Minnesota Wild and Quinn Hughes contract situation, Digi Mart USA News (Minnesota): The Minnesota Wild are on a 126-point pace through the first quarter of the season, and one of their best players is set to make his season debut on Saturday night after fracturing his skull in September. Brock Faber has not played a game yet, yet the Wild are tied for the best record in the West.
Given that, the question is whether the Wild should keep Quinn Hughes for a playoff run, whether or not he has indicated he is willing to sign a new contract. The team is yearning for a deep playoff run in Minnesota and has the roster to compete.
General manager Bill Guerin said on Tuesday at the GM Meetings that he would be willing to keep Hughes beyond the trade deadline without a commitment to stay longer. “As of today, yeah,” Guerin said.
“I don’t know. But if you ask me in two or three months, it might be a different answer.
We’ll have to see.”
Deleting Hughes from the roster by March would disrupt Minnesota’s chance to win and could make it extraordinarily difficult to receive equal value in a trade. Hughes does not officially have no-trade protection, but teams would be reluctant to give up a significant return for a player guaranteed for at most three months.
Guerin said he is not setting deadlines for Hughes to sign. “I’m just kind of living day by day,” he said.
“At some point, we’re going to need to have some kind of discussion. But everyone knows where everyone stands.
He knows how much we like him and how much we want to keep him. He’s just got to figure out what he wants to do.”
Hughes is the second-fastest defenceman to reach 80 points with a franchise in league history. He reached 80 points on Tuesday night in 68 games with the Wild since last December’s trade.
Only Paul Coffey was faster with the Pittsburgh Penguins, doing it in 53 games.
Guerin said the relationship has remained calm. “I think Quinn has managed it really well and I think the team has managed it really well,” he said.
“There’s no issues.”
In other news from around the league, Flyers front office executives travelled to Edmonton to watch Matvei Michkov skate more than 20 minutes for just the second time this season. Flyers general manager Danny Briere has addressed the locker room about an in-game dispute between Michkov and Nick Seeler, and the front office has made clear it wants Michkov playing more.
The New York Islanders are also getting healthier, with Mathew Barzal set to make his season debut soon. Coach Peter DeBoer will have to decide whether to deploy him at centre or wing.
