{"id":469634,"date":"2026-02-24T14:40:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T14:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/469634\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T14:40:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T14:40:17","slug":"it-took-3-months-for-quinn-hughes-to-become-the-wilds-biggest-star-minnesota-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/469634\/","title":{"rendered":"It Took 3 Months For Quinn Hughes to Become the Wild’s Biggest Star – Minnesota Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThroughout their 25 years of existence, the Minnesota Wild have been searching for a true superstar. Many have entered the conversation, including\u00a0Marian Gaborik<\/a>,\u00a0Zach Parise<\/a>, and\u00a0Kirill Kaprizov<\/a>. Still, few have managed to earn the gravitational pull of a bona fide star.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBut less than three months in Minnesota, Quinn Hughes<\/a> may already be the biggest star on the Wild. He could also completely change the franchise\u2019s trajectory in his next three months with the team.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThat isn\u2019t to say the Wild didn\u2019t have good players before Hughes arrived. Kaprizov was a Hart Trophy (NHL MVP) candidate and will be a franchise player for the next eight years after signing an extension<\/a> last fall. Matt Boldy<\/a> is pounding on the door<\/a> of the game\u2019s elite after scoring the lone regulation goal for Team USA during Sunday\u2019s Olympic gold medal game against Canada. Both players are well represented on the back of jerseys on game nights in St. Paul. But there\u2019s something different about Hughes.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAcquired in a Dec. 12 trade<\/a>, most casual Wild fans may have known that Hughes was a former Norris Trophy winner as the top defenseman in the NHL. But many didn\u2019t know what they were getting beyond the name, mainly because there aren\u2019t many people outside Vancouver who aren’t following the Canucks closely.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHughes was a great player on a lousy team, which makes it even more impressive that he\u2019s already amassed this level of star power. He can drive offense. He plays well defensively. Since the trade was made, Hughes ranks second among defensemen with 34 points. He\u00a0awakened Brock Faber<\/a>\u2019s offensive game as his partner on the blue line.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe\u2019s already taken the Wild from a team likely to get bounced in the first round of the playoffs and turned them into a legitimate Stanley Cup contender. And he\u2019s in his prime, turning 26 last October.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFor a franchise that has been looking for respect since its inception, Hughes truly is one of them. But it also has to do with the star power he has off the ice.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen the Wild traded for Hughes, they became the team that every hockey analyst wanted to talk about. Minnesota has always had a dedicated fan base and a strong marketing slogan, but there was nothing that made them must-see TV for casual fans until Hughes donned a Christmas-colored sweater.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, since the trade, Hughes has reached a new level of popularity thanks to his performance at the Olympics. While the national media has been busy focusing on the Tkachuks during the tournament, Hughes has quietly been taking care of his business, leading all defensemen with eight points and recording a point in all five games.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe crowning achievement came in the quarterfinal game against Sweden. With the game in overtime, Hughes skated into the slot and ripped a wrister past Jacob Markstrom<\/a> for the game-winner. Hughes’ goal helped Team USA eventually win a gold medal, and it put him on the radar of casual hockey fans who stopped in on the action.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen you look at everything, it\u2019s easy to see why. Fans joke that Hughes sees ghosts on the bench due to his despondent stares<\/a>. He goes viral for slithering onto the bench or going head-over-skates during a pregame warmup. He\u2019s the kind of weird that Wild fans have embraced over the years, but he doesn\u2019t need a printed t-shirt to get attention.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHughes is a star after three months in Minnesota, which makes it exciting to wonder what he can do in the next three months.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe obvious goal should be to advance past the first round of the playoffs. The Wild haven\u2019t done that in about a decade and haven\u2019t made a run to the Western Conference Finals since the 2002-03 campaign. When fathers are telling their kids about J.S. Gigu\u00e8re<\/a> almost shutting out the Wild in a four-game sweep, it\u2019s time for the team to write a new chapter. Hughes\u2019s legend could grow if he\u2019s the catalyst for that run.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHughes’s contract extension will also be interesting. The situation is similar to the one Wild fans experienced with Kirill Kaprizov last summer. But there was always a thought that something would get done, even if it took the largest contract in NHL history.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Hughes situation has the same feeling, but different outcomes are at play. The Detroit Red Wings are a threat thanks to the presence of Hughes\u2019s friend<\/a>, Dylan Larkin<\/a>, and the allure of playing in his adopted home state of Michigan. The New Jersey Devils will be interested in Hughes because his brothers, Jack and Luke, are already on the roster. 30 other teams would love to add a player like Hughes to their franchise.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe urgency will be high, and the price won\u2019t be low, potentially flirting with<\/a> an $18 million number that would trump Kaprizov\u2019s mega-deal. But that could outweigh the benefits of getting a deal done.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHaving Hughes is a one-man recruiting tool that could lure some of the bigger free agents or perhaps a disgruntled star to Minnesota in a trade. With Kaprizov and Boldy already on the roster, Hughes could give the Wild its best championship window in the history of the franchise, which is why it\u2019s imperative to get a deal done.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the end, Hughes has a chance to become the face of the franchise by the time Minnesotans head to their cabin in July, which is a best-case scenario for a franchise that has been begging for a true superstar.\n<\/p>\n

\n Think you could write a story like this? Hockey Wilderness wants you to develop your voice, find an audience, and we’ll pay you to do it. Just fill out this form<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Throughout their 25 years of existence, the Minnesota Wild have been searching for a true superstar. Many have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[5,161,38,5280,4,1496,162],"class_list":{"0":"post-469634","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-wild","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-minnesota","10":"tag-minnesota-wild","11":"tag-minnesotawild","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-quinn-hughes","14":"tag-wild"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116126130167353401","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}