Wild Have Until September 15 to Give Quinn Hughes Eight Years

Quinn Hughes has until September 15 to sign an eight-year extension with the Minnesota Wild. After that date the NHL's new collective bargaining agreement takes effect, and the longest deal Minnesota can offer him drops to seven years.

Hughes is entering the final season of the six-year, $47.1 million contract he signed with Vancouver in 2021, which carries a $7.85 million cap hit. The Wild acquired him from the Canucks in December 2025, and he can become an unrestricted free agent after the 2026-27 season.

The terms change in two steps, not one. Through September 15 the current agreement still allows a club to sign its own player for eight years. The new CBA runs from September 16, 2026 through September 15, 2030 and caps a re-signing with a player's current club at seven years; the six-year limit applies only to a player signing with a new team. Waiting does not cost Hughes and the Wild two years of term - it costs one.

Wild general manager Bill Guerin, named the NHL's general manager of the year for 2025-26, spent a radio tour at the Minnesota State Fair fielding questions about the negotiation. He was careful not to tie Hughes' price to Makar's.

"Could it affect you financially? Yeah. There's the bar with Cale Makar signing that contract in Colorado, but Quinn might be after different things. He's got different things in the life that's important to him," Guerin told WCCO's Chad Hartman.

On KFAN he was blunter: "It doesn't have to be that 'Makar signed for this so he's gotta sign for that.' No. He can do whatever the hell he wants because he's not going broke tomorrow."

The bar Guerin mentioned is real. Makar signed an eight-year, $163.2 million extension with Colorado - a $20.4 million average annual value that begins in 2027-28 and runs through 2034-35, making him the first player in league history at $20 million a season. Avalanche president of hockey operations Joe Sakic defended the price directly: "You can't win without superstars."

What Hughes can command is bounded by the cap rather than by Makar. No player's cap hit may exceed 20 percent of the upper limit in effect when he signs. An extension signed during 2026-27 tops out at $20.8 million against this season's $104 million ceiling; waiting until July 1, 2027 as a free agent would raise that to roughly $22.7 million against a projected $113.5 million limit, a figure the league has flagged as subject to adjustment.

Hughes had 53 points in 48 games for the Wild after the December trade, then tied Kirill Kaprizov for the team lead in the playoffs with 15 points in 11 games. Colorado, meanwhile, finished 55-16-11 for 121 points, a franchise record, and the Presidents' Trophy.

One player agent told ESPN the ceiling will keep moving: "By the time this deal is over, there will be guys in the league making $30 million per season."