Hey #mnwild<\/a> fans, a minute of Quinn Hughes highlights to start your Monday\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/NcuUftuvwQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Mike Kelly (@MikeKellyNHL) December 15, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The Hughes trade has provided the excitement inside the room that Guerin dreamed of the moment Kaprizov texted him after the trade with a simple, \u201cWow!!!\u201d<\/p>\n Kaprizov\u2019s recent bright and sunny mood has been emblematic of exactly what he feels.<\/p>\n \u201cQuinn is so good,\u201d Kaprizov said in San Jose. \u201cPlaying against him and watching him on TV, I knew how good he was offensively, the way he can make plays and get the puck out. But I didn\u2019t know how good he was defensively. I just love it.\u201d<\/p>\n That was evident a few days earlier, after the morning skate in Las Vegas, when Kaprizov and Hughes were stall mates. Watching the two chumming it up and seeing how much Kaprizov was laughing and genuinely enjoying the conversation, it was obvious how tight they are becoming.<\/p>\n There\u2019s mutual respect there. Kaprizov loves having another upper-echelon player around, feels he can win with Hughes and loves getting to know him.<\/p>\n \u201cI love that he lives in my building (in Minnesota),\u201d Kaprizov said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to have somebody back there after (Marat Khusnutdinov was traded). It\u2019s nice to have somebody to do stuff with and go to dinners and talk about things, like hockey and life.\u201d<\/p>\n As Guerin put it after signing Kaprizov to the record extension in September, \u201cGreat players like to play with great players.\u201d<\/p>\n But it\u2019s not just Kaprizov. The fans have been patient. The players have been patient, and Guerin has been just waiting to pounce.<\/p>\n \u201cIn fairness to (the players), they\u2019ve been dying for this,\u201d Guerin said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been super patient. They\u2019ve understood the road that we went down and our journey, but they\u2019ve been waiting for something like this, and they\u2019re so excited because they know that we believe in them and they know that they can do something special.\u201d<\/p>\n But at the start of the season, when the Wild won three of their first 12 games, Guerin was not happy. In fact, a few days before Jared Spurgeon\u2019s Halloween morning players-only meeting that has largely been credited with turning the season around, Guerin called Spurgeon and Marcus Foligno and met individually with Kaprizov. He also held some meetings with a few other unidentified players at which he pretty much threw down the gauntlet and insinuated big changes could be coming \u2014 changes that did not include firing head coach John Hynes<\/a>.<\/p>\n Guerin insisted at the time that he wasn\u2019t nervous and that the issues were \u201cfixable\u201d and they\u2019d get through this together.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll tell ya, I was confused,\u201d Guerin said. \u201cI was very clear with the guys: \u2018I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on, but it\u2019s going to go one of two ways. If you want help, there\u2019s a way to get it. But if you\u2019re not going to do yourselves any favors, then we have a business to run, too.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThey were fantastic. I talked to a couple of the guys in my office, and we had a very up-front conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n The fact the Wild\u2019s veteran core stepped up and rewarded Guerin\u2019s faith also gives him motivation to put them further into \u201cserious contender\u201d category.<\/p>\n You can bet Guerin isn\u2019t done.<\/p>\n Think of this logically: Just like the fans, just like his players, Guerin is tired of waiting. The four-year window of buyout pain is over, the Wild just made Kaprizov the highest-paid player in NHL history starting next season when he\u2019s 29, Boldy is on the verge of stardom, Joel Eriksson Ek is one of the best net-front guys in the NHL, Brock Faber is on the rise, and they have two elite goalies.<\/p>\n You don\u2019t move four huge pieces to get Hughes, who is unsigned past next season, if you\u2019re not trying to win right now.<\/p>\n So Guerin\u2019s not messing around. He almost certainly wants to and plans to take one more big swing, probably for a center, and likely use more picks and prospects to do so. While it might be scary to consider mortgaging more of the future, the reality is that those picks and prospects were accumulated not just for potentially the future, but also to use them as assets if possible once Guerin felt they had the ability to create a championship team. When asked after the Hughes blockbuster if he has enough assets to make another move, Guerin said, \u201cWe can do stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n So whether it\u2019s today, tomorrow, next week or next month, Guerin will be on the prowl for what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n For the record, Guerin simply said, \u201cWe\u2019re always looking. I always want to get better, and if there\u2019s something we can do, then yeah, we\u2019ll do it.\u201d<\/p>\n Most NHL teams are preparing for their midseason scouting and front office meetings in the middle of this month. Typically, after that is when teams become ready to make moves, so you can bet Guerin will be trying in the days before and after the Feb. 4 (2 p.m. CT) to Feb. 22 (10:59 p.m. CT) Olympic trade freeze and in advance of the March 6 (2 p.m. CT) trade deadline.