When the Canucks decided to re-sign J.T. Miller in 2022 and trade Bo horvat in 2023, at least they were able to turn Horvat into a very capable defender to pair with Quinn Hughes in Filip Hronek. Unfortunately the Horvat trade may have opened the door for what has followed for the Canucks.
In a relatively short amount of time since trading Horvat, the Canucks have lost a very capable scoring forward in J.T. Miller due to ongoing rifts with other members of the organization, and a generational defenceman in Quinn Hughes due to lacking the top end talent required to compete at a high level within their own conference, while also going through the beginning and end of Rick Tocchet’s relatively successful coaching leadership.