Hughes 'extremely open-minded' to staying with Wild long term

Quinn Hughes isn't ruling out the possibility of sticking with the Minnesota Wild for the long haul.

Hughes is signed through next season before he can become an unrestricted free agent in 2027. He's eligible to sign an extension July 1.

"Extremely open-minded," Hughes told reporters Sunday when asked if he would be to willing to stay in Minnesota beyond his current contract. "They've got an amazing core."

The Wild will be able to offer Hughes an eight-year contract with a league minimum base salary and the rest in signing bonuses this summer. Under the new CBA beginning September 2026, signing bonuses will be capped at 60% of a player's average annual value and contract length for a player re-signing will be capped at seven years.

While that certainly gives the Wild an upper hand over the league's other 31 teams, Hughes added that Minnesota's devotion to hockey makes it an attractive place to play.

"Minnesota being so close to Michigan and just the state of hockey and the passion here," he said. "Seeing how the fans reacted to me as well in warmups."

The Minnesota crowd gave Hughes a standing ovation prior to Sunday's game - a 6-2 win over the Boston Bruins in which Hughes scored a goal and logged a team-high 26:55 in his debut.

Hughes also commended the aggressiveness of Wild general manager Bill Guerin.

"I've got a lot of time for Billy for 'sacking up' and making the deal like he did and how he valued me," Hughes said. "There are other teams that probably could've thrown in certain packages like that too, but at the end of the day they didn't want to do that, or they didn't want to trade two or three assets from their team like Billy did. I'll remember that. That means a lot to me that Billy did that."

The New Jersey Devils, Detroit Red Wings, New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, and Buffalo Sabres were reportedly among the other teams to reach out to the Vancouver Canucks about Hughes. Many considered the Devils - where Hughes' brothers Jack and Luke play - the favorite to land the 2024 Norris Trophy winner.

Minnesota acquired Hughes in a blockbuster trade with Vancouver on Friday, sending Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, Zeev Buium, and a first-round pick the other way. Buium, the centerpiece of the return package, also scored in his Canucks debut Sunday.