NHL Rumor Roundup: Latest On Quinn Hughes, Flames Could Be Sellers Again
The Minnesota Wild must determine if Quinn Hughes will sign an extension this summer, while the rebuilding Calgary Flames could continue shipping out veterans for young assets.
Video Transcript
I'm Lyle Richardson of the Hockey News.
In today's NHL Rumor Roundup column, one of the topics I'm looking at concerns Quinn Hughes' future with the Minnesota Wild.
Now, you recall that, Hughes was acquired, from the Vancouver Canucks by the Wild back in December, and he quickly established himself as one of their top players.
And obviously, they, see him as a key piece of their future going forward as they attempt to become Stanley Cup contenders in the near future.
Now, they got a bit of good news recently when, Hughes indicated during his end-of-season, media availability that he is indeed interested in signing a contract extension with the Wild.
The twenty-six-year-old is currently, in-- about to enter the final season of his, contract with an average annual value of seven point eight five million.
And Wild general manager, Bill Guerin has indicated that he considers, re-signing Hughes to be his top priority.
However, Michael Amato of Sportsnet believes that, the Wild do need clarity from Hughes regarding his contract extension plans.
While he is open to signing an extension, he's also told reporters that he's also fine with starting next season without an extension.
And, Amato thinks that, if there's no extension in place, that, Guerin is going to have to consider shopping him this summer, with Amato arguing that Hughes' trade value will be much higher during the off-season than it would be as a playoff rental next season.
And the price of signing Hughes is what's going to be the deal breaker here.
The Wild are already carrying a very expensive superstar, with Kirill Kaprizov earning a league-leading seventeen million average annual value.
And if Hughes seeks a, similar amount, that could put him out of the Wild's price range.
