Last night, the Minnesota Wild pulled off a huge blockbuster trade. They acquired Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks in a move that had just about everyone in the NHL world shocked.
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After the full trade details were revealed, it left many fan bases saying that their team wouldn’t be able to compete with it. Therefore, it made sense why the Wild were the team that landed him. However, if a team was as serious about acquiring him and wanted him as much as the Wild did, they would have found a way.
So, with that, let’s take a look at what the Toronto Maple Leafs’ trade package could have looked like if they wanted to acquire Hughes from the Canucks.
Could the Maple Leafs Match the Trade Package?
The full trade package saw the Wild send Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, Zeev Buium and a 2026 first round pick. A trade package that big got me thinking, could the Maple Leafs have matched or at least come close to what the Wild sent to the Canucks? And while I don’t think it was possible for the Maple Leafs to offer an equivalent package, I did think it would be fun to explore what a trade for Hughes could have looked like from a Maple Leafs’ perspective.
So, basing it on what the Canucks got in return, the deal would likely need to start with the Maple Leafs offering up both Easton Cowan and Ben Danford. Cowan is an everyday NHL player and could fit into their offence, potentially better than he would in Toronto, simply because there would be more opportunity for him. He could make plays both at even strength and on the power play where he could be a main option. As for Danford, he isn’t at Buium’s level yet, but he does have the potential to be a top-pair defenceman, or at worst, a second-pair guy.
Related: Pundit Suggests Bizarre Maple Leafs Trade Proposal for Quinn Hughes
The main piece of this trade was Rossi, which makes it tough for the Maple Leafs to match because they don’t have a centre of his calibre that is expendable. There is no world where they would part with Auston Matthews, and John Tavares doesn’t want to play anywhere but Toronto. So, who does that leave? The most realistic option isn’t even a centre. It would be Matthew Knies. Parting with him would have been incredibly difficult, but the payoff of acquiring Hughes, who is exactly what they need on the blue line, may have been worth it. As for the draft pick involved, Toronto would have likely offered either the first round pick in either 2028 or 2029.
In my opinion, while it would have been great for them to add Hughes, someone who could run the power play and put up 75-plus points from the blue line, it doesn’t make a ton of sense to sell off three of their best young players who could be key pieces of the organization for a defenceman who could very well leave at the end of the 2026-27 season to play with his brothers in New Jersey.
