- Quinn Hughes let Tuesday’s deadline pass without signing, dropping the Wild’s maximum offer from eight years to seven
- Minnesota was willing to go above the $20.4 million AAV Cale Makar just signed for in Colorado
- Read below for what Bill Guerin said about the talks and how the new CBA limits Hughes’ next deal
Quinn Hughes had an eight-year offer on the table worth more per season than Cale Makar’s. He let it expire.
Hockey’s new collective bargaining agreement took effect at 11 p.m. CT Tuesday, cutting the maximum term on an extension with your own team from eight years to seven. Hughes did not sign before the clock ran out. Minnesota had told him it would go the full eight at an average annual value above the $20.4 million Makar got from Colorado, per Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic.
Bill Guerin was asked Tuesday where the negotiation stands with his defenseman. The Wild general manager did not sound like a man staring at a deadline.
“I’ve been very comfortable with where we’re at with Quinn for a long time because of the conversations we’ve had, because of the conversations (agent Pat Brisson) and I have had. Like I told you guys last year, these things take time. Each and every player is a different process, no matter who it is. There’s open lines of communication between me and Quinn, me and Pat. Everything is fine.”
Watch Guerin’s full media session from Tuesday:
Guerin went through holdouts and arbitration as a player himself, so he gets why a 26-year-old takes his time.
“It’s kind of funny, I was never offered an extension while I had time left on my contract. That would have been nice. But the game has changed. When you’re a player, you’re thinking about your personal situation when these things come up, and Quinn is no different. You have to respect that.”
None of this is a surprise. Hughes said last week he was in no rush, and he made the same point sitting down with Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas on 32 Thoughts:
The 2024 Norris winner is entering the last year of the six-year, $47.1 million deal he signed in Vancouver back in 2021. Minnesota traded for him on Dec. 12, 2025, and he put up 53 points in 48 games the rest of the way.
Letting Tuesday go by costs him term, and it changes the shape of whatever comes next. Under the new CBA, the gap between salaries in back-to-back years cannot exceed 20 percent, no season can pay less than 71 percent of the highest-salaried year, and signing bonuses top out at 60 percent of total value.
To see how much that matters, look at Kirill Kaprizov. He got $128 million of his $136 million in signing bonuses a year ago. Nobody is doing that again.
Everyone has a take on where Hughes ends up. He keeps saying he is going to do what works for him, and Tuesday was him proving it.
Seven years is still the ceiling in Minnesota. Wait until July 1, 2027 and any other team maxes out at six. Guerin and Hughes met briefly early this week and plan to talk again, with camp opening Thursday at TRIA Rink.
