Paul Bissonnette connects Hughes brothers with team not named Canucks or Devils
Paul Bissonnette has been on the pulse of a massive move by the Vancouver Canucks before.
Back in December, Bissonnette was one of the first to report that the New York Rangers were going hard after prying J.T. Miller out of Vancouver.
Later in January, Bissonnette reported that Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini asked him at a Vancouver restaurant what to do with Miller. While Bissonnette recommended keeping him, Miller was traded to the Rangers a little over a week later.
Bissonnette got that report right, so what about his next one about the Hughes brothers?
“I have heard rumblings that someone in the family wants them to be New York Rangers,” Bissonnette said on the Spittin’ Chiclets podcast.
Well, that’s a twist.
Although Canucks president Jim Rutherford hinted at bringing the Hughes brothers to Vancouver, the more realistic outcome is that they all end up together in New Jersey.
However, the Luke Hughes contract stalemate has thrown a small wrench into that, especially after a report that he may be after a five-year deal. If Luke signed a five-year deal, both he and Jack would become unrestricted free agents in 2030.
Perhaps, if they were to go to the Rangers, that would be the time. Aside from that, it’s hard to see how the Rangers would acquire all three players.
In fairness to Bissonnette’s report, he merely said that someone from the family “wants” them to go to the Rangers. But Bissonnette wasn’t predicting that they’ll all end up there.
“Quinn Hughes is leaving,” Bissonnette said. “Depending on how the next year goes, maybe give it two years, I would assume that they all end up… in New Jersey. It’s inevitable.”
It makes perfect sense that the Hughes brothers all want to play together one day, and who can blame them? There have been very few instances of three or more brothers playing on the same team in NHL history. Eric, Jordan and Jared Staal were the last to do it back in 2013. Before them, that title belonged to Peter, Anton, and Marion Stastny, who played together for the Quebec Nordiques in 1984-85.