Quinn Hughes and the Minnesota Wild are talking contract numbers again, and Thursday brought a new wrinkle into it.
Michael Russo said on The Sheet that a three-year term makes plenty of sense for Quinn right now.
The logic is simple. Line his next deal up with brother Jack's, and both hit unrestricted free agency in the same summer.
Quinn carries a $7,850,000 cap hit with the Wild this season, and that number is the floor for whatever gets negotiated next.
Minnesota sits at 46-24-12 with 104 points, seventh overall in the league. Not exactly a team looking to gamble on its best defenseman walking.
The blue liner has been the engine back there too. He's put up 76 points in 74 games, with 69 of those coming as assists.
And he's not slowing down. Fourteen points over his last 10 games, four goals and ten helpers, is the kind of stretch that gets extensions signed faster.
Why New Jersey and Minnesota both fit the Hughes brothers' timeline
Russo's read gets more interesting once you consider where both brothers could end up picking their spot.
New Jersey. Minnesota. Or somewhere else entirely, according to the report.
Would two Hughes brothers actually chase the same market on purpose? It's not as far-fetched as it sounds once you frame it as leverage instead of sentiment.
Think of it like two players walking into a negotiation holding hands. Neither side wants to be the one that blinks first.
For the Wild, timing matters more than term length here. General manager Bill Guerin has built this roster around Quinn running the power play and the top pairing.
Add in 34 power-play points from Quinn alone, and it's obvious why Minnesota wants this pairing kept together.
A three-year bridge is a smart play for Minnesota. It buys speed and leverage instead of locking into a decade-long number on a defenseman who just turned 26.
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Nothing here is signed. Nothing here is official. But the fact that Russo is already talking timelines tells you exactly what the Wild are trying to protect.
Should the Wild give Quinn Hughes a shorter deal just to line up his free agency with brother Jack?
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