Quinn Hughes isn't rushing anything with the Minnesota Wild, and he made that clear this week.
"This is going to be done whenever I feel like it needs to be done," Hughes told Dan Rosen. "I don't feel backed up against a wall."
That's a defenseman in complete control of his own timeline. Not many players in his position get to talk that way.
Hughes posted 76 points in 74 games this season, adding 32 power play assists on a Wild team that finished 46-24-12 under head coach John Hynes.
He backed it up in the playoffs too. Fifteen points in 11 games before Minnesota's run ended.
Right now Hughes carries a $7,850,000 cap hit. That number is going to change, and everyone in Minnesota knows it.
"I'm very thoughtful. I want to make sure I'm taking my time on everything and make sure I'm making a decision that is going to be good for everyone," Hughes said.
He also admitted the conversations with GM Bill Guerin's front office haven't been frequent. Blame the summer.
"We haven't had that many conversations just because of how I wanted my summer to go in terms of being fresh and resetting and enjoying and training and being around friends and family," Hughes said.
Why Guerin can't afford to blink first in Hughes talks
Here's the thing. Erik Karlsson sits atop the league's defensemen at $11,500,000 per season. Hughes, at 26 and coming off a 76-point year with a deeper playoff push, is going to want to be in that neighborhood or above it.
Guerin has leverage too, technically. But leverage means nothing when the player himself says he isn't in a hurry.
"As we get going here I'm sure it'll heat up, but I don't feel backed up against a wall where I have to sign before camp," Hughes said.
That's the kind of quote that tells you who's really driving this negotiation. It isn't the front office.
Hynes has to manage a locker room where the best player is openly unbothered about his own contract status heading into camp. That's not always a bad thing. But it's also not nothing.
Minnesota's window with this core is now. A messy contract saga bleeding into the regular season would be the last thing this group needs.
For a franchise sitting seventh overall a season ago, the runway to build something real is right there. Whether Hughes signs before puck drop or well into the fall, that part of the story isn't finished being written.
Should the Wild pay Quinn Hughes whatever it takes, even above Erik Karlsson's number?
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