Insider Drops BOMBSHELL Quinn Hughes Update...

An NHL insider has just dropped a bombshell new report on the future of one of the NHL's premier defensemen in Minnesota. With so many questions circulating, not just himself, the Minnesota Wild, but other NHL franchises at this point, we're going to break down what all of this means for the Wild and where the salary cap is going with some of these players and what they are earning heading into the future. We're going to break that all down and much more in this episode of NHL Digest. And let's waste no more time. Let's jump right into it. For those of you who are not subscribed, by the way, you're missing a lot that's going on around the NHL. We cover the NHL daily with a bunch of new updates happening, heading into training camps, which are opening next week, which is very exciting. But Casey, we get a brand new update on Quinn Hughes this morning from Chris Johnson. And basically he went into saying, you know, feel free to pause and read the whole thing if you want, but he basically went into saying, Hey, he hasn't made a decision yet. The Minnesota Wild need a decision to be made because they need to sign him to a long-term extension. And it really sounds like he's going back and forth on a few things here, not in particular, but we can kind of, you know, have our assumptions and all that type of stuff. But he basically outlined that he doesn't seem particularly close. And we have another, you know, report from David Paniota as well, that apparently they haven't really negotiated anything as well, which is a little worrisome for the Minnesota Wild. But Casey, what do you think he's waiting for at this point? Because, you know, Kayle McCard just signed a massive contract extension north of $20 million. Quinn Hughes is in line for pretty much that at only $7.8 million right now. What is this guy waiting for? Yeah, it seems like right now, it seems like a three year $20 million deal is kind of on the table. And I think GM, Billy G, Bill Guerin has kind of laid it all out there for Quinn Hughes. And it's really his decision right now on what he wants to do. And it's hard for him. I think he's having kind of a career crisis now, because I think when he kind of played out his career in his head at this point, he probably would have won a Stanley Cup by now. But unfortunately, it hasn't played out that way. And I think we know we're going to talk about him playing with his brothers in just a little bit. But I definitely think that's weighing on his mind a lot. And he really just doesn't want to sign a long term deal. I think he wants to keep it short term here. Because if he signs a three year deal worth $20 million, that will bring him until he's like 30 years old almost. So at that point, he can say, Okay, well, I didn't win a cup, at least I can do is go and play with my brothers. So I really think is is what he wants to do at some point. Yeah. And I think that's where you know, most people are going with this. And we're going to get to that in a second as well. Because that's like the obvious thing. Like everyone's really talking about that the last couple of years. But I think you're right to a degree, I think in his head, maybe he thought, Okay, I'd win a Stanley Cup by now, because he is an elite defenseman, like he's a top two defenseman in the entire league, right? So I think maybe in his head, he's like, Hey, I would have won a Stanley Cup by now he has an Olympic gold medal at this point in his career. And on top of it, he was probably thinking, you know, once that's all said and done, I'm gonna go play with my brothers. We're just gonna chill and do our thing and try and win together, right, wherever that may be. And obviously, both of them are in New Jersey right now. So that's a huge question mark, too. But I do want to talk about the dollar amount really quickly, based on some of these reports, too. So obviously, what is in store for the future? Do the wild have to trade him? A lot of people are talking about that now, right? Do they have to start looking at that? Because if you let him walk, and he's signed somewhere else, that's looking like a tough deal for the Minnesota Wild to walk away with, you know, if they don't win the Stanley Cup this year, which I don't know, I don't like their chances. They don't have much center depth. But that's a conversation for another day as well. But like I mentioned, Kel McCarr, you know, top two defensemen. These are the guys in the NHL, right? It's Kel McCarr and Quinn Hughes, in my eyes and most people's eyes, I think, Casey, I don't know if you feel any differently. But, you know, he just got $20 million on a contract extension. So Quinn Hughes is looking at exactly that. I'm sure he wants to go short term, like you said, probably like a two year deal. If anything, we just saw Conor McDavid do the same thing, kind of maximize his earnings. But I think the thing hanging over everything right now is the fact that he probably does want to go play with his brothers in New Jersey. So do you think that that's kind of where this is headed? Because if you look at New