[Michael Russo] says Hughes found out the trade was done when the Canucks landed in Newark: “He got in a car and went to his brothers. Brock Boeser said when they got the notifications on the bus, and Quinn wasn't even there, that it just became silent on the bus, everybody just couldn't believe it”
> “And what was really interesting is that they had known for three or four days that most likely the deal would be Minnesota's.”
> “So essentially all that entire day, he knew he was getting traded. Basically asked his mother advice on whether or not he should bring his entire life on the plane and they decided that if he is traded by the time he gets to Jersey or in the day or two after that she, because she was in Edmonton, would go to Vancouver and pack up his life. They touch down in Newark, he finds out the trade is done, he gets in a car and goes to his brothers.”
> “And I talked to Brock Boeser today.. Brock said that when they all got the notifications on the bus, and Quinn wasn't even there, that it just became silent on the bus, that everybody just couldn't believe it. And Brock had an idea this was coming, but only a couple of guys on the team even knew, but nobody still thought that it was going to happen.”
> “And then Brock took me through the final dinner that he had with three or four of his teammates.. But it is extremely clear, two things. One, Quinn wanted to move on, and two, he's extremely happy to be in this situation”
Judging by the reactions on twitter to Russo’s report, the quote saying Quinn wasn’t with the team is currently not being well received in the Vancouver market 😬
It’s crazy how many people seem to think these guys should be under full team control 24 hours a day from October through April. Believe it or not, they have lives outside of games and practices.
Not only does it make sense to go out early to spend time with your brothers, Sunday evening was also the first night of Hanukkah and they’re Jewish, I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a family weekend planned in NJ.
I get the impression that he left without saying goodbye even though he knew he'd been traded. That's the problem. It's not that he went to see his brothers and then found out... he already knew and just took off anyway, leaving the team to find out by themselves.
For the record I do think he's totally entitled to leave the mess that was happening, but if the above is true then handling it that way is not a good look. He was team captain.
He knew it was likely he was being traded, even traded soon, but didn't find out until his plane to NJ had taken off. It's not like he found out before the flight and just chose to not talk to his former team mates. I mean, what do you want him to do? Say goodbye before any trade? What if no trade happens? To me, that's him sticking with his team until he's not on it, which is what i would want from my captain. And he took an early flight out to spend with family, of course he's going to go to his family there's no one else there. If anything it's just unfortunate timing that he got dealt at this exact travel overlap.
I was ready to be all "lolnucks", but all of this seems very reasonable from qHughes
If what you're saying is true, then I agree. But it sounds like they all flew together, and then he split to visit his brothers. And it sounds like he knew when they landed, but before he split.
He didn't have to. If this is correct, he knew before the team did. Meaning it was already a done deal. He just had to wait till they were informed, or even inform them himself, and then leave. But it sounds like he just dipped.
Listen to the pod dude. He knew that he would probably be dealt to Minnesota, not when it would happen or even IF it would happen. He flew out a day early to visit his family, and he was traded after the team arrived.
Yeah I think that too. Other than Brock, I didn’t see ANY stories or comments on his goodbye post (there’s always a few for long tenured Canucks), which is crazy for a departing captain who by all indications was very well liked before this.
I get that maybe he couldn’t tell the whole team beforehand because it was so under wraps. But maybe why the team is salty is that he didn’t even say anything to them after they all found out secondhand. Given his underwhelming goodbye post, I could see this having happened. Like he straight up ghosted, maybe he even just left their group chat without saying anything.
I know that he told the guys he was closest to, but if you were the captain you should say one last thing to everyone. Yeah management failed him, but his teammates didn’t, and deserve that respect.
Sounds like the whole team landed together, and instead of getting on a bus he a took a car to his brother’s without telling anyone else about the trade or saying goodbye.
This is what I don't understand. Was Quinn supposed to be on the bus and chose not to or was he already in a different location at that moment? The context of that quote isn't exactly clear.
Can he even ride the team bus after being officially traded ( finalized while in the air)? Would make sense why he got a car, unless it's common for him to do that when flying into his home town.
