Canucks Captain's Future Reportedly in Doubt as Rebuild Becomes Inevitable
The Vancouver Canucks are going through some drama that may change the future of the team, and now it could all lead to the departure of captain Quinn Hughes.
The past few weeks have been tough for the Vancouver Canucks, and with the future of J.T. Miller, Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson all potentially laying elsewhere, questions have arisen over the future of the rest of the Canucks core.
That includes captain Quinn Hughes, as reporter Rick Dhaliwal has revealed that the prevailing opinion around the NHL is that the young superstar defenseman is bound for free agency in the summer of 2027.
The 25-year old superstar has been the biggest threat for this team over the past few years, and with an impressive 56 points in 45 games played, he seemingly leads the Norris Trophy race with a few months remaining in the 2024/25 campaign.
This is a topic the Canucks are aware of too, as President Jim Rutherford has noted that the team are looking for NHL level players in return for Pettersson and Miller in trades, as the team fear that a rebuild could lead them to the loss of Hughes in free agency.
The latest report from Dhaliwal suggests however that regardless of how things are played, unless major changes and/or success happen in Vancouver over that time, Hughes could be on the way out anyway.
With his two brothers in New Jersey, that connection will always be there as a potential landing spot for Quinn, but given that he'll be just 27-years of age, we could be looking at one of the biggest free agent deals for a defenseman in NHL history.
