Rutherford: Keeping Quinn Hughes easier 'if we brought his brothers here'

Vancouver Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford might be getting a call from the NHL.

The veteran executive admitted to potentially tampering while speaking Monday about defenseman Quinn Hughes.

"The one thing that we will be sure of (is) that we will have enough cap space to offer him the kind of contract that he deserves. That's the one thing we can prepare for," Rutherford said of the Canucks' captain, who's eligible to sign an extension July 1, 2026, before he can become an unrestricted free agent in 2027.

"It may not boil down to money with him. He said before he wants to play with his brothers. That would be partly out of our control, in our control if we brought his brothers here."

Quinn's brothers, Jack and Luke, play for the New Jersey Devils. Jack is under contract through 2029-30. Luke will be a restricted free agent this summer, though he's not eligible to sign an offer sheet. He's under team control until 2030.

"There's many moving parts here," Rutherford continued. "(I) agree 100% this franchise cannot afford to lose a guy like Quinn Hughes, and we will do everything we can to keep him here. At the end of the day, it will be his decision."

After a long pause, Rutherford added: "Well, we gotta be careful with tampering here so we'll just leave it at that. I probably crossed the line anyways."

Quinn Hughes is due for a sizeable raise from his current $7.85-million cap hit. He won the Norris Trophy as the league's top defenseman in 2023-24 and is expected to be a finalist again this season after producing 76 points in 68 games.

Hughes, the eldest of the brothers at 25, said recently that he feels "obligated to be a successful team" in Vancouver as the franchise's captain.

The Canucks have watched multiple high-profile players depart in recent years with Bo Horvat in 2023, J.T. Miller this past season, and potentially Brock Boeser this summer. Boeser, a pending UFA, said in early April that re-signing with the Canucks is "unlikely at this point."