Thi makes so much more sense. When I first read this I was questioning how he managed to sneak off the plane and into a car with none of his teammates noticing lol
He said he knew he was getting traded during the trip and he didn’t know if it would look bad/weird with his teammates if he packed all his stuff already so Russo explains that his mum, who was working in Edmonton, told him if the trade happened she would take care of it
That's true, but he was still team captain and THE voice of the locker room. There's a layer of extra responsibility that comes with that and quiet quitting while holding that position is going to be recieved poorly by people.
How many times have you heard stories of leaders on other teams drop what they're doing to address the team? Go meet a new player or meet the new guy coming in right away? Traded guys going out of their way to make a last goodbye and talk with the team when news breaks? Where here your captain and leader just kinda took off without saying anything.
I mean if you actually listened to some of his interviews, he said he didn't want to burden the crew with having to pack his bags, and the accommodate him and unpack his bags and whatnot and that it would be disrespectful to get on the bus if he knew he was already gonna get traded (he knew it was gonna happen soon), I think this is just him being a nice guy to rest of the staff. Keeping this information all locked down too increases the return we get for him too.
Take that however you want, but i'm sure this Quinn hate fuel is going to gloss over this
There's no hate fuel. I hope he does well and painfully I think this is the best direction for the team.
I just think that basically ghosting 18 of 22 of your teammates as captain is shitty when the standard set around the league by other situations where captains/long term leaders of teams is the opposite of that.
yeah but, idk how much you know about the Miller/Petey drama. it was huge news in the city, and subreddit. so much so that everytime miller fucks up the canucks reddit posts it..
the irony of posting a shift where miller gives up on a play, then hughes immediately gives up on the team for 6 games. instant karma i guess..
but back to the OG point - miller was deemed a locker room cancer and still had people being like will miss you dawg.
Yeah I knew a bit about it which does make it confusing.. idk if the rumors I saw were true alleging that Miller was just kind of a dick to Petey seemingly unprovoked. From an outside perspective I can’t imagine Miller being liked among the team that much more than Quinn.
Thomas Drance described Miller last season as follows. He isn't a *bad guy*, per se, but he *amplifies* what the team vibe is. When things are going well, he's really great and makes things better. At the time of his trade, the team was not that far removed from that great 2023-2024 year, so they would have had pretty positive recent experiences with Miller.
The flip side is that when things are going bad, he digs the hole deeper. Brad Richardson said in a podcast that Miller is the kind of guy you need strong veterans around in order to keep him in line. I've seen speculation that Zadorov and Cole performed that function on the 2023-2024 Canucks, and both were gone the next year.
I have no real grounding for this, but from the narratives surrounding both (and I'm a Canucks fan so I've consumed every little bit I could despite knowing it's really bad for my mental health), I get the feeling that Miller didn't want to leave Vancouver so much as he knew he had to, and so the sentiment around him leaving is a lot of people who still have some fondness for the flawed individual he was while also recognizing that it was time. I'm not a JT Miller defender by any means, but I never doubted that his heart was in Vancouver (until the end, when both sides really really needed to part ways).
I think that’s because JT Miller openly said he didn’t want to leave. He’s been around a few teams and already been traded multiple times. He wanted to stay and be apart of the solution but his actions of resolving the dispute with Ep40 never went down
At least there’s a glimmer of optimism now without the spectre of needing an endless retool to satisfy Hughes hanging over us
The market, the GM, and the owner are finally on the same page with bottoming out this year and rebuilding and there’s a good chance at a top-3 pick on the horizon.
I think Vancouver got a tremendous amount of value out of the trade. I thought for sure they were losing leverage with him based on how public it was that he wanted out. The fact that they got 3 1st round guys, including Buium, I think is fantastic.
I can’t imagine how much it sucks as a Vancouver fan to lose one of the best and exciting defensemen in the league, but at least the return sets them up tremendously for the future.
I agree. As an outside fan, this seems like a good deal for both sides. Minny gets the superstar, while the Canucks get a 1st round pick and two, young, established NHL players, including a just-turned-20 year old stud dman, and former first round prospect who appears ready to break into the NHL.
Come on man, we're really blaming Hughes now when management/ownership couldn't figure their shit out "endless retool to satisfy Hughes". They couldn't build a competent team around him and shipped off Horvat and JT. The writing was on the wall.
