Article: Quinn Hughes Is 'Open Minded' To Sign Long-Term With Wild

[Thomas Williams]

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[0 Stanley Cups]

Hopefully the Wild can extend Quinn long term or at least for three more years, that would bring him to UFA same time as Jack, and Quinn would be only be 30 years old and still able to sign another big ticket.  NJD has a great top four forwards with Jack, Hischier, Bratt and Meier, but their goaltending is a dumpster fire with two 35 year old goalies with Markstrom and Allen and you're not winning a cup with subpar goaltending and your going up against Vasi or Bob.

[0 Stanley Cups]

Loved his comment about Billy sacking up to get him!

[mnfaninnc]

Well, this is good news. What I noticed from Hughes' play last night was that he has got great edges, edges that will need a special kind of sharpness. Blowing tires is not what he needs.

He is 5'10" listed as 174. However, it looks like he has learned about leverage and it seems he has quite a little strength. That low center has him really turning hard and losing guys in his turns. Once the equipment guys figure out his sharpening, I think we will be very happy with this trade. 

The PP he QB'd looked very disorganized. This will probably be the biggest adjustment period he'll have. 

[Scalptrash]

What is he supposed to say?! "FU, I hate this place and I'll be counting the days."

The best option is for Billy to bring one or both of his brothers here.

[Pewterschmidt]

2 minutes ago, Scalptrash said:

What is he supposed to say?! "FU, I hate this place and I'll be counting the days."

The best option is for Billy to bring one or both of his brothers here.

Or he signs for two more years with Wild lining up his contract with brothers.   We’d get 3-4 runs with Q+97

[B1GKappa97]

29 minutes ago, Scalptrash said:

What is he supposed to say?! "FU, I hate this place and I'll be counting the days."

The best option is for Billy to bring one or both of his brothers here.

He could say he doesn't want to talk about it and will deal with it in the offseason. Instead he praised the GM and made it sound like he understands how much they sent out to get him, which would suggest he's not gonna just bolt on us the first chance he gets.

[MNCountryLife]

Devils are all in on the Hughes brothers.  Both are signed through 2029-30 season and at $8M and $9M AAV.  Might be hard for the Devils to take on Quinn as well.  If I'm the Devils I wouldn't want to have 3 brothers on the team either.  It can create a non-team environment or a click within the locker room.  

[Aimlessone]

1 hour ago, MNCountryLife said:

Devils are all in on the Hughes brothers.  Both are signed through 2029-30 season and at $8M and $9M AAV.  Might be hard for the Devils to take on Quinn as well.  If I'm the Devils I wouldn't want to have 3 brothers on the team either.  It can create a non-team environment or a click within the locker room.  

Sure. But they are professionals and I do not think that would be a deterrent to signing Quinn. The 1.5 years on the contract is the point of worry for me on this trade. 

In my opinion, the only way we get him long term is if we get a cup or at least make a splash in the conference finals before his contract is up. 

I hope I am wrong. As we sold away our youth for a win now roster. 

[MNCountryLife]

1 minute ago, Aimlessone said:

The 1.5 years on the contract is the point of worry for me on this trade. 

Yep.  that is my worry as well.  I've expressed it a lot on the initial article for the trade.  The Wild need to make a very good impression here.  Hopefully that long talk they had on the plane pans out correctly.  BG seems to have a good feel what players want and will do.. cross your fingers.

[FredJohnson]

[B1GKappa97]

16 hours ago, Aimlessone said:

Sure. But they are professionals and I do not think that would be a deterrent to signing Quinn. The 1.5 years on the contract is the point of worry for me on this trade. 

In my opinion, the only way we get him long term is if we get a cup or at least make a splash in the conference finals before his contract is up. 

I hope I am wrong. As we sold away our youth for a win now roster. 

I think the plan was always to win now. That's why Rossi was in trade chatter all year long. And it makes sense, because Kaprizov is (or was?) our best player and he's already 28. It was a 5-year plan, remember? And now we're in year 3. 

Just enjoy this season. You got an accelerated timeline and there's going to be more moves the GM makes to further boost this team's chances. Its gonna be some epic playoff hockey in MN now.

As far as Hughes' contract, I wouldn't be too anxious about it. At worst, they can flip him for a good haul next season if he really doesn't sign here. There were 6 teams interested, and he has no trade protection, so Billy ought to be able to get a bidding war going if he has to. 

Most likely, though, is I think he stays. This is about to be one of the most complete teams he's been on with a real shot at a Cup, and not every team is gonna have a Kaprizov for him to get sick dishes to and from. He's only 26, so he's got plenty of time for a reunion with his brothers at some point in his career. And even then, who's to say they can't come here instead?

The core of this team (Boldy, Fabes, Kaprizov, Ek, Wallstedt, Gus) are all young enough that he should get multiple cracks at a Cup, unlike in Vancouver where they made it only twice in his 6 full seasons. 

[MacGyver]

Could be we win the Cup this year and Quinn says my work here is done now it's time to go win one with my bros. As I said previously the opportunity to win a Cup with your brothers all on the same team is an opportunity too hard to pass up. I think it would be a shame if they didn't give themselves the chance to take a shot at it. 

[FredJohnson]

The anti-hope crowd cannot abide by this message.

[Aimlessone]

8 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

I think the plan was always to win now. That's why Rossi was in trade chatter all year long. And it makes sense, because Kaprizov is (or was?) our best player and he's already 28. It was a 5-year plan, remember? And now we're in year 3. 

Just enjoy this season. You got an accelerated timeline and there's going to be more moves the GM makes to further boost this team's chances. Its gonna be some epic playoff hockey in MN now.