<\/p>\n This also gives the team time to see just how good it can become with Hughes as a catalyst on the back end and the power play. As well as Hughes has already meshed with the group, including Boldy and Kaprizov, he feels they\u2019re just scratching the surface.<\/p>\n #mnwild<\/a> defenseman Quinn Hughes (0-3=3)\u00a0recorded his 27th career three-assist game and passed Gary Suter for the\u00a0third most by an American defenseman. He trails Brian Leetch (40) and Phil Housley (34).<\/p>\n Per #NHLStats<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/4GIYzsmLD3<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Minnesota Wild PR (@mnwildPR) December 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019re just getting going, though,\u201d Hughes said. \u201cYou watch (Cale) Makar and (Nathan) MacKinnon and those guys, how they snap it around on their power play. We\u2019re not there right now. They\u2019ve been together for seven years. They know how each other thinks and where each other likes the puck. I don\u2019t know \u2014 it won\u2019t take us seven years. It\u2019ll take us a couple games. Just continue to understand each other. That\u2019s what we\u2019ve been preaching the whole time. Even though you\u2019re sitting there and wanting it to happen right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s a look back at the first half:<\/p>\n \n Even when Minnesota was going through its most difficult times, Matt Boldy was a rare bright spot. (Ethan Miller \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Team MVP<\/p>\n In most years, this is an easy one: Kaprizov. He\u2019s the Wild\u2019s first superstar, their engine, their leader in OT winners. But while Kaprizov has been very good and is second on the team with 23 goals, Boldy \u2014 especially lately \u2014 has been their most valuable and most consistent player<\/a> this season. Even when Minnesota was going through its most difficult times, Boldy was a rare bright spot.<\/p>\n Boldy has a team-leading 25 goals, with 47 points in 41 games, a plus-16. There have been several clutch moments, most recently the OT winner against Winnipeg. He\u2019s been a key cog on the penalty kill, which has made improvements over recent seasons. And Boldy has done all this while mostly playing on the team\u2019s shutdown line with Eriksson Ek and Marcus Johansson, who has been sensational.<\/p>\n Turning point<\/p>\n When things were going back south, it was Spurgeon who decided the night after an Oct. 30 loss to Pittsburgh to hold a meeting the next day. It was well thought out and substantive, and as it turns out, healthy and a huge catalyst for the complete about-face.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the timing was good,\u201d Hynes said. \u201cI would say this, the whole group, when we\u2019re going through it, it was pretty steadying. Like it wasn\u2019t like behind the scenes, there was a bunch of yelling, screaming. There were some meetings. There were some individual meetings. How are we going to get through this together? How are we going to do this the right way?<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I just think eventually, you know, Spurgeon, the leaders, were like, \u2018Listen, we can be better. We know we can be better.\u2019 So I think the timing was right, the planning was right out of it, and I think it had some substance to it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t like a knee-jerk reaction, yeah, \u2018Let\u2019s have a meeting and let\u2019s do this or that.\u2019 It was some stuff the guys were able to talk about together, and whether guys are putting too much pressure on themselves or trying to do too much, or whatever it might be \u2014 I don\u2019t know everything that was said, but I do think it was a factor in getting going.\u201d<\/p>\n Throughout the time, the one player who maintained confidence that the Wild had a good team and would get out of it was Boldy.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was always greener grass,\u201d Boldy said. \u201cI think the guys we have in this room, I think, was the biggest thing. The group of guys we have, how much guys want to win and how competitive they are, that\u2019s the biggest thing. So knowing the character we had and the people in here was what kind of kept us positive.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes (meetings) work, sometimes they don\u2019t. I think it comes down to the people in the locker room. Are people going to take it seriously or are they not? But like I said, it\u2019s the people in this room that make us a good team and the character that everyone has. So it\u2019s not easy to go into a room and talk to each other and figure out what\u2019s wrong and be able to accept it and go make changes you have to. But we love each other, and we aired it out, and we\u2019ve made the changes we had to.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2254005056-scaled.jpg\")
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<\/a>The good news for the Wild is they have cap space, an estimated $12.9 million of deadline cap space, according to PuckPedia. From a big-picture perspective, they have Kaprizov\u2019s $17 million average annual value extension kicking in after this season and, they hope, an extension for Hughes starting in 2027.<\/p>\n