The playoffs start next Saturday for the Minnesota Wild but that doesn’t mean there’s been no discussion about a contract extension for Quinn Hughes. Owner Craig Leipold and GM Bill Guerin have talked about making it happen.
The skilled defenseman, acquired during the season by the Wild from the Canucks, has helped elevate the club to a place among the elite teams in the NHL. “Quinn Hughes is a massive difference maker,” Leipold told Sports Headliners.
Hughes, who set a team record this season for most points by a defenseman (76), is in the fifth season of a six-year $47,100,000 deal. The 26-year-old, a past Norris Award winner recognizing the best defenseman in the NHL, is likely to excel for many more seasons and if he becomes a free agent after next season, he will be among the most coveted players in recent league history.
Hughes is also a workhorse, averaging a league best of over 27 minutes per game on the ice. He was tops in that category for the gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic team last winter.
Leipold sees Hughes’ long-term future in a Wild sweater. “He’s going to be our no. 1 goal…to get him signed and we will.”
The next contract, of course, will include a large increase in compensation and perhaps more than six years in length. But the potential terms don’t seem to discourage the Wild’s owner who is willing to be patient in negotiations. “We’ll take it as long as he wants,” said Leipold who has owned Minnesota’s NHL team since 2008.
Leipold spoke about how Hughes enjoys playing for his new team and is a fan of his in-season home, Minnesota. Regarding prospects for a future signing of the Michigan native, Leipold said he “can’t imagine why he wouldn’t” do a new deal.
In the phone interview with Sports Headliners last Friday, Leipold praised the talent on the team including Kirill Kaprizov, Matt Boldy, Brock Faber and his goalie tandem (Filip Gustavsson and Jesper Wallstedt). “Yes, this is our best team (in franchise history),” Leipold said.
That franchise history dates back to the 2000-2001 season, but Leipold said no team has been as deep in talent as this one. He sees four quality lines where “everybody can score.” The defense is the best ever and the goalies form a quality rotation.
Ironically, though, the Wild plays in the Central Division against the NHL’s No. 1 ranked team, the Avalanche, and also the Stars, considered no worse than the third best. The Wild opens the playoffs against the Stars in Dallas on Saturday.
“We’re playing the two best teams in the National Hockey league. It’s going to be a tough one,” Leipold said about the prospect of getting by the Stars but then having to play the Avalanche.
The Wild and Stars split their season series with two wins each. The last Thursday night 5-4 loss in Dallas was frustrating.
“We know we can play with them,” Leipold said. “We should have won that game. You’re ahead by two (goals twice in the game). That’s happened too many times this year. In fact, this has happened at two (goal leads) throughout the league. A two-goal lead is no longer that safe.
“We have to play with more intensity. I think we have to be more defensively minded. And I think every game…is going to be a tossup against them. So, we’re going to have to get the edge.”
Leipold calls it “very unfortunate” that the Wild play in perhaps the NHL’s best division but said the positive is the competition “prepares you” for the playoffs.
The Wild hasn’t advanced beyond the first round of the playoffs since 2015 and that’s a factor in odds makers predicting the Stars will win the series.