One of the defining moments for the Minnesota Wild this past season was the trade to acquire Quinn Hughes. A transformational player on the Wild’s blue line, Hughes helped Minnesota advance past the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2015 and raise expectations going into next season.
Part of those expectations are a big move over the summer that could land a big name to aid their quest for a Cup. And according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, Bill Guerin’s top target could be one of Hughes’s brothers, current New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes and defenseman Luke Hughes.
Russo noted that the Wild tried to trade for Luke Hughes at some point last season but were unable to get a deal done. With new general manager Sunny Mehta in charge, it could be an opening to continue those talks and have Guerin looking to reunite Hughes with one of his brothers this summer.
“Everybody knows the Hughes brothers want to play together. Maybe Jack wants to come to Minnesota now to join forces with Quinn rather than wait or have it the other way around. It would be complicated, though, because it’s hard to believe Jack would leave their youngest brother, Luke, behind with the [Devils].”
Wild keeping close eye on potential Hughes brothers reunion
The possibility of a Hughes reunion has been well-discussed. When Quinn Hughes was on the trade block with the Vancouver Canucks, a popular rumor was that he wanted to go to the Devils to unite with his brothers but New Jersey didn’t have the assets to get a deal done, which was a key reason why former GM Tom Fitzgerald parted ways with the organization.
The fans were flamed higher when Quinn scored a game-winning overtime goal against Sweden and Jack scored the golden goal in overtime against Canada in the gold medal game during last year’s Olympics and Russo added that Quinn could sign a short-term contract extension this summer in order to sync up when Jack’s contract expires at the end of the 2029-30 season.
With this in mind, the Wild may try to accelerate the timeline and acquire one of the Hughes brothers this summer. But the problem is both Jack and Luke will be hard to acquire.
Jack Hughes is under contract for a while, he also has a favorable price of $8 million per season (h/t Puckpedia) and is a franchise cornerstone for the Devils. Russo went on to note that “it seems unlikely that [Mehta’s] first move will be to trade Jack Hughes” which could mean an absurd asking price in a potential deal.
That would make Luke a better target and perhaps a chess-like move that would eventually convince Jack to come to Minnesota. But that would also require a lot to get a deal done with Luke signed through the 2031-32 season at $9 million per season. It also would be a self-inflicting move to the Devils’ long-term plan, which may make acquiring either Hughes a pipe dream.
The good news is that the Wild have plenty of other options if they want to make a big splash this offseason. But it appears Minnesota is keeping an eye on the situation going into the summer and may be willing to pounce when the opportunity to get the Hughes brothers together presents itself.
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