Hughes caps whirlwind 48 hours with goal in Wild debut

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Quinn Hughes knew how important hockey was in the state of Minnesota, but even he was taken aback by the instant excitement the Minnesota Wild fanbase provided for his debut, a 6-2 win against the Boston Bruins at Grand Casino Arena on Sunday.

“It was pretty special, honestly,” Hughes said. “I wasn’t expecting that, but that was very cool. I know it’s a hockey market, but that was exciting.”

It was a whirlwind 48 hours for the 26-year-old defenseman, who was in the New York metropolitan area with the Vancouver Canucks when he found out he was being traded to the Wild in exchange for defenseman Zeev Buium, forwards Marco Rossi and Liam Ohgren, and a first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.

Such a whirlwind in fact that he forgot his hockey equipment in New Jersey, where the Canucks played on Sunday.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” joked Hughes, whose gear arrived on Sunday morning. “It was definitely on me, but I’m thankful I got some really good people in my corner that were able to make it work for me.”

What Hughes did bring with him to Minnesota was a lot of hype.

Selected by Vancouver with the No. 7 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, Hughes had 432 points (61 goals, 371 assists) in 459 games with the Canucks, which is the most among defensemen in their history. He won the Norris Trophy as the League's top defenseman in 2023-24, when he had an NHL career-high 92 points (17 goals, 75 assists) in 82 games, and he was a finalist again for the award last season, when he had 76 points (16 goals, 60 assists) in 68 games.

At the time of the trade this season, Hughes was leading the Canucks with 23 points (two goals, 21 assists) in 26 games.

So, perhaps it wasn't surprising that Hughes made an immediate impact on the score sheet on Sunday. Just 54 seconds into the third period, he received a pass from Ryan Hartman, skated into the high slot and scored with a shot that beat Bruins goaltender Jeremy Swayman five-hole to push the lead to 4-0.

"I mean, when you have a player of his capabilities coming in, it’s just he does so many things in a game, whether it’s the plays he’s able to make, and he was on with different guys. I thought he and Brock (Faber) were obviously a good pair," Minnesota coach John Hynes said. "Regardless of the situations he was in, he has that ability where he can make plays and he puts people -- the thing with a puck-moving guy like him is he puts people in good spots. If they’re there, he’s going to hit them. But also he can make some plays when he’s got puck support around him that allows things to be able to develop."

After the game, Hughes was complimentary to the Canucks for the way they handled the trade, admitting the situation was something both sides felt was going to occur sooner rather than later.

“I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say, but the ultimate respect for (president of hockey operations) Jim Rutherford and (chairman and governor) Francesco Aquilini and the Aquilini family,” Hughes said. “They were first-class with everything that was going on. Obviously, it was a tough situation, but it felt like it was time. And I think Jim did, too. But Jim and Pat, Pat Brisson my agent, very lucky to have him, but they were kind of talking a lot about places I might feel comfortable. And Jim was amazing with that. He cared about the person. He wanted me to go where he thought I’d be happy.”

Hughes was certainly happy on Sunday, but how open is he to making Minnesota home in the future? Hughes is in the fifth season of a six-year, $47.1 million contract ($7.85 million average annual value) he signed on Oct. 3, 2021, and can become an unrestricted free agent after the 2026-27 season.

“Extremely open-minded,” he said. “They got an amazing core. Just obviously I’ve only been here for four hours, but getting to know some of the guys and how energetic and positive the guys are, and then Minnesota being so close to Michigan (Hughes played collegiately at the University of Michigan) and just the state of hockey and the passion here.

“And then obviously I got a lot of [respect] for Billy (Guerin) for quote, unquote sacking up and making the deal like he did and just how he valued me. There are other teams that probably could have 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. Billy did, so I’ll remember that, and that means a lot to me that Billy did that.”

For now, though, Hughes is focused on this season with Minnesota (19-9-5), which has won four in a row and is 16-3-2 since the start of November.

The Wild currently sit in third place in the Central Division, but with the addition of Hughes, the ice should begin to tilt even more in their favor, giving them as good a shot as any team at making a run at the Stanley Cup.

“I think it’s going to take four, five, six games, but once we get rolling, I think we’re going to be hard to beat,” Hughes said.