If you were ever in doubt, now you can be sure that Quinn Hughes wasn’t going to stay.

Not after his coach left. Not after his team split badly last season. Not after the hopes of this being a championship core were dashed. And not after seeing enough of the off-ice mess that the Vancouver Canucks have become — despite the best efforts of president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, who was hired to win and now stands over a rebuild.

He’s gone now, traded to Minnesota for a package of prospects and a first-round pick.

There’s some strange irony that in trading Hughes to the Wild, the Canucks only added to their Judd Brackett draft pile.

Friday afternoon the Canucks shipped Hughes, their captain and the greatest defenceman in team history to the Wild in exchange for centre Marco R

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