The Minnesota Wild are going to have trouble if Quinn Hughes keeps scoring and the Wild keep winning. And it’s creating an unexpected problem for general manager Bill Guerin. It’s one that could be franchise-changing.
The Wild Keep Proving They’re Early Cup Contenders
Minnesota’s most recent win, a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs, brings them to 8-0-2 in their last 10 games. Hughes got another assist and extended his point streak to 10 games—that’s the third double-digit point streak of his career, and only eight other NHL defensemen have ever done that.
That puts the Wild at a nice, tidy 14-3-4 record, which puts them first in the Central Division. The team is dominant in five-on-five play, and that’s with Hughes on the ice. He’s among the NHL’s assist leaders right now.
So What’s the Problem?
The problem with Hughes is that he’s a free agent next July and no extension has been signed yet. While he’s given some indication that he’s open to an extension, but he’s yet to commit despite his public praise of the organization.
What the deal is, who knows. There’s a lot of ongoing league speculation that he wants to join his brothers, Jack and Luke Hughes, in New Jersey with the Devils.
The Wild paid a huge amount to get him. In December 2025, in a trade with the Vancouver Canucks, they sent Marco Rossi, a top prospect defenseman Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren, and a first-round pick to get Hughes on the ice, and that deal wasn’t just about a singular playoff run. Guerin legitimately believed he could get Hughes signed to an extension. For whatever reason, that hasn’t happened.
What’s the Real Issue?
Since he’s come to the Wild, Hughes has certainly made a difference. It’s the kind of difference you don’t easily say goodbye to if a contract extension is never actually on the table. Trading Hughes means limiting the Wild’s playoff chances, and after decades without a long playoff push, that’s essentially a non-starter.
Bill Guerin’s public stance in Tuesday’s general managers meeting in Toronto called contract talks “status quo,” and he refuses to set a negotiation deadline. He shot down any narrative that he’s had consistent talks with Hughes or that the two sides are miles apart. They’ve barely gotten that train on the tracks.
It looks like he’s willing to keep Hughes past the trade deadline. That’s a tricky business, though if it works and the Wild go far in the Stanley Cup race, it could work out well. If it doesn’t, one has to wonder if he’ll eventually have buyer’s remorse.
The issue remains that as long as the Wild keep winning, the decision to do anything about the Hughes situation becomes increasingly difficult. “Whether it’s three months, three years, seven years, whatever, we’re a better team with Quinn Hughes. I want to keep him as long as I possibly can.” When all is said and done, that might be just a few months.
The trade-off is that trading him while first in the West wrecks a legitimate Stanley Cup run and crushes the locker room. Keeping him risks losing a superstar for nothing on July 1.
It’s a dilemma that is problematic, to say the least.
Wild Run Has Become An Unexpected Issue for GM Bill Guerin