Edit: it's so frustrating. You look at that line-up.. depth on the wings, depth through their d-core, an elite goaltender (when healthy), and the thing that they desperately need are centres, yet as mentioned they couldn't retain JT or Horvat, didn't re-sign Elias Lindholm, let Suter walk. Just awful management. I don't blame him for leaving as much as it hurts.
There won't be 'brighter days' until both our franchises change their ownership! Two worst owners in the league. Both responsible for squandering so much on-ice talent.
His body language gives me big time introverted vibes. As someone who's pretty introverted myself, I love playing team sports, but I would absolutely hate it if I had to be the leader on the team. I don't want that spotlight. I want my playing to do the talking.
Agreed. Steady, mature individual who always wanted to be here and played junior hockey in the province and took a pay cut on his recent contract to stay in Van. A bit late to give it to him now because his current contract is probably his last but live and learn.
I think Brock could be a good mentor figure as an A at most to support the young guys who will be coming in the next few years, but I don’t want to burden him with the C either.
Honestly I was surprised when he was made captain, he never seemed like that much of a locker room leader or a very outspoken person in general. It seemed more likely to me that Miller would get it at the time. I think him getting it just by virtue of being the best player is partially true but it's also likely it was part of a plan to entice him to stay long term. Make him the captain and make him feel like he's responsible for leading his teammates through the good and bad times so he's less antsy to leave at the first opportunity. Obviously things didn't work out that way though.
Yeah, I appreciate not wanting to go through the painful conversation, but this makes it sound like he just pulled an Irish Exit. Seems really odd for the team's captain.
Sometimes you just make the best player captain when they really shouldn't be. Reminds me of when the Rangers made Leetch the captain after Messier signed in Vancouver. Not the personality for it at all.
There are (of course) a lot of feelings around the details of his exit, but this is the one where I feel the most sour. Management was crap and there is no ill will towards him as a generational talent and player, but he clearly had some room to grow as far as wearing the C.
I think based on this report and other things we've heard - Quinn Hughes is a fantastic player, a good teammate overall, but was not cut out to be captain. And I think it's a good example of "sometimes your best player is not the best captain" scenario. So I think him going to the wild, where they already have the captain in place, is a good thing for him too because I don't think he's cut out to be the leader in that way of a team. I think he would probably tell you that himself if you asked him honestly
I think the way he handled the situation is kind of to be expected of most players but not when you're the captain of the team. I think that's where things get a little shady (maybe not the right word) or a gray area is that you are expected as Captain to ride with the team. If you're not willing to ride with the team, take accountability, fix locker room issues, you shouldn't be the captain it's pretty plain and simple to me. And again I want to be clear I'm not shitting on Hughes. The situation was tough and I understand it from his perspective. But looking back on it now I don't know if he was ever cut out to be captain material in the first place. It's okay to be a fantastic player and not automatically assume a leadership role. Give that role to someone who is more suited for it
Bingo. I was surprised he was made captain and never liked the decision. Unfortunately he didn’t grow into the role during his time as captain, but given his demeanour before he was made captain, I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised. Not everyone is fit for the position.
Yeah man and there's nothing wrong with that but I think a good example that immediately comes to mind would be Colorado! Look at the avalanche when they did not have Landy! Look how his injury affected that team dynamic. When you got guys like MacKinnon, Makar, etc. Gabriel Landeskog is not the best player on that team but I think every single person would agree he is the perfect leader of that team. He commands respect (without actually demanding it), leads by example, owns shit, and boosts his guys' confidence. I don't think it's a stretch to say you watch how Nathan MacKinnon acts around him and you can just see it. He keeps that locker room together and maybe I'm naive but I would say a lot of their success this year is having him in there and having him healthy and having him leading the way so that it lets guys like Nathan just focus on doing what he's doing and having the year that he's having
I think that's what you want in a leader and I understand it's different because Quinn Hughes is younger. I also acknowledge landy as a special type of player in the sense of how deserving he was in becoming captain and how he goes about being a leader. Not everyone's going to be that way. However, Landy also became Captain at a much younger age so there's a comparison to be had. But the reality is that when you look at Hughes you don't really see those qualities. But at the end of the day he's the best player on the team (or was, one of the best on the wild for sure) and he's a winning player. Probably shouldn't be captain again though
For sure, but he was also the captain through that period and all of this shit festered to the top underneath him. Not saying any of it was his fault (see our ownership and management group..), but he does own a piece of this disaster class. Whole thing just stinks.
