Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin admits team brass saw a Quinn Hughes trade coming for some time now.

The Canucks dealt Hughes, their team captain and best-ever defenceman, to the Minnesota Wild Friday afternoon, receiving a trio of former first-round draft picks — centre Marco Rossi, winger Liam Ohgren and defenceman Zeev Buium — plus a 2026 first-round selection in return. Hughes is set to become an unrestricted free agent after next season, and there’s already rampant speculation in the hockey world that he’s dead set on hitting the open market when he’s eligible and signing with the New Jersey Devils, where he’d get to play alongside his brothers Jack and Luke Hughes.

Allvin certainly leaned into that on Friday when talking to the media about the deal with the Wild.

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