Minnesota Wild make critical mistake amid Quinn Hughes contract negotiations

According to The Athletic's Michael Russo, the organization originally believed it could sign the star defenseman in the neighborhood of Kirill Kaprizov's $17 million AAV.

The same number that made Kaprizov the Wild's highest-paid player last offseason. Russo now says that figure has likely climbed higher than Minnesota anticipated.

The shift comes as the NHL's top of market has been reshaped in a matter of weeks. Philadelphia's offer sheet made Leo Carlsson the league's highest-paid player at an $18 million cap hit, and San Jose responded almost immediately by locking up Macklin Celebrini at $18.8 million.

Those numbers have reset expectations across the league, and Hughes, coming off a 76-point season split between Vancouver and Minnesota, is positioned to benefit.

Russo has reported that Guerin wants to sign Hughes to a long-term deal between five and eight years, ideally before the maximum contract length drops to seven years on September 16.

The longer talks stretch into training camp, the more leverage shifts toward Hughes and his camp.

Combined with Kaprizov's $17 million annual salary, the two stars could account for roughly $34 million on Minnesota's payroll, close to 30 percent of the team's projected salary cap for 2027-28.

That kind of commitment to two players invites comparisons to the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter cap crunch that hampered the Wild for years.

Guerin remains confident a deal gets done before camp opens, but Russo's reporting suggests the price of that confidence just went up.

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