Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes is in Italy, preparing to skate for Team USA in his first Olympics. For Huges, 26, it will not only be a sports milestone, but a kind of family reunion in Milan.
His brother Jack, a standout forward for the New Jersey Devils, also will skate for the Americans, provided the injuries that have plagued him recently allow it. Their brother Luke, also with the Devils, will be a spectator with their father, Jim. Their mother, Ellen, is working in Italy, serving as a player development consultant for the American women’s team.
But when asked about the family reunion happening in Italy, Quinn brought it back to his work on the ice, in Minnesota, which acquired him from Vancouver in a blockbuster trade in December.
ST PAUL, MINNESOTA – DECEMBER 14: Quinn Hughes #43 of the Minnesota Wild looks on against the Boston Bruins in the second period at Grand Casino Arena on December 14, 2025 in St Paul, Minnesota. The Wild defeated the Bruins 6-2. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)
“I’ve only been here six, seven weeks or whatever. So, my main focus was just trying to get acclimated here and play, you know, good hockey for the Wild,” Hughes said after a skate at TRIA Rink in St. Paul before departing for Europe. “I’m sure once we get on the plane and see the (Olympic) Village and all that stuff, it will start to sink in. But it’s kind of a surreal thing, too. You never really pictured yourself at the Olympics.”
Men’s pool play begins Wednesday, with the U.S. starting play Thursday against Latvia. Puck drop is set for 2:10 p.m. CST.
Focused
There are myriad social media videos of Hughes’ on-ice exploits for the Wild as his first 26 games in Minnesota have been an all-out assault on the franchise record book. There also are a few popular clips that have made the rounds showing Hughes sitting on the bench during games, doing nothing. Literally, nothing.
Hughes generally spends about half of a 30-minute game on the ice, but his rare time sitting while teammates are playing is spent in what looks like a state of almost catatonic focus. He looks straight ahead at the ice, seemingly oblivious to anything going on around him, with what some have compared to the “thousand-yard stare” seen on the faces of soldiers returning from combat.
According to a former college coach who had a hand in scouting and recruiting Hughes when he was a teen playing youth hockey in Toronto, that focus is not a new trait. For as long as Hughes’ name has been bandied about in the game, he’s been known to have a “hockey only” personality, for which little seems to matter beyond the boards and the bench.
Hughes said he did pick the brain of Wild teammate Kirill Kaprizov, who won gold at the 2018 Winter Games while skating for the Russians. Asked about the details of that conversation, Hughes said the talk was between him and Kaprizov and not to share.
He admitted that playing with his brother in Milan will be a unique thrill. “Extremely exciting,” he said. “It’s been a long time since we’ve been able to, and just to have the two of us at the Olympics, it’s very special. Hopefully we can help the team win.”
Beyond that, Quinn warned friends and family making the trip that there might not be much hanging out away from the rink.
“I think I have some friends and family coming,” he acknowledged, “but I don’t even really know because I’m not concerned about it. I’ve already told people, ‘You’re probably not going to be seeing me.’ ”
Out for a spin
On the ice, opponents can see Hughes, they just haven’t found a way to stop him. In his 26 games in Minnesota, he has 31 assists, second among all NHL skaters. He already has set the franchise record for most consecutive games with an assist at 10, a streak that remains active heading into the Wild’s next game at the end of February, and he has tied Ryan Suter for the franchise mark for most career three-assist games by a defenseman with five.
The tactics are straightforward. He gets the puck over the offensive blue line, invites challengers, then spins away, still solidly in possession of the puck. Then Hughes either sends a shot to the net or finds an open teammate for a shot.
“Hughes’ mobility and his edge work is what separates him and allows him to be able to make those types of plays and spin out of things,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “Even when he runs the blue line and spins out, just his ability to get his body around it to trigger the puck, it’s pretty impressive.”
Hughes raised some eyes, especially among the Canadian media, when asked about the difference between Minnesota and Vancouver, where he had played since leaving Michigan after two seasons of college hockey in 2019. Hughes was straightforward and honest, saying that the Wild are a better team, with better players, than the Canucks, who are currently in the NHL cellar and have the best numerical odds of landing the top overall draft pick next summer.
Again, no fluff, just hockey in the world of Quinn Hughes. And if he is able to spend his long flight back from Milan to Minnesota in a few weeks staring silently at a gold medal, nobody would complain.
Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes (43), front, waits for play to resume during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Washington Capitals, Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)