The Minnesota Wild got better over the past week, and it's because they went out and acquired Quinn Hughes in a trade. General manager Bill Guerin gave up a lot to acquire Hughes, and there were probably some teams just not willing to do that. That's why Hughes appreciates the Wild for making the deal, and he took a jab at the other teams that didn't.
“I've got a lot of time for Billy for quote-unquote sacking up and making a deal like he did… There are other teams that probably could have thrown in certain packages like that too. But in the end, they didn't want to do that … Billy did. I'll remember that,” Hughes said via Joe Smith of The Athletic.
In Hughes' first game with the Wild, they were able to get a 6-2 win over the Boston Bruins, and it felt like they had something special. Hughes scored his first goal in the first 26 minutes of his time on the ice.
In 2027, Hughes becomes a free agent, and though we're a few years from that moment, Hughes already sounds like somebody who is going to re-sign with the team.
“Extremely open-minded,” Hughes said. “They got an amazing core. Just obviously I’ve only been here four hours, but getting to know some of the guys and how energetic and positive guys are, and then Minnesota being so close to Michigan and just the State of Hockey and the passion here. Just seeing how the fans reacted to me as well in warmups, and then obviously I got a lot of time for Billy for quote-unquote sacking up and making the deal like he did and just how he valued me.”
Right now, the Wild want to focus on what they can do this season, and there's a chance that they can make some noise in the NHL.
