Last summer at the start of free agency, Wild owner Craig Leipold floated the idea that, for the team’s fans, it could be Christmas in July.
On Friday night, general manager Bill Guerin reminded fans that Christmas comes in December.
With the Wild battling Colorado and Dallas for supremacy in the Central Division, Guerin pulled off perhaps the biggest in-season move in the franchise’s 25-year history, bringing superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes to Minnesota for at least this season and next.
Guerin sent young defenseman Zeev Buium, center Marco Rossi, forward Liam Ohgren — all of them former first-rounders — and a first-round selection in the 2026 NHL draft to the Vancouver Canucks for Hughes, who is widely considered one of the top two or three blueliners in the NHL.
Hughes, 26, is a two-time All-Star and won the Norris Trophy — given to the NHL’s best defenseman — following the 2023-24 season.
Mel Pearson, who recruited Hughes to Michigan and coached him for two seasons there, including a trip to the Frozen Four in St. Paul in 2018, said the Wild won the trade.
“He’s just a great, great pickup for Minnesota,” Pearson said. “I know they gave up quite a bit to get him but there are only so many Norris Trophy-type defensemen in the NHL.”
Hughes has scored 16 and 17 goals the past two seasons, but he’s been limited to two goals, 21 assists in 26 games this season. During his Norris-winning campaign, he had 17 goals and 75 assists for 92 points.
Guerin, the general manager for Team USA at the upcoming Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, had made it clear that Hughes would be on the team in February in Italy. Hughes is working on a six-year contract that pays him $7.8 million per season through the end of the 2026-27 campaign.
Quinn’s brothers, Jack and Luke, both play for the New Jersey Devils currently. The Wild could offer Quinn an extension starting on July 1, 2026.
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