Minnesota Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes has not yet signed his contract extension.
Before training camp kicks off, Sportsnet’s Insider Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas hopped behind the mic for a new taping of 32 Thoughts, the podcast.
Friedman addressed the future of Hughes in Minnesota and if he has heard anything of late between the star D-man and the Wild.
“It has surprised me a little bit about how long this has taken with Hughes,” Friedman said on the latest episode of 32 Thoughts.
“I don’t think there have been a lot of talks recently between Hughes and the Wild. I don’t get that sense.”
Two Star Defensemen Need Contract Extensions
Friedman wonders if Hughes and Colorado Avalanche defenseman Cale Makar are eyeing each other to see who signs their new contract first.
Each player has his own motive for signing a new deal. However, in this case it will set a precedent for what it will cost to keep an elite offensive defenseman.
That bar will go beyond Hughes and Makar at some point. For example, when Zach Werenski, Evan Bouchard, Adam Fox, and Miro Heiskanen need new contracts over the next few years, they’ll look back at these two.
The advantage for any future deal is that the NHL’s salary cap will jump up as well.
Contract length will be something to watch for Hughes and Makar as they look to get an extension done ahead of the 2026-27 campaign.
Once complete, it’ll come off their plate before they embark on an 84-game journey with their respective teams. The market will be set. Then the other NHL defensemen can fall into line over time.
If Joe Sakic is confident in his ability to get a deal done with Makar, then Bill Guerin knows he has time to get the right deal done with Hughes.
The Athletic’s Michael Russo was a guest on Daily Faceoff’s The Sheet earlier this month. He shared the following about what Hughes’ new deal might look like.
“Hughes’ deal will almost certainly be five years or less, which will likely be a trend with young stars due to the rising cap,” Russo said.
“At 26 years old, he would get a chance to hit another home run contract. Three years makes a lot of sense. Hughes would give the Wild four years to create a true Cup contender, and the term aligns with the end of his brother Jack’s contract.”
When the “State of Hockey” locks in another superstar player, their championship window will remain open for the foreseeable future.
Wild Owner said Hughes will get signed
Back in June, Wild Owner Craig Leipold made it clear to fans and everyone else that Hughes would be re-signed. This was especially true after what it took to acquire him via trade from the Vancouver Canucks.
“We had to give up a lot to get him in this past year. We are going to re-sign him. The question will be for how long,” Leipold said.
“We would like to go as long as we could. He will probably want it to be a little shorter – shorter being maybe three years. We hopefully will end up at five, I don’t know, and the reason I can openly talk about this is that I’m not doing the negotiating.”
Minnesota already locked in forward Kirill Kaprizov to an 8-year deal worth $136 million. The Russian signed on September 30 last season in the middle of training camp.
The Wild have time, but there’s one snare they could run into. That is if getting Hughes on an 8-year deal matters more.
As the NHL’s new CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) comes into play on September 16, the longest a player may sign an extension for is 7 years as opposed to 8.
It will be up to Minnesota to treat that as a deadline for Hughes, but will the Olympic Gold Medalist and Norris Trophy-winning D-man want to sign for that long?
Follow Nick Kieser on Twitter/X: @KieserNick
Quinn Hughes Contract Situation: Latest from Elliotte Friedman