It’s going to take some time to get used to seeing Quinn Hughes in green, but he did indeed suit up for the Minnesota Wild on Sunday.
The former Vancouver Canucks captain described the preceding 48 hours as a “whirlwind,” but the trade to Minnesota did not come as a surprise.
Hughes explained how Jim Rutherford kept him in the loop, and despite not having a no-trade clause in his contract, he said the Canucks president of hockey operations wanted to send him somewhere where he’d be “comfortable.”
“I don’t know how much I’m allowed to say, but I have the ultimate respect for Jim Rutherford and Francesco Aquilini, and the Aquilini family. They were first class with everything that was going on,” Hughes told reporters in Minnesota, after his Wild debut.
“Obviously it was a tough situation, but I felt like it was time, and I think Jim did too. But Jim and Pat Brisson, my agent… they were talking a lot about places I might feel comfortable. Jim was amazing with that. He cared about the person. He wanted me to go where I thought I would be happy.”
When did Hughes know he was leaving?
Bob Frid/Imagn Images
Rutherford indicated last spring that Hughes might not be willing to re-sign, and the Canucks president of hockey operations said Friday he felt this could be coming for more than a calendar year.
Hughes admitted that he talked about his future with management this summer, but said he came into the season with an open mind.
“I don’t know what’s out there. I don’t have Twitter,” he said. “There were some talks a little bit this summer. I love the guys there. Some of those guys are my best friends.
“You want to be successful. So I came into the year open-minded and wanted to make it work, and wanted to have a great year. I just think with the injuries and the direction it was going, it wasn’t happening. I think Jim knew where my head was at a little bit. Jim and [my agent Pat Brisson] got to talking a couple weeks ago, and it went from there.”
It would have been irresponsible to the Canucks organization for Rutherford to accept a lesser deal for Hughes, but there has been no indication from insiders that another team was willing to give up more than Minnesota.
The Canucks got a bona fide blue-chip prospect in 20-year-old defenceman Zeev Buium, who is the key to the trade. They also got 24-year-old centre Marco Rossi, who was a 60-point centre last season, and 21-year-old winger Liam Öhgren, who is coming off a rookie season that saw him score nearly a point-a-game at the AHL level. And in addition to those three former first-round picks, the Canucks also received a Minnesota first-rounder in the upcoming 2026 draft.
The king’s ransom it took the Wild to get him was acknowledged and appreciated by Hughes.
“Really appreciate him trading the assets that he did to get me,” Hughes said of his new general manager. “Some teams, they’re in until they hear what they have to trade to get me. But Billy, he was full in. I think that was his first offer. Obviously I want to do what I can here and prove him right. How he handled me with the 4 Nations last year too gave me a glimpse of what a good person he is. Honestly, he was a big reason why I wanted to come here.”
Before boarding the Canucks team jet to New York, Hughes explained that he knew there was a good chance he had already played his last game for Vancouver.
“I had a good idea that it was potentially my last game there at [Rogers Arena] on Thursday. Kind of had a good idea Friday morning. Wanted to go to New York, just obviously [because] you never know.”
Quinn said he was able to see his brothers, Jack and Luke, and had dinner with his close friends on the Canucks, before jetting off to Minnesota on Saturday. Meanwhile, his mom is heading to Vancouver to clean out his home.
Hughes sounds happy to be in Minnesota
Speculation for months has been that Hughes was destined to join his brothers in New Jersey, whether that was a trade to the Devils or signing with Jack and Luke’s team as a free agent in 2027.
But Quinn looks and sounds happy as can be to be in Minnesota.
He’s even smiling now.
ending the night with a brand new Quinn Hughes headshot pic.twitter.com/TR7rimoyug
— Minnesota Wild (@mnwild) December 15, 2025
Asked how open-minded he would be to re-signing with the Wild, Hughes gave every indication that Minnesota could be a long-term home for him.
“Extremely open-minded,” Hughes explained. “Amazing core… getting to know some of the guys, how energetic and positive [these] guys are. And then Minnesota being so close to [my home state of] Michigan… the passion here. Just seeing how the fans reacted to me as well in warmups.”
He also mentioned Guerin “sacking up” to make the trade.
“Making the deal like he did. And how he valued me. There are other teams that could have thrown in certain packages like that too, but at the end of the day, they didn’t want to do that, or they didn’t want to trade two or three assets from their team like Billy did. So, I’ll remember that, and that means a lot that Billy did that.”