- Michael Russo says Quinn Hughes could push toward $20 million a year on his next deal
- Hughes still intends to extend in Minnesota, but the market has made it harder than the Wild planned
- Read below for the term question, the Jack Hughes wrinkle and where that number came from
The price on Quinn Hughes keeps climbing.
Michael Russo wrote at The Athletic that the Minnesota defenseman could get all the way to $20 million a season on his next contract. No player in the NHL has ever hit that mark.
Russo ran the math off Kirill Kaprizov, who signed for $17 million a year last offseason.
“If Hughes got the same percentage in Year 1 of his deal, that’d be a roughly $18.5 million average annual value. If he wanted a bigger slice of the cap as one of the two top defensemen in the NHL, we’re talking in the $19 million range. With Hughes and Cale Makar also about to set a new market for top blue liners, perhaps one even becomes the league’s first $20 million player.”
None of the delay is about interest. Russo said his league sources still have Hughes planning to sign in Minnesota.
“According to multiple league sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity to address negotiations that aren’t public, that’s his intention. But the market turning upside down has made this a lot harder than the Wild anticipated.”
Summer did the damage. Kaprizov got eight years and $136 million, Macklin Celebrini landed $18.8 million a season in San Jose, and Anaheim matched a five-year, $90 million offer sheet on Leo Carlsson.
On The Sheet with Jeff Marek, Russo was asked what term does to all of this, and he floated the idea that Hughes takes a short deal and chases the record himself.
“Maybe one of them, McDavid or Quinn, wants to be the first $20 million player. Three makes a lot of sense to align himself with Jack in four years.”
Take a look at Russo’s full breakdown:
A three-year deal would walk Hughes to free agency the same summer Jack Hughes gets there in New Jersey. Minnesota wants five to eight years, and the eight-year option disappears on Sept. 16 under the new CBA.
Hughes has one season left on the six-year, $47.1 million contract he signed in Vancouver, a $7.85 million cap hit that stopped resembling market value a long time ago. He can hit unrestricted free agency in July 2027.
He put up 76 points in 74 games last season between the Canucks and the Wild, including 53 in 48 after the trade. Then he led Minnesota with 15 points in 11 playoff games.
Plenty of what he does never reaches a box score. Check out the kind of shift Minnesota is about to pay for, with Hughes aiming a pass at a defender’s skates and skating out the other side of it:
Elliotte Friedman has held to a three-year deal at $18 million since the spring. Russo’s reporting pushes the ceiling higher than that.
Camp opens Sept. 18. Russo said Bill Guerin and the people above him still expect the extension signed before the Wild get on the ice.
