Quinn Hughes and the Minnesota Wild are working through extension talks, and insiders say the process looks nothing like Kirill Kaprizov's.
Insider Joe Smith relayed the update this week on The Athletic, and the tone was noticeably calm.
Smith says both sides are still working toward the same goal, and nobody around the situation expects a repeat of the drawn-out Kaprizov talks.
That comparison matters. The Kaprizov negotiation dragged on before it finally got done, and it hung over the room for a while.
Hughes gives the Wild every reason to get this one finished quickly instead.
He posted 7 goals and 69 assists for 76 points over 74 games this past season from the back end.
Minnesota finished 46-24-12 for 104 points and seventh overall this year under head coach John Hynes.
His playoff numbers make him hard to lowball
Hughes is playing this season on a $7.85 million cap hit, a number that already looks light next to that production.
Hughes was even better once the playoffs started, piling up 15 points over 11 games with a plus-10 rating.
Minnesota beat Dallas in six games before Colorado eliminated them in five during the second round.
Joe Smith's full report through The Athletic first laid out where the two sides currently stand.
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Kaprizov carries a $9 million cap hit on that same roster, giving general manager Bill Guerin a real sense of the going rate at the top of this market.
Both extensions matter for the same reason. Guerin has to keep his two best players locked in without blowing up the cap sheet around them.
A calm negotiation is a good sign for Minnesota fans who watched the Kaprizov saga play out in public for months.
Whether that calm holds until a number actually gets signed is still the only thing left to find out.
Should the Wild pay Quinn Hughes more than Kirill Kaprizov's cap hit?
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