Wild owner confident Hughes will sign — The Fourth Period
When the Minnesota Wild acquired superstar Quinn Hughes from the Vancouver Canucks in the middle of the season, GM Bill Guerin was sure he would be able to get the defenceman locked up to a contract extension as early as July.
On Wednesday, Wild owner Craig Leipold told Minnesota Public Radio they will get Hughes signed, it’s just a matter of term.
Hughes, 26, is entering the final year of a six-year, $47.1 million contract and is eligible to sign an extensions starting July 1.
“First of all, Quinn Hughes is an extraordinary player and an extraordinary person,” Leipold said. “We had to give up a lot to get him in this past year. We are going to re-sign him. The question will be for how long. We would like to go as long as we could. He will probably want it to be a little shorter – shorter being maybe three years. We hopefully will end up at five, I don’t know, and the reason I can openly talk about this is that I’m not doing the negotiating.”
Hughes has expressed his interest in being in Minnesota beyond his contract and an extension is expected, according to sources close to the situation.
Guerin will be tasked with getting Hughes locked up to a new deal, and conversations with his agent Pat Brisson have already started.
It is unclear what type of dollars Hughes will command, though speculation suggests he will earn around, or above, $15 million per season on his next contract, no matter the term.
In 74 games with the Canucks and Wild this past season, Hughes registered seven goals and 69 assists for 76 points.