As far as Hughes' contract, I wouldn't be too anxious about it. At worst, they can flip him for a good haul next season if he really doesn't sign here. There were 6 teams interested, and he has no trade protection, so Billy ought to be able to get a bidding war going if he has to. 

Most likely, though, is I think he stays. This is about to be one of the most complete teams he's been on with a real shot at a Cup, and not every team is gonna have a Kaprizov for him to get sick dishes to and from. He's only 26, so he's got plenty of time for a reunion with his brothers at some point in his career. And even then, who's to say they can't come here instead?

The core of this team (Boldy, Fabes, Kaprizov, Ek, Wallstedt, Gus) are all young enough that he should get multiple cracks at a Cup, unlike in Vancouver where they made it only twice in his 6 full seasons. 

I get what you are saying here, but I just don't buy into the fact that the addition of Hughes automatically puts us as a cup contender. We are in the toughest division by a long shot. With the playoff rules, we are likely to face Dallas, a team which we can't seem to get the upper hand against. 

Does a single person really make enough of a difference to tip the scales? I don't think so, especially with how glass-cannon this team has been the last few years. I'm not trying to be all negative here as I am truly excited about having Hughes on the team. 

I am a realist, however, and despite how good the Wild have been in past years, this team struggles in the playoffs. I hope I am proven wrong and you can rub it in my face. 

[raithis]

8 hours ago, B1GKappa97 said:

At worst, they can flip him for a good haul next season if he really doesn't sign here. There were 6 teams interested, and he has no trade protection, so Billy ought to be able to get a bidding war going if he has to. 

6 teams were in when he had this much time left on his contract, but none of them were willing to offer what the Wild did.  They would offer less yet for a shorter rental.

I think it would be less of a bidding war by that point, and if the Wild are trading because he wants to be somewhere specific, every other team in the league will know it too.

I do agree that the Wild have a decent shot at re-signing Hughes, though I am certain it depends on how things go.  I think he will like the locker room camaraderie that the Wild seem to have.  Family seems important to him and Spurgeon seems to treat everyone more like family than teammates.  He also obviously wants to win.  I don't think it takes a Cup or even a Conference Finals to have that happen, but if the team misses the playoffs, can't get past the first round, or doesn't seem competitive at all in any round before being knocked out, then I think chances are lower.

[MNCountryLife]

23 minutes ago, Aimlessone said:

Does a single person really make enough of a difference to tip the scales?

No. a single person will never tip the scales completely.  Just look at Vancouver.  They were in last places with Hughes on the team.  But the teams are not the same.  Just think about what happened to the Wild when Zuc returned from injury the first time.  It affected the entire lineup.  Guys that were struggling on the 1st line dropped down and played well on the 3rd line.  That happens here as well.  Faber and Hughes can take top minutes and it makes things easier on everyone else.  I think Hughes makes it easier on forwards as well. 

I still think we are short a 200 foot forward to compete for the cup.  But Dallas is not going to like having us in the first round any more than we like having them.  I like that.

[B1GKappa97]

18 hours ago, raithis said:

6 teams were in when he had this much time left on his contract, but none of them were willing to offer what the Wild did.  They would offer less yet for a shorter rental.

I think it would be less of a bidding war by that point, and if the Wild are trading because he wants to be somewhere specific, every other team in the league will know it too.

I do agree that the Wild have a decent shot at re-signing Hughes, though I am certain it depends on how things go.  I think he will like the locker room camaraderie that the Wild seem to have.  Family seems important to him and Spurgeon seems to treat everyone more like family than teammates.  He also obviously wants to win.  I don't think it takes a Cup or even a Conference Finals to have that happen, but if the team misses the playoffs, can't get past the first round, or doesn't seem competitive at all in any round before being knocked out, then I think chances are lower.

They could always retain salary too, which would increase the number of potential bidders. Who wouldn't want to add a Quinn Hughes at $3.9M even if he's just a rental for the playoffs? That could be a move that puts somebody over the top, and then Billy would get to pick from the best offers available to him.

I think if Billy continues to make moves this year and gets another stud with some term (Tage Thompson?!) then it becomes even easier for Quinn to want to stick around because he'll be able to expect to win. I mean this is a guy who has only been to the playoffs twice in his career so far, why wouldn't he want to stick around with a team that's always at least making the dance for the short-term? 

The Devils have his brothers, and that's cool, but do they have as much high-end talent as the Wild do for the short term? I don't think so. 

[B1GKappa97]

18 hours ago, Aimlessone said:

I get what you are saying here, but I just don't buy into the fact that the addition of Hughes automatically puts us as a cup contender. We are in the toughest division by a long shot. With the playoff rules, we are likely to face Dallas, a team which we can't seem to get the upper hand against. 

Does a single person really make enough of a difference to tip the scales? 

I assume that Guerin will make more moves to improve the team. This isn't going to be the only thing he does to improve us. I expect that once he empties out the cupboard, we'll be bonafide contenders, yes. 

And I do think that a Quinn Hughes can absoltuely make a difference to tip the scales. He is a force multiplier for all our top-end talent. 

One of the biggest issues holding us back in our 1st round losses the last handful of years has been our ST, or rather lack of them. We weren't able to keep up with the Stars' or VGK's power plays and with Hughes, that'll no longer be the case. It'll help Kaprizov and Boldy's talent shine through more and we've already seen, without Hughes, that they can be one of the best tandems in the league. 

I think Hughes absolutely gives us a punchers' chance of winning a Cup but I do hope the GM makes more moves to solidfy the roster.