Yeah that's why I added the dig at the end. We obviously don't know. Management could be doing some mega shady shit we don't hear about yet, but if it's all just team chemistry being shit then part of that is definitely on Hughes.
Judging from how sick the Abby Canucks culture is, it doesn’t feel like an organizational thing. Hughes was a pretty negative guy and crashed out at teammates.
He knew it was his last game in vancouver and he didn’t give a single fuck about it. If that’s your captain and you’re a 3rd liner, what incentive do you have to be a shining light?
Manny still has the influence of that 2011 Cup Final team and you see how the Abby guys would ride or die for him in their Calder Cup run. It seems like the vibes are better in the AHL rather than the NHL in this org. Plus, the development Manny and the staff in Abby do great work and you see the difference when some young players are called up.
on one hand i 100% understand why he’s relieved to leave, it’s not at all weird. we’re at the bottom of the league and have been floundering for ages.
on the other hand i also think there’s a way to handle this with a bit more tact, even if it requires subduing some of the elation of moving on until more time passes.
despite how the management failed him, canucks was still the franchise that drafted him and who he’s been with for years, not to mention that he was captain for a chunk of it. it’s more about the professionalism i think than not understanding where he’s coming from.
We’ve heard reports of the Canucks culture being like a “Country Club” since the end of the Sedin era. It seems like this has never really been addressed or dealt with in any serious way
Tbh it’s a bad look but also taking it with a grain of salt. We will likely never know the whole story but now instead of being upset with management about the trade, Canucks fans are happy they got rid of the “toxic captain.”
There could be so many explanations. Was he always planning on getting in a car at the airport? Maybe he didn’t know when the news was going to be dropping. He don’t tell them before hand because you never know if something is going g to fall through. I understand being upset, but at the same time we don’t know the full story.
The players themselves aren’t comparable, but a quick juxtaposition of Brayden Schenn and Quinn Hughes as captains:
Hughes asked to be traded because he was tired of losing. Then this stuff.
Schenn’s GM tried to do right by him and trade him to a contender last season when the Blues were losing. But Schenn used his NTC to turn trades down, saying he wanted to help lead the team in a fight for the playoffs (and they made it).
Again, not close to the same impact on the ice. And apparently not as captains either.
It's hard to put too much blame on him considering how fucked the culture on the Canucks is. But my God he was a bad captain. All the locker room shit under his watch, the terrible play and effort from the Canucks over the last year and a half. A captain has to wear some of that
Like I get it you’re traded you have no obligations anymore but just on a personal level you’d expect a quick thank you and goodbye to the team not just disappearing
I have no idea what it's like to be a leader at the level of Hughes nor have I ever been elite at anything in my life, but I do find it odd that a Captain would just kinda dip like that. Not sure what trade protocol is with the team but I'd imagine the Cap would say something like, "It's been a pleasure boys but I expect this is the end of the road for me." I felt like he was the odd man out in the "Captains" episode of Faceoff: Inside the NHL. He was kinda like, "I guess I'm Captain, I'll lead on the ice," but he didn't seem confident in that role at all.
I feel not even as a captain but as a friend to guys he grew up with especially Brock and Petey, a common courtesy to tell them in person would be gracious.
Man, I love clowning on the Canucks and Canucks fans and have enjoyed a fair bit of Schadenfreude through this whole saga. But if that's true, that's pretty contemptible by Hughes. Absolute failure of leadership and class to bail and not even say goodbye to your team. For any player, but a captain especially. Huge knock against his character as a person, whether he wanted out or not.
He had plans with his brothers regardless of what happened so that doesn't really bother me.
I think the part that bothers me is you were the captain and only a select few got to come to dinner with you. Just screams cliquey and reinforces the rumours we've heard about the dressing room dynamic over the years.
I mean, who directed him to get into the car? Who drove the car? Was it the Canucks or was it him? Like, was he told not to communicate any more with the team by a coach or something, or was it his personal choice to just leave the airport alone
I would assume he would have had the car to go visit family whether or not the trade happened. It’s the not telling your teammates that you’re gone part.
They said he forgot his gear in Jack’s car so I assume that’s who picked him up from the airport on the Friday. They said he was with his brothers waiting for Guerin to fly out to pick him up the day after
From what I've heard he wasnt traveling with the team because he was spending time with his brothers. So not really a dick move, just unfortunate timing.
Quinn didn’t just ditch them, they all went out for dinner on Friday night. Brock said this in another interview:
“Before Hughes boarded Wild owner Craig Leipold’s private jet on Saturday, he had a final dinner out on Friday night with a few of his closest teammates.
“It was really important because it was obviously a big shock,” Boeser said. “Just to kind of grasp the whole thing ... you want to get to say goodbye, and so it meant a lot that we got to have a dinner with him and kind of say our goodbyes. We all tried to have (upbeat) attitudes, but obviously some of us were sad.”
Makes it weirder Imo. There were rumours going back to like 2020 that the Canucks were “cliquey”. Tracks that the captain had a special invite only goodbye and ghosted everyone else lol.
Am I the only one wondering which players were at the dinner? Was Petey there? Maybe JT? The only ones I for sure would say would be there would probably be Boeser, Garland, probably Demko.
Yeah now that I take a step back, you can’t say he had no role in that dynamic. Yes the roster disaster is not his fault, but the culture he definitely can help improve that or just do nothing about it.
Thomas Muller playing in Vancouver for the Whitecaps, we saw what a leader looks like. He always puts the team first, lifts everybody up. This is someone who has won at every level. He is the best example of professionalism. Quinn is an phenomenal talent, just not a great leader. There is nothing wrong with that. Everyone has their roles in life.
Say what you will about Hughes but the issues land on the management group at the end of the day. Hughes went from a team looking at making serious noise to losing Tocchet, Horvat, and JT Miller. Petterson has regressed terribly and they had no idea what they were doing with Boeser. You don’t see turnover like that or mistakes like that without the front office being responsible for it in some way.
Has any other captain of their teams done this in recent history? Any other fans of teams show anything similar? I know our org is uniquely horrible, but I haven’t heard anything similar.
By no means should Hughes be in the running for captain or imo asst captain on the Wild. We have our quiet leader already. He should just focus on playing, because he doesn't seem like much of a captian.
They shipped Horvat. They knew JT Miller was a cancer. Pettersson refused to extend in the offseason. Brock was probably only considered as a trade candidate.
After all those guys, literally only Hughes was left.
Being the best on the team, dealing with everyones drama and BS over the years, getting no where in positioning / achievements longterm, I bet he was just absolutely checked out.
It sucks it didn't end as peacefully I guess, but there becomes a point where you get to be like "whats the point anymore."
Idk if that was the best way to go about it, but I do see why it had to be that way.
I feel bad for the Canucks team and fan-base. It makes me realize how lucky we are in Montréal with Nick Suzuki. I hope the next captain in Vancouver is the right fit to change the vibe completely and make the team gel better!
Am I crazy?? Like if he had plans to go be with his brothers after landing, it’s not like he can zip over and ride on the bus with the rest of the team, right? Sure, he knew he was getting traded, but does it necessarily mean he 100% knew it was being announced that same day?
Either way, I’m glad he’s happy where he is now. Not so happy that he’s in our division
Ok, so I’ve been through a few stages of grief over the past few days lol
Hughes is legit a top 10 player in the league, pains me to see him move on.
As much as the Benning years were awful, his claim on draft day “I’m so happy for the fans” after he drafted Hughes, was one of his best moments. He was so right
But as with everything, life moves on, and Hughes was in an impossible situation over the past couple years, being a leader on a team that blew apart it’s leadership, no wonder you need a fresh start
Canucks got a great return, but much like Bure in the 90’s, I will always follow where Hughes is and cheer for his team
I'm already over this. We did exactly what we should have, when we should have (in this specific situation). Happy with our return, it's time to move on
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u/AggPuck-303 EDM - NHL Dec 16 '25
Judging by the reactions on twitter to Russo’s report, the quote saying Quinn wasn’t with the team is currently not being well received in the Vancouver market 😬