one sort of hail mary is that they can offer him eight years still under the current CBA and nobody else can do that. Eight [years] by $18 million. Is that enough to get his attention? It should be.

But he’s going to get his money wherever he goes. Even if other teams can’t go eight years with him, he’s still getting paid on his next contract. So I wouldn’t begrudge Quinn Hughes at all if he decides that the grass is greener elsewhere and he wants to go explore an opportunity where he can win a whole lot sooner than it can happen here.

And so it’s desperate times, it’s desperate measures. But ultimately, I do think that Canucks fans are going to have to brace for a Quinn Hughes deal at some point. I just don’t know when that timing is.

You can watch the full episode here…