It’s August 4, 2026, and Quinn Hughes has yet to sign a contract extension with the Minnesota Wild.

In most situations that wouldn’t be much of a worry with almost 11 months left to get a deal done, however, everyone in the hockey world knows Hughes’ situation is different. The superstar defenseman has made it clear he wants to play with his brothers, Jack and Luke, one day, and it feels more like a matter of when rather than if it will happen.

Many around the league expected Hughes to sign a shorter-term, three-year contract to stay with the Wild before then having the opportunity to join his brothers while still in his prime a few years down the road. That all made perfect sense, but the fact that an extension doesn’t appear all that close has started to raise the question of whether Hughes heading to the New Jersey Devils could come sooner than we thought.

Jeff Marek and Keith Kavanaugh dove into it on The Sheet on Tuesday:

“The sentiment I would say a month ago was not if he’s gonna sign this but when he’s gonna sign this extension with Minnesota and now it almost feels like it’s shifted a little bit. You still put Minnesota in the driver’s seat, but the longer this drags on, if we get to training camp and there’s no deal in place, the conversation is only gonna get louder and louder and louder. And the Devils I think are kind of keeping that cap space open a little bit to be able to make that move. They could only do 7.85 million AAV against the cap this year, so obviously the big number will come in the extension that starts next season, but they have the space to fit him in this year with a couple moves, so I think that’s on the back of their mind,”

The 26-year-old Hughes is poised to enter the sixth and final year of the six-year, $47.1 million contract extension he originally signed with the Canucks back in 2021. He racked up 76 points (seven goals, 69 assists) in 74 games split between Vancouver and Minnesota last season.

Heading into the season with this contract situation unresolved would absolutely be a headache for everyone involved, and it’s fair to wonder whether the Wild would even let it get that far, no matter the end result.

The more likely outcome, as Marek and Kavanaugh mentioned, is Hughes signing a short-term extension in Minnesota. That being said, with every passing day the odds get slightly lower, and that silence could speak volumes when all is said and done.

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