As it turns out, the Philadelphia Flyers were never one of the serious players involved in executing the Quinn Hughes trade and were ultimately behind two Metropolitan Division rivals in the hunt.
On Friday night, Hughes, 26, was traded to the Minnesota Wild by the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for prospects Zeev Buium and Liam Ohgren, center Marco Rossi, and a 2026 first-round pick, and the immediate (and correct) reaction was that the Flyers were never going to beat that offer.
The Flyers themselves must have known this, because, according to a recent report from The Athletic and TSN NHL insider Pierre LeBrun, Philadelphia was never a true contender for Hughes.
"The New Jersey Devils, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers are among those six teams confirmed to have made legitimate offers. The Devils feel they made a strong first offer. I can also confirm that the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes showed interest," LeBrun wrote for The Athletic.
"The Philadelphia Flyers were among the teams that kicked tires but didn’t get to the next level. The Flyers weren’t willing to give up the assets the Canucks wanted, so that took Philadelphia out of being a major player in it."
Flyers Miss Out on Egregious Quinn Hughes TradeIt's official: the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/philadelphia-flyers">Philadelphia Flyers</a> pulling off a Quinn Hughes trade is not going to happen, and they should be thankful it won't.
The fact that, as LeBrun reported, the Flyers weren't ready to part with assets the Canucks wanted means that Vancouver asked for a blue-chip prospect akin to Buium, which implies that Porter Martone or Matvei Michkov would have needed to be on the table.
Of course, the Flyers could have drafted Buium outright in 2024, but traded down with the Wild to instead select center Jett Luchanko.
Much can and will be made about the Flyers' management of assets, especially as it relates to how and why they use their draft picks, and there is nothing we know that suggests the Canucks would not have taken the Flyers' offer had they ponied up.
Yes, the Flyers do not have a center like Rossi aside from savant Trevor Zegras, but it would also be disingenuous to say that a Hughes trade was impossible.
Truthfully, the Flyers are probably better off not going for that kind of a deal anyway, but there is a point to be made regarding the rebuild.
3 Flyers Defense Targets With Quinn Hughes Off The BoardQuinn Hughes is officially no longer a potential option for the Flyers. Due to this, let's look at three defensemen who the Flyers should consider targeting instead. If you're rebuilding, trading away players, and stockpiling young players and draft capital, and you can't trade for a superstar when they are actively available on the NHL trade market, what is the point?
The Flyers certainly would have had a better case for the trade had they drafted Konsta Helenius or Buium and Jackson Smith ahead of Luchanko and Jack Nesbitt, respectively, but instead, the current result is a prospect pipeline that inspires little confidence in fans whose faith in the organization is already shaken.
With Hughes off the table and seemingly no big additions coming to Philadelphia anytime soon, only time will tell if that malaise will grow or fade.