ST. PAUL — When Bill Guerin completed a massive trade which brought Quinn Hughes to Minnesota last December, it pushed the Wild into the upper-echelon of NHL teams and signaled they were all in for the Stanley Cup, not just in ‘25-26, but for the ensuing years the current core remains constructed.
Hughes didn’t just join a winning group in Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Brock Faber and Jesper Wallstedt, among others, but he upgraded it massively. The team went 27-14-7 after his arrival and took down the higher-seeded Dallas Stars for their first postseason series win in a decade. He set the franchise record with 52 points by a defenseman in only 47 games and set numerous other records along the way as he showed just how generational a talent he truly is.
Not only did he become the team’s best defenseman and form the league’s top duo with Faber, but the offense exploded. They averaged 2.81 goals per game as a team before he arrived and they finished the season averaging 3.58 per game by season’s end.
Hughes’ value to an organization can’t be overstated, and his addition brought the Wild further than they had in the previous 11 years – a different era of Wild hockey. Guerin even won the NHL’s Jim Gregory General Manager of the Year this offseason, largely for having the guts to make that deal with Vancouver. He had to give up a lot of capital in order to bring over Hughes with over a season remaining on his contract.
He’s signed through the 2026-27 season and was listed as Guerin’s “priority No. 1” this offseason. But seven weeks since July 1 when Hughes became extension-eligible, there’s been no ink to paper and the lack of clarity on an extension just a month out from training camp is a very different place than we were all led to believe during the press exit last spring.
A lot can happen in the next four weeks, and Guerin has a good relationship with Hughes. There’s no reason to think Hughes doesn’t actually like playing here. Also remember that Guerin got the deal done with Kaprizov last year after the start of training camp in another stressful set of negotiations. But this close to training camp without clarity, or this long after the signing period without a deal- it’s causing questions to surface.
What happens if Hughes chooses not to re-sign?
Could the general manager of the gold-winning U.S. Men’s Olympic team – one that Hughes is also a member of – really lose his day job as GM of the Minnesota Wild?
That’s how delicate the situation with his star player on both teams is. If Hughes finds his way out of Minnesota without an extension, could that be a fireable offense in the eyes of team owner Craig Leipold?
You can’t assume what’s going through Hughes’ mind as to whether or not he feels he owes the Wild more than 47 games. But it was the best version of hockey the organization has ever played, so there’s no way the team makes it through the first week of training camp without Hughes providing some answers to temper the upcoming media storm. That’s if he hasn’t already signed by then.
In a scenario where Hughes has cold feet and doesn’t want to stay, it’ll be found out quickly enough. What Guerin does from there could determine how long he remains the team’s president of operations and GM – if Leipold’s mind isn’t already made up.
Unless Hughes signs at least a multi-year extension to remain in Minnesota, that trade with Vancouver will never be fully consummated or seen as a real success. Hughes wasn’t a deadline acquisition to make a cup run, he was brought here to make several cup runs.
The risk of him wanting out but not granting it could mean little to no return short of winning the Stanley Cup. He could walk away to New Jersey after the next postseason if wanted and leave the Wild with only salary to spend. Choosing to hold but moving him at the deadline only minimizes what they may get in return.
Instead, Guerin will likely have to find a trade partner quickly; one that’s willing to pay a hefty price for the 26-year-old puck-moving defenseman.
Not just to try and recover some of what was lost: Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, who are three young, former first-rounders under team control plus a future first-rounder to Vancouver. They’ll also have to make a move to maintain stable footing in the big picture.
Allowing Hughes to walk away next summer would undoubtedly get Guerin fired, because the only assets the organization would have left is an aging roster. There’s not much to offer out of Iowa or in the way of future picks.
The organization’s depth is depleted as is the team’s future draft capital. Hughes was supposed to be the missing piece to go down a one-way street. Guerin essentially backed himself into a corner to get there.
Maybe he still is and this is entirely overblown. It would be welcome news if he was extended before this was published. If they can re-sign him, the Wild would continue to win for the term of his contract. He, along with Kaprizov, Boldy, and Faber should make them annual contenders.
But if not, Guerin has to act fast to avoid any further catastrophe. As soon as the Wild play one game, Hughes has less than a season of team control remaining and forcing him to play out his current deal in Minnesota is a massive risk that could be felt beyond the short-term.
And until Hughes clears the air, there’s only going to be increasing speculation over the next four months.