The Minnesota Wild are into the first week of their season, and the Quinn Hughes situation still isn’t moving. That’s the clearest takeaway from Pierre LeBrun’s latest “Rumblings” column at The Athletic: the Wild may be waiting a while before they get any real resolution on their star defenseman’s contract, if they get one at all.
LeBrun said there have been multiple conversations between the two sides, but the process is stalled until Hughes gives his agent, Pat Brisson, the green light to push forward. His read was blunt: Hughes is in no rush, and this could drag on for months while he keeps his options open. That’s not the timeline Bill Guerin wanted back in July, especially after Minnesota paid a heavy price for Hughes in the blockbuster deal with the Vancouver Canucks last December.
The contract details only sharpen the tension. Hughes is in the final year of a six-year, $47.1 million deal he signed with Vancouver, with a $7.85 million cap hit, according to PuckPedia.
If he doesn’t sign before this offseason, he can hit unrestricted free agency in the summer. Through three games, the soon-to-be 27-year-old has four points, including one goal.
Last season, after the trade to Minnesota, he put up 53 points in 48 games and added 15 points in 11 playoff games.
Minnesota’s broader picture isn’t exactly tidy, either. Brock Faber remains out after what was described as a “scary” head injury - a fractured skull that required surgery. Since the injury was announced, the Wild have been quiet about his status and when he might return.
LeBrun also had another note that will matter to Minnesota fans keeping tabs on the league’s trade noise: the Florida Panthers are out on Dylan Larkin. Larkin had been linked to Florida as one of the teams on his list of acceptable destinations, but that chatter took a hit once Aleksander Barkov’s knee injury turned out to be less severe than feared. After further tests, Barkov avoided surgery and is expected to miss just six to eight weeks, which LeBrun said removes any real chance of Larkin landing with the Panthers.
That closes one possible door, but Larkin’s situation in Detroit still looks unsettled. LeBrun said the trade list around him has expanded to “nine or 10 teams,” all contenders, and he believes Larkin will eventually stick to his request. If the Red Wings’ season goes sideways before the March 1 trade deadline, interim GM Shawn Horcoff may be forced to shift from asking for NHL-ready help to taking futures instead.
Larkin made his season debut Tuesday and heard boos at home, then answered with a goal and an assist in 20:41 of ice time during a 5-3 win over Ottawa. “It’s part of it. I’m trying to be a man and face it,” he said afterward.
That same night in Buffalo, Michael Russo noted at least 22 scouts were listed for the Wild-Sabres game, including the Wings’ Kris Draper. Detroit was among the teams represented, which only added to the sense that plenty of eyes are still on this situation.
And for those wondering whether Hughes might be waiting on Minnesota to land Larkin before he commits long term, that rumor is still hanging out there, too.
In Other News...
Wild's Dylan Larkin Pursuit May Hinge On A Bigger Quinn Hughes Call
The Wild have spent time trying to get a Dylan Larkin trade moving with Detroit, but for now, nothing appears close. Minnesotas interest comes at a moment when the Red Wings are juggling their own headaches, from a boycott issue to contract talks with Simon Edvinsson, and that only adds to the sense that any deal for Larkin would have to be threaded carefully rather than rushed.
For Minnesota, the bigger question may be how all of this fits into the Quinn Hughes picture. The Wild are weighing whether the cost of going after Larkin makes sense if they are also trying to keep their options open on a much larger swing, and that calculus is not simple. Hughes has had time to get an extension done and still has not, leaving the Wild to decide whether Larkin is worth the assets if the broader plan is still unsettled. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Still Facing The Hardest Part Of Brock Faber's Absence
Brock Fabers absence is still hanging over the Wild in the one way that matters most: there is no real timetable yet. The defenseman remains out indefinitely after surgery to repair a fractured skull, leaving Minnesota to keep reshuffling pairings and special teams duties while trying to hold the line without one of its most important minutes-eaters.
The organization has been careful not to push the recovery beyond medical guidance, and that leaves the next step as much about clearance as it is about hockey. For now, the Wild are spreading the responsibility across the blue line and among the forwards, but the harder part is knowing how long they have to keep doing it before Faber can even begin moving closer to a return. [Read more 🡒]
Wild Were On The Wrong End Of A Sabres Breakthrough
The early part of the new NHL season has already given Minnesota a small but useful measuring stick, and Buffalo supplied one of the sharper ones. The Sabres opened at 2-1-0 with wins over the Blackhawks and the Wild, and the bigger takeaway for anyone watching from Minnesota is that Buffalos blue line looked more composed than it has in recent seasons. Owen Power has been at the center of that change, handling major minutes while giving the Sabres a steadier presence on the back end.
For the Wild, it was the kind of game that leaves a few questions hanging around after the final horn. Their offense did not get the sort of lift it usually expects from Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy, and Buffalos improved structure helped turn the matchup into a tight one. The Sabres also showed enough on the power play and in their overall defensive details to suggest this was not just an early-season fluke, which makes Minnesotas side of the result worth revisiting as the schedule moves on. [Read more 🡒]