Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold remains confident that the team will extend Quinn Hughes even as he approaches Game 1 of the season as a pending unrestricted free agent.
“We will [sign him],” Leipold told TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun in The Athletic as he rushed out of the NHL’s Board of Governors meeting to catch a flight.
Leipold made the same vow back in June, but no contract has been signed as the new season beckons.
The Wild made a significant bet on Hughes, sending blueliner Zeev Buium, forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren, and a first-round draft pick to the Vancouver Canucks for the star defenceman last December.
Hughes registered seven goals and 76 points in 74 games last season, including five goals and 53 points after joining the Wild in December.
He added four goals and 15 points in 11 playoff games, averaging 30:57 of ice time before the Wild was eliminated in the second round.
Hughes is entering the last of a six-year, $47.1 million contract that carries a cap hit of $7.85 million. The 26-year-old will have the opportunity to significantly upgrade his salary on his next deal after Colorado Avalanche star Cale Makar reset the market with his eight-year extension at a $20.4 cap hit last month.
The Wild are set to open their regular season schedule next Thursday against the Nashville Predators, but no deadline appears to exist for reaching deal with Hughes.
“I don’t feel stressed to do something before the season,” Hughes said as the Wild opened training camp last week. “And that’s not saying that something won’t happen, but that’s just how it is.”
Hughes has been consistently tied to the idea of joining his brothers Jack and Luke of the New Jersey Devils, but when the trio will unite remains anyone’s guess.
“I’m really happy here. I love the guys. I love the team, and I fit in really well,” Hughes added last week. “Obviously, there’s a draw to play with those guys at some point, but I think Jack said it perfectly: I’m not going to sacrifice a great spot for me to play with them.”
