So, here we are. The New Jersey Devils were a finalist to land former Vancouver Canucks captain Quinn Hughes via trade, but instead lost out to a surprise contender in the Minnesota Wild.
The Wild paid a premium, as they should have, to acquire Hughes, parting ways with Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren, and a 2026 first-round pick, and as long as things go well in Minnesota, the Devils won't even be able to think about Hughes again until he hits free agency on July 1, 2027. And that's if he doesn't sign a contract extension with the Wild on July 1 of 2026.
But, while the Devils have been injured and have mostly stunk due to those injuries, there is a world where falling short on this trade actually works out for them in the long run.
To start with the obvious, the Devils did not have to give up any assets in the trade, which means that, for now, they still have their first-round picks in each of the next two drafts, as well as prospects Anton Silayev, Seamus Casey, Lenni Hameenaho, Arseniy Gritsyuk, Mikhail Yegorov, Shane Lachance, and Ben Kevan.
That's not an elite group by any means, but the Devils have struggled with having adequate depth on their roster for ages now. It has to come from somewhere, right?
Hughes's long-stated goal has been to play with his younger brothers, Jack and Luke, in the NHL at some point, and his arrival in Minnesota instantly erases two seasons off the clock. It works in the Devils' favor that the eldest Hughes brother will turn 28 shortly after the beginning of the 2027-28 season, which inherently pits time against Quinn and shifts the tide in the Devils' favor.
Of course, Jack is tied down in Newark until 2030, and Luke just re-upped with the Devils until 2032. So long as those two are connected to the Devils, Quinn will play in New Jersey. When that happens, and for how long remains to be seen, but reading further into the situation than that after all that just transpired is a fool's charade.
What this means, though, is the Devils will still be tasked with clearing cap space and cleaning up the roster for that sunny July 1 in just under two years from now and finish what they failed to do this past week.
Until then, though, a positive way to look at things is to acknowledge that Quinn Hughes can say he's played in Vancouver and Minnesota, seen the NHL and tried to win on two different contenders at different points of his career, and decide that now (as in 2027 and beyond) is the time to commit the remaining bulk of his career to achieving something special with his two little brothers.