The Quinn Hughes era in Vancouver is over, and just getting started in Minnesota.

The Canucks traded to the Midwest Wild on Friday night in a deal that has shaken the Western Conference landscape.

Hughes’ name hasn’t been out as a trade option for long, though the Canucks’ league-wide memo last month about being open for business in terms of trading veteran players not named Quinn Hughes appears to have sparked conversation around the league, leading to the move.

The deal itself is massive, with the Canucks receiving centre Marco Rossi, forward Liam Ohgren, defenceman Zeev Buium and a 2026 first-round pick. All three players going west were former first-round picks: Rossi in 2019, Ohgren in 2022 and Buium in 2024, as the Canucks were clearly targeting a return of young players.

In a statement after the trade, Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said the deal was a “key part of the rebuild.”

“We would like to thank Quinn for his time with the Vancouver Canucks,” he said. “Quinn is a great person, a great player, and one of the greatest Canucks of all time.

“With the circumstances surrounding JT and now Quinn, we are fortunate to acquire these very good young players from Minnesota. They will be a key part of the rebuild that we are currently in, giving us a bright future moving forward. The hockey club will continue to build with talented young players using that as a blueprint to become a contender sooner rather than later.”

The trade instantly catapults the Wild into a Stanley Cup window. Despite the youth heading out in the deal, they have a top-six littered with talent in Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy, a deep blue line with the likes of Brock Faber, Jared Spurgeon, Jonas Brodin and Jacob Middleton, and a Jesper Wallstedt – Filip Gustavsson goaltending duo that’s posted the third-best save percentage in the league.

Seeing less of Hughes in Vancouver will be welcomed for the Oilers, as there was no team he has put up more points against in the league in the regular season, scoring five goals and 27 points in 29 games. Come the playoffs, Hughes had five points in seven games against Edmonton in the 2024 playoffs.

But his arrival in Minnesota could turn the Wild into a roadblock in the Oilers’ Stanley Cup Final hopes.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.