NHL Rumors: Minnesota Wild went all-in on Quinn Hughes. Can they keep him?
While Wild GM Bill Guerin went “All-In” to acquire the eldest Hughes brother, now the real work begins. Remember, Hughes still has a year and a half left on his current contract at $7.85 million per season. He won’t be eligible for an extension until July 1, 2026, but as he said after the game on Sunday, he’s open to anything.
“Very candid,” Hughes told the Minnesota media after the game on Sunday when asked if he planned to extend with the Wild. “They have a great core. Obviously I’ve only been here four hours, but I’m getting to know some of the guys and how energetic and positive the guys are. And then Minnesota being so close to Michigan (his home state), and just the State of Hockey and the passion here. Seeing how the fans responded to me in warmups as well.”
But what may have sent things over the edge was the rest of his quote when he complimented Minnesota’s general manager for stepping up and going after him.
“And then I obviously got a lot of time for Billy because he ‘fired’ and closed the deal the way he did. And how he appreciated me,” Hughes continued. “There are other teams that probably could have deployed certain packages as well, but ultimately they didn’t want to do that or they didn’t want to trade two or three assets of their team like Billy did. So I’ll remember that. And it means a lot to me that Billy did that.”
NHL Trade: Vancouver Canucks Trade Quinn Hughes to Minnesota
The way players are treated in this situation will largely determine whether players stay or not. Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford treated Quinn Hughes as if he had trade protection, even though he didn’t. Hughes had the unofficial and official verbal trade protection of Ryan O’Reilly. Not only was the player informed throughout the process, but also his agent, Pat Brisson.
Brisson, who could not guarantee anything to the teams before the trade, will be open with his player after this trade when it comes to his contract extension, which has not yet been discussed, as he told. Michael Russo of The Athletic.
“We didn’t exceed that at all,” Brisson said. “Just like the conversations I’ve had in recent weeks about the possible expansions where I didn’t promise anything, we haven’t even looked at or thought about the future concept.
The good thing about Quinn is that he’s still young. He is not a 29 or 30 year old asset. I’m not saying it’s old, but because of the renewal, sometimes it’s usually your last deal, right? So with him I don’t know, everything is open. We’re really going into this experience with an open mind, and we’ll see how it goes.
NHL Rumors: Some fallout following Quinn Hughes trade to the Wild
It will be interesting to see how the second-best defenseman in the league fares. But Bill Guerin isn’t afraid to push the fence when it comes to handing out contracts. Just look at what he did with Kirill Kaprizov and that deal. Once again Cale Makar is due for extension. These two players will be a one-two punch when it comes to how much the defenseman gets paid.
But will Quinn Hughes get as much as we all think? He wants to win. Sometimes in a good situation it’s better to take less than to pack the bag. The countdown is on until the Wild and Hughes get a deal done.
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