The Minnesota Wild are reaping the rewards for making the bold midseason trade to acquire Quinn Hughes, and that was on full display on Thursday night.
Hughes was the ultimate difference-maker in Minnesota’s 5–2 Game 6 closeout win to eliminate the Dallas Stars, sending them to the second round for the first time since 2014–15. His three-point night (two goals, one assist) included the game-winning goal with just 9:22 left in the third period, leading the way for the Wild victory.
It was a pivotal first-round series for Minnesota, not just to get over the hump, but to further convince Hughes that he should extend beyond his current contract. While chatter about the superstar defenseman joining his brothers in New Jersey will always be there, Sportsnet insider Elliotte Friedman is predicting that he’ll wind up signing a shorter-term, three-year extension to stay with the Wild.
“I have two predictions about the Wild and their players—do you want to hear them? Prediction number one: Quinn Hughes signs a three-year extension. It’s just my prediction, three years. He goes three years,”
The 26-year-old Hughes will be entering the sixth and final year of the six-year, $47.1 million extension he signed with the Canucks back in 2021 next season, which makes him eligible for a new extension on July 1, 2026. He’s tallied eight points (two goals, six assists) through the first six games of the postseason.
A potential three-year extension in Minnesota would make Hughes eligible for unrestricted free agency following the 2029–30 campaign, at which point he would be 30 years old and still have several prime, or close to prime, years of hockey left in him.
That would allow him to see what he’s capable of achieving with this Wild core of Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, and Brock Faber, and then, depending on how it goes, the potential remains that he could team up with Jack and Luke on the Devils down the road.
Nothing is for certain, but Friedman’s prediction absolutely makes sense on the surface.
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