Does Quinn Hughes Have an Unwritten IOU to the Minnesota Wild?

If Quinn Hughes wanted to maximize his odds of one day playing alongside his brother Jack in New Jersey (or elsewhere), the smartest move would be obvious: don’t sign long-term in Minnesota. Michael Russo said as much on The Sheet this week, and it’s hard to argue with the logic. Still, despite that being the easiest way to control his own fate, Russo expects Hughes to sign in Minnesota. Why?

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He noted, “If he wants to play with his brother obviously the smartest thing to do is to not sign with the Wild but the reason we all expect him to sign (Wild) […] is I think he realized the amount of assets the Wild gave up for him & I think there’s a feeling from his side that he deserves to pay that back at least give them terms on the next contract.”

Does Hughes Owe the Wild Anything?

Russo’s read is that Hughes understands exactly what it cost the Wild to get him. Minnesota gave up Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Öhgren, and a first-round pick to pry him loose from Vancouver — a package that gutted a chunk of the organization’s young core in one move. Hughes has reportedly used the phrase “sacked up” to describe what Bill Guerin did to make that trade happen, and Russo has described Hughes as loyal to Guerin specifically, independent of what the market says he’s worth. Russo is suggesting that Hughes feels there’s a debt to be paid back, at minimum in the form of favorable term on his next contract, even if he stops short of a full hometown discount.

It’s rare to hear about a star player factoring in what a front office sacrificed to get him. Typically, that’s not their problem. This is a business and teams take gambles when they pay big for a player in a trade without an extension in place. That makes it fair to ask, why should Hughes have to consider that when he takes stock of his own situation and has control over where he plays?

Asked directly about the talks, Guerin has said only that these are big decisions that take time for both player and team, and that he’s been in touch with Hughes’ camp throughout. He noted that the two sides already trust each other and are working through the details.

The Hughes Contract World Has Changed

It was one thing to suggest that Hughes would be somewhat loyal to the Wild before contracts in the NHL did what they did. Even if there was some element of him feeling pressure and “paying the Wild back,” it doesn’t mean Hughes should, nor is it a good idea now that $17-$19 million contracts are floating around. The landscape he’s negotiating in now bears almost no resemblance to the one that existed when Minnesota traded for him.

Start with Kirill Kaprizov, who reset the Wild’s own internal pay scale last summer at $17 million a year through 2034. That would have been the ceiling at the time of the trade. Then this summer blew the market open twice more: Philadelphia’s offer sheet made Leo Carlsson the NHL’s highest-paid player at an $18 million cap hit, and San Jose responded almost immediately by locking up Macklin Celebrini at $18.8 million. Even Sharks GM Mike Grier admitted the Carlsson number changed the scale for the entire league, not just centers.

Cale Makar and Nikita Kucherov are both working through their own extensions. Some believe Makar could make $20 million per season. Hughes is negotiating against a set of comparables that simply didn’t exist a year ago. If the Wild are hesitant to throw out that kind of money, Hughes should feel like he’s under no obligation to meet Guerin at an old benchmark.

But this probably isn’t about money. It sounds like Guerin is open to paying the big ticket. What he wants is more term—something longer than a three-year bridge deal. If the Wild can get a max-term extension, they’d like to do so before the CBA tightens term limits in September. Again, Hughes isn’t loving that idea.

As such, there’s been talk of a potential trade, which the Wild want to avoid. As Pro Hockey Rumors has pointed out, there’s no trade or free-agent replacement for Hughes anywhere in the league, and Minnesota has already spent the assets that would make walking away from this negotiation catastrophic for the roster. Hughes could ask for a blank check on AAV and the Wild would still have no real alternative.

All of this suggests that while it’s a nice thought in Minny that Hughes owes them a bit of a favor and might make his decision in a way that pays them back a little, there are several reasons to also suggest this just isn’t realistic.

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