By Tony Abbott -
Credit to Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin: He did it.
When the Wild were finally on the cusp of losing the titanic twin dead cap hits from the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts, an overjoyed Craig Leipold told the media, "Next July 1 is going to be like Christmas."
That was in October 2024, and when July 1 (and then July 31, and the 2025-26 season home opener, etc.) came around, it was looking as if Christmas wasn't coming. 31 Grinchy General Managers denied the Wilds down in Wildville an impact player, and with the trade market ground to a halt since the summer, it was looking like that'd remain the status quo.
But here's the thing: No one can know when a superstar is going to become available. All Guerin could do was keep his powder dry, which he did. He didn't tie up cap room with an expensive, but underwhelming UFA signing. He didn't cash in his chips for a good-but-not-difference-making player like Jordan Kyrou. He waited for an opportunity and shot his shot when the time was right.
Trading a player like Quinn Hughes doesn't happen, and a big part of that is that there's not many players like him to begin with. It's not sufficient to call him a "No. 1 Defenseman," a "star," or even a "superstar." Hughes is a franchise-changing presence. He's one of 12 defensemen ever -- EVER!!! -- to score 90 points in a season. Better yet, he's in his age-26 season, his absolute prime.
The rare players who are like him -- Cale Makar and Erik Karlsson being the only ones from this century that feel like Hughes' true peers -- elevated their teams in ways almost no defenseman can. Makar has a Stanley Cup and two Norris Trophies under his belt at age-27, while prime Karlsson (who won the Norris three times) dragged an uninspiring Ottawa Senators team to within one game of the Stanley Cup Final in 2017.
The price going the Vancouver Canucks' way -- Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Öhgren, and a 2026 first-round pick -- might make some squeamish. This is a topic to be discussed another day in full, but it must be stressed that Hughes is a caliber of player worth the cost for two crucial reasons.
One, Hughes fills the Wild's biggest need: A game-changing defenseman. Not merely a very good defenseman, as Minnesota has employed plenty of those, from Jared Spurgeon to Jonas Brodin to Ryan Suter to Matt Dumba and more. Maybe Buium could have been Hughes in time; we'll find out how well he fills those skates in Vancouver. But make no mistake: Hughes is the 99th percentile outcome for Buium. Buium could become extremely good, a legitimate No. 1 defenseman, and still not be close to Hughes' level.
The gulf between Hughes and any defenseman not named "Makar" is enormous. Hughes has 267 points since the start of the 2022-23 season, more than anyone but Makar (285), and crucially, 34 more than third-place Josh Morrissey. In terms of Hughes' impact on his team, Evolving-Hockey measures his impact during that time as being worth 20.7 Standings Points Above Replacement, tops among all defensemen. Second place is Adam Fox (18.0), and Makar is in third (17.5). Put another way: For every 82 games, Hughes' play is worth a point in the standings more than the next-best defenseman.
That's a massive need for Minnesota, but it wasn't the team's biggest need. No, that was one that felt almost silly to mention, as it felt unrealistic as recently as Friday morning. The Wild needed another top-10 player to pair with Kirill Kaprizov, and they got one.
Not only that, it's a legitimate debate as to whether Kaprizov is the best player on the Wild. In fact, the temperature of the NHL before the season was that Hughes was slightly above Kaprizov. In The Athletic's Player Tiers, which was built with input from sources from around the NHL, both were MVP-caliber players, with Hughes landing in Tier 1B (eighth overall) and Kaprizov in Tier 1C (tenth).
The Wild are now one of three teams with two MVP-caliber players in their lineup, with the Colorado Avalanche (Makar, Nathan MacKinnon) and Edmonton Oilers (Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl) being the other two. Those teams made up three of the last four Western Conference Finals winners. And now, the Wild get to be in their league, at least at the very top of their lineup.
What happens next will be fascinating. How much can Hughes push the pace for the Wild, both at 5-on-5 and on the power play? How insane will a top pairing of Hughes and Brock Faber be, perhaps? Does Danila Yurov have what it takes to backfill the loss of Rossi? Or heck, with Kaprizov and Hughes together, does the center position even matter all that much?
We'll start finding out those questions as soon as Saturday, but in the meantime, enjoy the moment, Wild fans. It's Christmas morning, and now the Wild have a Quinn Hughes. Ho ho ho.
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