Bill Guerin and Quinn Hughes are both staring at the same gamble, and neither side seems eager to blink.
The Minnesota Wild have raced out to a 10-3-3 start heading into Friday’s game against the San Jose Sharks, but the bigger storyline has hovered around Hughes and what happens next. Contract extension talks have gone quiet, save for Hughes’ cryptic line that “something could happen soon.” Since then, Wild fans have been left waiting, and the rest of the NHL has been watching just as closely.
Guerin is in a tricky spot. If Hughes is part of Minnesota’s long-term plan, the Wild can keep building.
If not, the general manager has to decide whether to trade him before the deadline and try to recover value. Either way, the pressure is real - but the situation may not be as dangerous as it looks.
Hughes appears to be betting against the noise. The Wild reportedly handed him a blank check, giving him control over both the money and the length of a deal that would keep him in Minnesota beyond this season. With a contract that could top $20 million, plenty of people view playing out the year as a risk, especially with injury always lurking.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman thinks Hughes may be using that skepticism as fuel.
“When I watch him, and he says ‘My feet are right here, right now,’ like some of it to me is like, he wants to prove that everybody says ‘I can’t do this,’ [and] he wants to prove he can do it,” Friedman said during an appearance on Spittin’ Chiclets. “He can play with this hanging over him.
He doesn’t care. A lot of guys can’t do that.
I think he’s the kind of guy that’s motivated to show, ‘You guys don’t think I can play with this hanging over my head? Oh yeah?
I can.”
So far, that approach is working. Hughes has five goals in 17 games, matching the total he had in 48 games after arriving from the Vancouver Canucks last season. He’s also piled up 22 points in that span and carries a plus-9 rating, giving Minnesota a defenseman who is driving offense at a high level while still holding up on the back end.
That production helps the Wild right now, but it also sharpens the stakes if Hughes never signs. Guerin would be the one left sorting through the consequences after giving up Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, Zeev Buium and a 2026 first-round pick to land him.
There’s a familiar shadow hanging over all of this: Marian Gaborik. In 2008-09, with Gaborik in the final year of his deal and unwilling to sign, former Wild general manager Doug Risebrough let him play out the season before he left for the New York Rangers the next summer.
Minnesota then missed the playoffs in each of the next three seasons before eventually spending big on Zach Parise and Ryan Suter on Independence Day in 2012. Risebrough was fired at the end of that 2008-09 season and didn’t stick around for the fallout.
That history is a big reason many believe Guerin can’t let Hughes walk for nothing. Still, Guerin has made clear that the Wild are better with Hughes than without him.
“I haven’t really decided; at some point in time, I’ll have to try to figure things out and see what’s best for the team. I know one thing’s for sure: having Quinn on our team is what’s best for the team,” Guerin said during an interview with WCCO’s Chad Hartman last week.
“... What we’re doing right now is focusing on our team and trying to win hockey games.
That’s really it. I think some people want to make this more complicated than it really is - being the media.
And it’s not that complicated.”
Guerin does have some cover. The Wild still have Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy and Brock Faber, and while they’re better with Hughes, they can keep the window open without him. Guerin also has the security of his own extension, which gives him room to handle the situation his way.
That flexibility has led to the idea that Minnesota could go all-in if the season keeps rolling. Friedman floated that possibility too, saying he would push his chips in if he were in the Wild’s position.
“I was thinking about it and what I would do is, if I was in Minnesota’s shoes, I would go for it,” Friedman said in an appearance on NHL Network. “The thing about Hughes is that…when he got traded from Vancouver last year, he said there were no guarantees of an extension.
“…Like when [the Carolina Hurricanes] traded [ Mikko Rantanen ] last year, he gave them four teams he would consider re-signing with, and that made it easier for Carolina to make a deal and eventually send him to [the Dallas Stars]. I don’t think Hughes is going to do that.
“So if you’re only going to be able to trade Hughes for futures, I think the Wild are pretty good. They won their first playoff round in 12 years with them last year.
They’ve got a good team. I would just go for it, and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if that’s what gambling Billy Guerin decides to do.”
If that means swinging a deal with the Detroit Red Wings for Dylan Larkin, that could be the kind of move that nudges Hughes toward a long-term commitment. A smaller addition, like a trade with the Nashville Predators for Ryan O’Reilly, could also deepen the roster and strengthen Minnesota’s Cup case.
And if Hughes helps the Wild win a championship before moving on, the rest may not matter much. Guerin would take the title, Hughes would move on, and the return package would fade into the background.
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For now, Minnesota is still waiting on the next step. Faber will not play in the upcoming games against San Jose and Tampa, but he is traveling with the team on the next road trip, which at least puts him back in the day-to-day mix around the club. The bigger question is how quickly he can turn this progress into a return to the lineup, and how the Wild manage his ramp-up without rushing one of their most important young defensemen. [Read more 🡒]