Quinn Hughes said he doesn't feel pressure to rush into a contract extension with the Minnesota Wild -- but expects conversations to pick up with general manager Bill Guerin heading into training camp next week.
"I mean, it's a big decision and I love Minnesota. I love my teammates and everything that's going on there. It's so much fun last year," Hughes said at the NHL/NHLPA Media Tour in Las Vegas on Wednesday. "And we were missing [Joel Eriksson Ek] and [Jonas Brodin] in the second round there, and I'm not sure we would've beat Colorado. Maybe we would've, maybe we wouldn't have, but it's hard not to look back on last year and see if we can build and continue to build and try to win there."
Hughes was acquired by the Wild in a blockbuster trade in December 2025. Minnesota gave up three players -- all former first-round picks -- as well as its 2026 first-round pick to acquire Hughes, who won the Norris Trophy as the league's best defenseman in 2024.
Hughes was eligible to sign an extension with the Wild as of July 1. Guerin and Hughes have met in person more than once this summer, with the GM saying publicly he is "confident" the team would re-sign the defenseman.
Asked if he matched that confidence, Hughes called himself a "thoughtful person" who wanted to take his time to make "the right decision."
"Where my head is at is that it was a tremendous summer and I did everything that I wanted to do," Hughes said. "And we had a lot of fun and I feel ready to go. And we're going in the camp and me and Billy, I'm sure we're going to be talking and we're going to figure it out and just going through the process right now."
Hughes' two brothers, Jack and Luke, play on the New Jersey Devils. All three brothers have talked about their dream to play together one day. League sources have predicted that Quinn Hughes would want to sign a three-year extension to line himself up with when Jack hits free agency in 2030.
Asked what considerations he has in signing a new deal, Hughes said: "I'm going to keep it personal because a lot of those things are personal. But obviously number one is winning a Cup."
Hughes was a star of Team USA at the 2026 Olympics, helping the American men to their first gold since 1980. He led Team USA in scoring with 8 points, including the OT winner against Sweden in the quarterfinals.
Hughes is entering the final season of a six-year, $47.1 million contract ($7.85 million AAV) he signed with Vancouver. The defenseman is due for a massive pay increase with a rising salary cap. This summer featured three different record-breaking contracts, culminating with Cale Makar becoming the league's first $20 million a year player with his eight-year extension in Colorado.
The maximum a player can sign for is 20% of the team's salary cap, which for next season is $20.8 million. Winger Kirill Kaprizov's extension kicks in this season, making him the team's highest-paid player at $17 million. Matt Boldy and Brock Faber -- two other Minnesota and U.S. Olympic team stars -- are both signed through at least 2030.
Hughes scored 53 points (five goals, 48 assists) in 48 games for the Wild, who beat the Dallas Stars in a hard-fought first-round playoff series before falling to the Avalanche in the second round.
"It was so fun to be in the first round. I think the opening draw, I'm looking around and you got [Mikko] Rantanen, you got [Wyatt] Johnston and [Jason] Robertson, you got Miro [Heiskanen] in the back," Hughes said. "But then I'm looking and I got Kirill and Boldy and Ek and Brock next to me and that's a really good feeling."