Jersey as well, I mean, they don't scream contender to me at all, right? Like they continuously make a missed the playoffs every single year. So if the goal is winning, maybe that's what he's kind of trying to figure out right now. Like, do I want to win? Or do I want to play with my brothers? Do I have a chance to win if I'm playing with my brothers and we're making all this money? What do you make of that? Yeah, I definitely think that's the decision he's at right now. It's like he knows he's a premier defenseman in this league, top two, in my opinion as well. And he's a guy who can get 20 million bucks wherever he goes. Any team is going to give him that money because of just how good he is and how good he can help orchestrate a team's power play. Like he's just an amazing defenseman and a talent that just doesn't come around every day. And I think he knows how good he is. He has to. And right now he's kind of wondering, hey, do I stick with this Minnesota team that I have a lot of faith in? And I think that with our core that we have here and with the acquisitions at the deadline, we can be a Stanley Cup contending team this season. Or do I kind of say, hey, you know, I only got one year left on my deal. You know, I can go out, get an ask for a trade, try to get traded to New Jersey to play with my brothers and sign a long term deal there. Because, you know, right now, like you said, we're seeing a lot of these stars, you know, take these short term deals to maximize their earnings. And I wouldn't be surprised to, you know, the relationship that Quinn Hughes has with Bill Guerin right now to take that short term deal, whether it's two or three years, he's going to be 20 million, wherever it is. And I do think that he would he would want to do that to try to pay back the organization that brought him in for essentially four first round draft picks. I think he I think he would kind of feel like a horrible person if he requested a trade after doing this. And I think that's kind of the situation he's in right now, the headspace that he's in. I mean, that's a very hard decision. I mean, like you guys watching the video, you got to think about what he's like pondering right now. I know a lot of you guys watching this probably have brothers yourselves. And if you guys are playing in your favorite sport at the top of your game and you have the chance to play with each other, I mean, you guys will take that, you know, you have to. But you also don't want to like, you know, give a slap in the face of Bill Guerin, someone you're very close with by going out and requesting a trade just one season after you're traded there. So it's definitely a tough, you know, situation to be in right now. And I definitely I hope he does come to a decision very soon before training camp starts. I know he is going on a media tour in Las Vegas with Matt Boldy soon. So once he comes back to training camp, this is all going to ramp up and hopefully he has a decision made by them. And the questions will start and I think you bring up a good point. This is a guy Bill Guerin, who is a general manager in Minnesota, was a general manager for the U.S. Olympic team. They won together, right? Do you want to leave him hanging? In my opinion, at the end of the day, it's business. If the player wants to leave, then the player leaves, right? Because the Wild took that risk to go out and, you know, trade for him. That's just the way I see it. But at the end of the day, I totally agree with you. For anyone who's watching this that has siblings, you know, if you had the opportunity, if all of your brothers made the NHL, including yourself, there's no way you retire without all playing on the same team, right? Like that's where it's headed at some point. It's just, we don't know what team. It could be the Devils. And we talk about the Devils because that's where both of them are right now in Luke and Jack. But, you know, at the end of the day, I think they want to win a Stanley Cup, right? But where exactly is that? Do they all make the decision around the same time? That's pretty interesting. And we're going to keep tabs on that. But that's, I think what Chris Johnson's kind of talking about where he's kind of going back and forth on things like, do I request the trade now? Do I walk later? Like, what am I thinking? Do I want to win, right? Or play with my brothers? Because again, sorry, New Jersey Devils fans, but that team is not a contender whatsoever. But the Devils do have a ton of cap space coming up as well. So keep that in mind. So they're going to be able to make that work. Most teams will be able to make it work with the rising cap of the Minnesota wild as well. You know, they, they, everything in their power, they're going to be able to do right to retain this player, to keep this player. I think it really just comes down to, you know, you want to stay in Minnesota. That's going to be very interesting to keep an eye on, but guys, let us know how you feel in the comments below new report from Chris Johnson, revealing that things are not very clear for the future with Quinn Hughes in Minnesota.