While the NFL and NBA have a slate of games on Christmas Day, the NHL takes a different approach. From close of business on Dec. 23 to the morning of Dec. 27, the hockey rink is closed. That means no games, no practices; nothing officially organized or sanctioned by the team is allowed.
A year ago at this time, when then-Dallas coach Peter DeBoer talked openly about the optional team skate that the Stars had held on Dec. 26, the NHL promptly fined the franchise $80,000 for their blatant violation of the holiday hiatus.
This season, the mandated work-stoppage means that for their Saturday evening game in Winnipeg, the Wild will be hopping on a plane early Saturday morning to fly to Manitoba and playing later that same day.
Those challenges notwithstanding, most players enjoy the small break for their physical and mental wellbeing, and to spend some time with their families — either in Minnesota or via a quick trip to their hometowns, weather permitting.
After just six games since the blockbuster trade that brought him to Minnesota, Wild defenseman Quinn Hughes said in a small way, he wishes the break came at a different time, as he is still getting accustomed to life and hockey in Minnesota. But he admitted that the reception he has gotten from the fans and from the team has been memorable.
“Extremely special. I mean, it’s just been a whirlwind and it’s been really, really cool for me the last week here,” Hughes said. “I feel like I’m starting to get in a groove here, but it’ll be nice to enjoy some days off, too.”
A few days before Christmas, the league debuted a new commercial featuring four of the league’s young rising stars, including Hughes, showing how in this world of artificial intelligence, nothing can match the on-ice product that is available currently. The 30-second spot shows Hughes, Dallas goalie Jake Oettinger, Colorado defenseman Cale Makar and Boston forward Charlie McAvoy in a classroom setting, asking questions and scoffing at the notion that AI can compare to NHL hockey.
Hughes’ part of the commercial was filmed last summer, when he was still with Vancouver. But the NHL video folks did a quick edit to include video of Hughes scoring his first goal in a Wild uniform.
Hughes has a goal and three assists in his brief Wild tenure, and the team has gone 4-1-1 in that stretch. He is the defensive anchor on the top power play unit and has fit in right from the start. Replica jerseys with his number 43 on the back were a hot seller in the run-up to Christmas, as were shirts declaring “Quinnesota” as the state’s new nickname.
His only regulation loss with the Wild was Colorado’s 5-1 spanking last weekend, in which the scary-good Avalanche power play torched Minnesota for a pair of goals. Watching what that foe can do, Hughes saw a vision of what he believes the Wild can be.
“You watch Makar and (Nathan) MacKinnon and those guys, how they snapped it around on their power play. We’re obviously not there right now,” he said. “They’ve been together seven years and they know how each other likes the puck and whatnot. It won’t take us seven years, I don’t think, but I think that it’ll take us a couple games to continue to understand each other.”
Ever the perfectionist, Hughes said the Wild organization has been first class in helping him feel at home right away, and promises that fans have not yet seen the best that he can bring on ice.
“It’s been good,” he said. “I think we’re just getting going though.”
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