{"id":623978,"date":"2026-07-16T14:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T14:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/623978\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T14:33:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T14:33:13","slug":"quinn-hughes-contract-extension-not-imminent-but-dont-panic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/623978\/","title":{"rendered":"Quinn Hughes Contract Extension Not Imminent… But Don’t Panic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"QuinnCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The Minnesota Wild will tell you not to judge a book by its cover. But there\u2019s no hiding the fact that three of their top-nine forwards from last season (Zuccarello<\/a>, Johansson<\/a>, Tarasenko<\/a>) have been replaced<\/a> with guys (Shabanov, Coleman, Brink) who have yet to prove they can handle the same type of offensive responsibility.<\/p>\n

On defense, the Wild will be fine, as currently constructed. President of hockey operations Bill Guerin<\/a> traded Jake Middleton<\/a> and replaced him with another veteran, Olli Maatta<\/a>. If the soon-to-be 32-year-old<\/a> Maatta brings his A-game, to Minnesota, the Wild will be better on the blue line in 2026-27 (and in the playoffs).<\/p>\n

But the most important player personnel task on the Wild\u2019s offseason to-do list, regardless of position, is signing<\/a> 26-year-old superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes to a contract extension.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t panic, but a Quinn Hughes extension is NOT imminent<\/p>\n

However, because Guerin has spent most of the summer<\/a> waiting for Detroit to trade Dylan Larkin<\/a>, Quinn Hughes contract negotiations have taken a backseat, despite him becoming extension eligible on July 1.<\/p>\n

Per Joe Smith (The Athletic)<\/a>, who reports that the two sides have been talking, a deal is not imminent\u2026. though he isn\u2019t ringing any alarm bells just yet.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re working on [an extension], but a deal isn\u2019t imminent, per league sources who were granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. That doesn\u2019t mean there should be a cause for concern. The Wild have made it clear that re-signing Hughes was their top priority this summer, so it\u2019s understandable for fans to feel stressed the longer negotiations go. But we don\u2019t expect this to be like the Kirill Kaprizov negotiations, which dragged into September. Minnesota\u2019s management team has been quiet publicly, but as far as we know, both sides are still working toward the same goal.<\/p>\n

Joe Smith \u2013 The Athletic<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: MN Wild Not Happy With Kirill Kaprizov\u2019s Play<\/a><\/p>\n

The expectation<\/a> remains that Hughes will eventually sign a 3-year deal worth between $15 and $18 million per year. While those numbers are similar to Kaprizov\u2019s new deal, getting there shouldn\u2019t get hostile like talks with Kirill\u2019s agent<\/a>, Paul Theofanous<\/a> one year ago.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Wild, Hughes waiting on Makar?<\/p>\n

Instead, it could be Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar who\u2019s helping to hold up talks between Hughes and the Wild. Makar \u2014 who is the only defenseman in the NHL considered better than Quinn Hughes \u2014 is currently negotiating his own extension with Minnesota\u2019s division rival.<\/p>\n

Hughes 2025-26 Stats<\/a>: 7 Goals, 69 Assists, 10.1 PS, 27:44 TOI, 54.1 CF% <\/p>\n

Makar 2025-26 Stats: 20 Goals, 59 Assists, 12.8 PS, 24:51 TOI, 54.7 CF% <\/p>\n

Related: GM Refusing to Trade Dylan Larkin to Minnesota Fired<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible Quinn waits for Makar to set the market. However, it\u2019s also possible Hughes would want Makar to sign first, but only if Makar plans to charge the Avs full-price on his new deal.<\/p>\n

If Makar takes a discount, it could put pressure on Hughes to do the same, especially if he is only willing to sign for three years.<\/p>\n

Elliotte Friedman: Re Cale Makar extension\/Avalanche: I’ll bet you he does not max out, that they’ll go to him and they’ll be like, we could pay you whatever you want; I think he takes a big number\u2026but I don’t think he takes everything he can \u2013 32 Thoughts (7\/6)<\/p>\n

\u2014 NHL Rumour Report (@NHLRumourReport) July 12, 2026<\/a> <\/p>\n

As Smith points out, the Minnesota Wild will struggle to manage two massive contracts on their books for the next three years. But considering how good both Kirill Kaprizov and Quinn Hughes are, that is a really good problem to have, if you are running and NHL franchise.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMentioned in this article: contract negotiations<\/a> Quinn Hughes<\/a> <\/p>\n

More About:Minnesota Wild<\/a><\/p>\n

Add MinnesotaSportsFan as a preferred source on Google.\"Google<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect The Minnesota Wild will tell you not to judge a book by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":623979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5118],"tags":[4770,5,161,38,5280,4,1496,162],"class_list":["post-623978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-minnesota-wild","tag-contract-negotiations","tag-hockey","tag-minnesota","tag-minnesota-wild","tag-minnesotawild","tag-nhl","tag-quinn-hughes","tag-wild"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116930150917190815","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623978","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=623978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/623978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/623979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=623978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=623978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=623978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}