Tuesday morning, there was yet another wrench thrown into the ever-prolonged Quinn Hughes saga. Well-respected national insider Chris Johnston of The Athletic, on a radio hit on TSN 1050, said the following when asked how the "Quinn Hughes situation [will] play out:"
"My understanding of this situation, through the summer, is I think he was having trouble basically making up his mind about what he wants to do for his future. There's a desire that we've known for years to one day play with his brother. I think he did enjoy his Minnesota experience after the trade was made partway through last year with Vancouver... I'm sure he's been doing some degree of soul-searching and leaning on conversations with the people he trusts around him, but he's going to have to make a call on what's best. I think the posture of Minnesota is that they're here. I don't think there are any restrictions on their end in terms of making him a very wealthy man. But he has to be willing to sign it. And, at least to this point, I don't think that has been committed to or something he's ready to do."Chris Johnston on TSN1050
Within that monstrous quote are three different instances of an insider hinting at Hughes being indecisive about his future. By our account, it's the first time a major insider has said that he is wavering on his future in terms of what team he really wants to be a part of. Of course, there's the reiteration that he wants to play with his brothers -- a known fact dating back to Jim Rutherford's open quote about it. Johnston openly states that he does not get the sense that Hughes let the Wild know he wants to commit there.
Later on in the day, in an appearance on Jeff Marek's The Sheet, fellow national insider David Pagnotta admitted that it was surprising to see that he has not extended yet and followed it up by saying "I don't think they've really negotiated negotiated," despite them having "had conversations."
That combination of quotes from two respected insiders leads fans to believe that the "conversations" that were had were more of a sales pitch focusing on the Wild organization as a whole rather than a pitch on a contract. After all, Hughes is allegedly deliberating whether or not he even wants to play in Minnesota at all past this season -- what reason is there to negotiate with an organization he isn't sold on?
The smoke around the Quinn Hughes contract is starting to point us towards the fire
The important part of this whole thing is that there is more and more smoke to this situation than ever before, now with pundits chipping in with their own understandings of the "negotiation." Those understandings are that, well, Hughes is not convinced he even wants to approach an extension conversation yet.
The reality is, the Wild have done nothing but take a step backward while the Devils have made strides in improving their team this summer. That absolutely factors into the equation as well -- if the Wild were in a better spot, there would certainly be less to think about for Hughes as far as extending goes.
For the Wild, this is not something they'd want to hear from their still-unsigned star defenseman just one day prior to NHL Media Day.
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