Quinn Hughes is the kind of name that forces a team to make a hard choice fast, and Elliotte Friedman made clear that Minnesota would have to wrestle with exactly that if the situation keeps trending this way.
On SiriusXM NHL Network Radio with Scott Laughlin and Gord Stellick, the conversation turned to whether the Wild could end up taking a Carolina-style approach if Hughes remains unsigned. Stellick pointed to the Mikko Rantanen situation and floated the idea that Minnesota might eventually decide to move Hughes rather than let him reach free agency with no return.
“So one, not to get overboard about Quinn Hughes, but Mikko Rantanen got three goals (Tuesday) night , and you look back at it. The Carolina Hurricanes, like if he played it out and they went for the Stanley Cup, it could have been a different animal.
And then he was UFA, and they got nothing. Well, they got something, and it helped them win the Cup a year later, last year.
Like at some point, does Minnesota look and say, you know what? He can say he’s going to test free agency. I don’t take that negatively, and we may have to look at doing something similar to what Carolina did with Rantanen.”
Friedman said that absolutely has to be part of the discussion. He framed it around one question: does Minnesota believe it can win the Stanley Cup?
“I think that has to be a consideration for them, 100%. It’s funny, I was thinking about this being the exact same thing, like you mentioned, Gord, the other day.
Like, does Minnesota pivot? To me, it comes down to: Does Minnesota think they can win the Stanley Cup?
And if you think you can win the Stanley Cup, I think you bite the bullet, and you go for it.
Mike Russo, who does a great job covering them (The Wild), he’s got a theory that if they trade for Dylan Larkin, then Quinn Hughes signs the next day, and it is kind of interesting that whole Devils thing on Larkin’s list in Dallas last night (Tuesday night), where I was when that news got out. That was raising a bunch of conspiracy theories that would have made that old Mel Gibson/Julia Roberts conspiracy theory movie, like that would have been in them, but it’s pretty fascinating stuff.
I think, though, that if Minnesota, I don’t know if there’s anything else Minnesota can throw into that Larkin trade to make it happen that they haven’t already. But you’ve got to think that if Minnesota wanted to, could do that, and could reach Detroit’s asking price, it would be done already.”
There’s also a key distinction between this situation and the one in Carolina with Rantanen. As noted in the discussion, Rantanen never wanted to sign with the Hurricanes and made that clear after the trade. Hughes, on the other hand, is open to signing, but is taking his time.
That’s what makes this such a real deadline conversation. If Minnesota gets to that point and Hughes still isn’t signed, the question becomes what kind of return the team could get for him.
The bigger point is simple: if Bill Guerin already knew Hughes didn’t want to sign an extension, he likely would have moved him by now. So for now, it remains one of the more intriguing situations to monitor as the season goes on.
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Larkins representatives would prefer to get something done sooner rather than later, but the Red Wings still have not accepted a deal. That leaves the Wild in a familiar spot for a contender trying to add a proven forward, close enough to the action to keep the conversation alive, but still waiting on Detroit to decide whether the right offer has finally arrived. [Read more 🡒]