The Minnesota WIld have plenty of questions entering training camp but the biggest is the status of Quinn Hughes. Entering the final year of his contract, the Wild are looking to extend Hughes before the start of the regular season. But pinning him down has been difficult and it led to all kinds of speculation including the latest comments from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman on Friday.
“I don’t think Quinn Hughes wants long term in Minnesota. And I do think that the Wild and Hughes are going to be meeting soon to start hearing this out. Where they are and where they’re going,” Friedman said during an appearance on NHL Network.
Friedman’s comments could trigger some alarms, especially since Wild owner Craig Leipold said the team was pursuing a five-year contract earlier this summer. But in the end, a short-term contract may not be the worst thing for the Wild and it could give both sides what they want.
Quinn Hughes has good reasons to want a short-term extension from the Wild
Ideally, the Wild (or any team in this situation) would like to keep Hughes around as long as possible. Outside of Cale Makar, who signed an eight-year, $163.2 million contract extension with the Colorado Avalanche on Aug. 29, Hughes may be the top defenseman in the NHL with his skating and offensive ability the key selling points.
With his impact on the Wild a year ago, Minnesota would also love to lock him up to a long-term deal. But that may not be what Hughes wants in the end.
Hughes previously acknowledged that it would be “very cool” and “really fun” to play with his brothers, Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes. With both currently on the New Jersey Devils, he may see a clear path to do so when his contract expires or at least sync his new deal up with Jack Hughes’s contract, which expires after the 2029-30 season.
In addition, Hughes may see a chance to increase his earning potential. While he could get $20 million a season on this contract, that number could go up as the salary cap increases. A short-term deal would allow him to hit the market again in his prime and getting the chance to collaborate with Jack Hughes could give both brothers a chance to get paid and do it on a team they both want to play for.
The latter scenario would result in a three-year deal, but it may be the perfect timeline for the Wild to chase a ring while also leaving them open to securing some of the other key pieces on their roster.
Wild could reach a compromise with Quinn Hughes on a short-term contract extension
The Wild’s salary cap situation is a mess and it could get worse if the Wild signs Hughes. While the extension wouldn’t begin until the 2027-28 season, some cap space would get clogged if the Wild acquire Dylan Larkin in a trade with the Detroit Red Wings and that deal, while at a bargain of $8.7 million per season, would run through the 2030-31 season.
The beginning of a new decade could also be an important moment for the Wild. Kirill Kaprizov’s extension signed last fall runs through the 2033-34 season but Matt Boldy’s expires after the 2029-30 campaign. Brock Faber is another player whose deal runs through the 2032-33 campaign and both players should cash in on much larger deals than the ones they signed earlier in their careers.
Signing Hughes to a five-year deal worth $20 million per season could take some of that money away and it could also be much harder to build a supporting cast to build around him as player salaries continue to skyrocket. Agreeing to a three-year deal would be easier for the Wild to fit it under the cap and help them create an extended championship window that heads into the 2030s.
A lot of things can happen between now and then and if Hughes reconsidered and signed a long-term deal, nobody would complain. But it’s looking more likely that the two sides agree to a short-term deal and kick the can down the road as it’s the one scenario where both sides can get where they want.
Add us as a preferred source on Google