How Has The Quinn Hughes Trade Turned Out For The Canucks And Wild So Far?
It's been just over two months since the blockbuster trade that sent superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes from Vancouver to the Minnesota Wild. How has each player in the trade performed for their new team?
Video Transcript
Well, I mean, it, it, at this point, why not really?
Like, you don't need your veteran players playing twenty-five minutes a game on the blue line or nine- eighteen, nineteen minutes up front.
Like, you know, you look at, like, Lekkerimaki, he's, you know, under thirteen minutes a game.
He was benched for the final nine minutes and overtime against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Well- Vilander, he's, you know, in that fourteen-minute range most nights.
S- sometimes he's at sixteen, sometimes he's at thirteen.
Like, and then you look at other guys like Liam O'Brien, he's getting more ice time, he's getting penalty kill time.
That's great, but Aatu Rattu is in the, in the press box still.
Victor Mancini, in the press box still.
Zeev Buym was getting opportunities, and then he had the healthy scratch.
Like, Nikita Tolopilo is still behind Kevin Lankinen.
So like, I- at this point, I- it really is like a, why aren't you just playing the young guys a lot more?
And I get what Adam Foote is saying about you don't wanna put them into ... You know, you don't wanna give them too much, you don't wanna put them into bad situations, but you're the worst team in the league, and you're probably gonna have the best odds at first overall.
So why not stress test these kids a little bit?
Like, you're not gonna get another opportunity like this, where you have, you know, this twenty-five-ish game stretch, where you can say, "Listen, we're gonna give Petter-- Elias Pettersson and V- and Vilander eighteen minutes tonight.
We're gonna play him on the penalty kill and see what happens.
We're also gonna give Lekkerimaki fifteen minutes tonight.
We're gonna give O'Gran eighteen minutes tonight.
We're gonna give Rattu fifteen minutes, Sassen, Carlson," all of these guys.
Like, th- there's no harm in it at this point.
Like, I get the argument that, you know, they're showcasing certain players, but I mean, let's, let's be honest here.
Like, if, if NHL teams don't know what a Vander Kane or David Kampf or Teddy Blueger can bring to their lineup, then that's not-- that's, that's more concerning on the opposing team than, the evaluation.
So, like, just play the young kids, give them that opportunity, and you know what?
If they, if, if it works out, it works out.
Like, then you know what you have for the future going forward.
