Wild have a bigger problem than Quinn Hughes’s next contract

The Minnesota Wild’s negotiations for a contract extension with Quinn Hughes received an important data point when Cale Makar agreed to an eight-year, $163.2 million extension with the Colorado Avalanche on Friday afternoon. The deal guarantees that Makar will be a problem for the Wild for the majority of his career but most importantly, it sets the market for Hughes as he enters the final year of his current contract.

With a likely price tag hovering around $20 million, Wild fans may be experiencing sticker shock thinking about what the final terms could be. But a bigger problem is that Hughes’s contract could expose how Minnesota’s roster is built where the salaries on the team have been flipped upside down.

Wild’s bottom six is a spending problem that goes beyond Quinn Hughes

Paying Hughes around $20 million per season isn’t something to dismiss, but it’s a better use of money than what general manager Bill Guerin has invested into his bottom six. According to PuckPedia, the Wild have three different players currently projected in the bottom six making over $3 million next season. If the Wild are able to add a center, Ryan Hartman could make that a fourth player if he’s moved down to the third line with Nico Sturm and his $2 million salary hiding as a healthy scratch.

Part of this is Guerin’s philosophy. While the players are overpaid in terms of their AAV, Guerin also believes that he’d have to spend the money elsewhere to find a valuable replacement. But with the players on the roster, it’s fair to wonder if he took things too far.

Marcus Foligno is a strong defender and an excellent leader in the locker room. But his four-year, $16 million contract that began during the 2024-25 season because his offense hasn’t kept up. After notching career-highs with 23 goals and 42 points during the 2021-22 season, Foligno hasn’t come close since, logging eight goals with 13 points and a minus-12 plus/minus rating that was his lowest since the 2013-14 season with the Buffalo Sabres (minus-17).

Yakov Trenin is another case where Guerin went overboard. Signed to a four-year, $14 million contract in the summer of 2024, Trenin’s first two years have provided plenty of hits including a whopping 413 hits last season. But it hasn’t brought much else with 13 goals and 38 games in 158 games with the Wild in each of the past two seasons.

Then there’s Michael McCarron, who signed a six-year, $20 million contract with the Wild just before free agency opened last summer. McCarron’s value comes with his 6-foot-6, 232-pound frame, play on the penalty kill and a career 52.7 percent faceoff win rate on a team that is allergic to winning draws. But it’s another case of Guerin paying for a top-tier outcome as McCarron had five goals, 12 points and a minus-15 rating in 59 games with the Nashville Predators before coming to Minnesota.

Of course, each of these players have folk hero status among fans who call Minnesota “The State of Hockey.” But it presents a big problem as Hughes is about to sign on the dotted line.

Bill Guerin’s spending could make the Quinn Hughes contract even more painful

Many are worried about Hughes’s contract limiting the Wild’s ability to add players in the future. But Hughes’s contract shouldn’t be why that’s a concern. As Sean Gentille of The Athletic said about Makar, Hughes is the type of player you ask “how much money they’d like, and you thank them for the privilege of payment,” and the Wild have an owner in Craig Leipold that is willing to write those checks as evidenced by Kirill Kaprizov’s contract extension with a $17 million AAV one year ago.

The bigger problem goes into the future when some of the players on cheap deals need more money. Matt Boldy ($7 million AAV through the 2029-30 season) and Brock Faber ($8.5 million AAV through the 2032-33 season) are far enough down the road and critical enough to the team where it could be another “blank check” scenario. But it also creates an issue if a player like Bobby Brink, Maxim Shabanov or Danila Yurov plays well on their cheaper salaries next season.

This also becomes an issue as the Wild look to add a top-line center. While the Wild are still targeting Dylan Larkin, his $8.7 million cap hit through the 2030-31 season is harder to squeeze in thanks to the expensive contracts at the bottom of the roster.

The Wild have specialized in low-priced bargains in the top-six ever since they bought out Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the chances they’ll keep hitting without a miss are slim. While the Wild could send one of those contracts out, teams may not want to take those deals knowing it’s to help them acquire another impact player to add to their roster.

In the end, Hughes’s contract is going to take some financial gymnastics. But a lot of those have been caused by overpaying marginal players in the bottom six. While all teams indulge every once in a while, it feels like Guerin has mismanaged his funds with little foresight to the future, which could make Hughes’s next contract hurt more than it has to.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow