ST. PAUL, Minn. \u2014 Judd Brackett will always remember where he was on Dec. 12 when he saw it hit his X feed that Bill Guerin had executed a blockbuster to bring star defenseman Quinn Hughes to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Marco Rossi, Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and a 2026 first-round pick.<\/p>\n
He was in Oxford, Ohio, with Wild college scout Brian Hunter, watching Miami Ohio play Colorado College.<\/p>\n
\u201cHunts and I, we both laughed,\u201d Brackett said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t pay a lot of attention, I\u2019ll say, the entire second period, that\u2019s for sure, because we were either returning calls, texts, communicating with our groups and just talking over the trade amongst ourselves. I go to Hunt, \u2018Every time I walk in this rink forever, I\u2019ll remember \u2014 that was the day that we traded for Quinn Hughes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re the chief scout for an organization, you grow attached to the players you\u2019re responsible for drafting. So the Wild-Vancouver Canucks blockbuster was bittersweet for Brackett and his amateur staff, whose work in selecting\u00a0Rossi, Buium and Ohgren was the reason the Wild had enough assets to acquire a star like Hughes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen a trade involves prospects, obviously there\u2019s an attachment from the group that started with watching them play as maybe a junior player and then their development over the years, so their success is something that\u2019s, as an amateur group, we\u2019re always proud of and you want to see them succeed and be a part of success with the Wild,\u201d Brackett, the Wild\u2019s director of amateur scouting since 2020, said. \u201cBut if they are a chip that can be cashed in for a player like Quinn Hughes, I mean, you have to consider it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The irony is that the player who came back was one Brackett was abundantly familiar with. He led the Canucks\u2019 draft table when Hughes somehow fell to seventh in the 2018 draft and was snatched up by the Canucks. So there\u2019s a sense of pride with Brackett and his right-hand man, amateur scout Dan Palango, who Brackett brought with him from Vancouver to Minnesota.<\/p>\n
\u201cChanging teams is hard enough and getting settled in and then having success in the draft \u2014 and then being able to turn your successes into a player that you previously drafted and are very proud of, who\u2019s gone to win a Norris Trophy, is really exciting,\u201d Brackett said. \u201cYou\u2019re conflicted when you lose some of your young players. But at the end of the day, no matter how you draft or how well you draft or how well we develop as a team, all of these guys can\u2019t play for the Minnesota Wild. They can\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you draft well over time, you create depth. You create competition. That\u2019s what we want. We want competition at every position. We want depth at every position, and hopefully, at some point, we\u2019re flush again and that gives Billy and senior management a chance to upgrade and make a move.\u201d<\/p>\n
Behind the trade were some draft-day strategies that worked out and some luck, like Rossi falling to them at No. 9 in 2020.<\/p>\n
In 2022, the Wild owned the 19th and 24th picks. Danila Yurov was actually higher on the Wild\u2019s draft list than Ohgren, but Brackett and the staff took Ohgren first, gambling that Yurov would still be there for the plucking at 24 because so many teams were worried about drafting Russians, plus there weren\u2019t a lot of viewings because of COVID-19 and Russia-Ukraine war.<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s Buium. According to team sources at the time, the Wild intended to trade the No. 13 pick in 2024 on the draft floor to the Winnipeg Jets for Rutger McGroarty. When Buium fell, the Wild traded a third-round pick to Philadelphia to move up one spot to draft him.<\/p>\n
As Guerin said Dec. 13, the Hughes trade probably doesn\u2019t happen if that doesn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cZeev just turned 20 a week ago,\u201d Brackett said. \u201cHis upside is enormous. I think the other part of his pedigree is that he\u2019s proven to be a winner. He\u2019s done it at U-18. He\u2019s done it at U-20. He\u2019s done it at the World Championship. So that part of his pedigree is also really important. You want that in your room. You can build around a guy that has that winning mantra. So I think his upside and potential could be there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs it fair to call him Quinn Hughes because he was in a Quinn Hughes trade? Their games are different. I mean, I don\u2019t know that anybody can skate the way Quinn Hughes does. But what they can deliver on the ice and how impactful they can be is certainly parallel.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut Quinn Hughes is 26 years old \u2014 a player entering his prime, essentially. These guys really shouldn\u2019t be available. This was a circumstance and situation where you had to explore it. And if you had the assets to do it, you had to be involved. He\u2019s that good. Now, can Zeev turn around and be a tremendous piece in return for Vancouver? Absolutely, that\u2019s what makes this trade work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Including Rossi obviously stings. Few are bigger fans of Rossi than Brackett. A lot of it is sentimental.<\/p>\n
\u201cRossi was the first player that we selected in (my) first draft as a director for the Wild, so obviously there\u2019s always a soft spot there,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I know he\u2019s been through a lot health-wise and he\u2019s been challenged. And I\u2019ve been pretty steadfast on what Rossi is as a player and as a person. And I think he continued to prove it. And I think he will continue to improve and be a good player \u2014 a really good player \u2014 in the league. And do you hate to see him go? Yeah, but I mean, the player we got back is elite, probably the second-best defender in the National Hockey League. So you\u2019ve got to give something to get something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brackett remembers being surprised Hughes fell to the Canucks. If he hadn\u2019t, the Canucks were taking Noah Dobson, who went 12th\u00a0to the Islanders.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook at the 2025 draft, I don\u2019t believe there was a single defenseman drafted under six feet in the entire draft,\u201d Brackett said, explaining the 5-foot-10 Hughes falling. \u201cAnd you look at roster compositions of when teams win, there\u2019s a lot of copycat and looking, \u2018How\u2019d they win. What do we need to do to look a little bit like that team?\u2019 And if you look around, a lot of these winning teams lately \u2014 the backend is not filled with guys under six feet, so I think it was just size. There certainly was no question about his mobility, offense or hockey sense. Those things were elite, and they were elite through the national program and at Michigan.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of now, this will be the second year in a row the Wild won\u2019t have a first-round pick after trading last year\u2019s to Columbus in the David Jiricek package. They also traded their second-round pick in the Gustav Nyquist trade.<\/p>\n
Asked if it\u2019s hard for a scouting staff having so few picks, Brackett said, \u201cEvery team goes through cycles, right? And we just went through a series of having multiple first-round picks (in 2021 and 2022), so this is just the way it goes. And at the end of the day, as an amateur scouting staff, we want to win, too. The first goal was for the Minnesota Wild to win and to win a Stanley Cup, so if that costs us draft picks, we\u2019re on board there.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes it make our job a little more challenging? For sure. And do things change? Things could change between now and June. That was the message I sent to our amateur staff after the trade was, \u2018A) We should be very proud. The picks that we\u2019ve made and the development that has occurred after the draft is what made this trade feasible. But on the other side is, our job doesn\u2019t change. We still do all the background checks. We still write all the reports. We still have our monthly and midyear meetings and discuss.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to put a list together for the first round, even if we don\u2019t have a first-round pick. So, it doesn\u2019t change the job. It makes Friday on draft day a little less exciting. But you know what? If that\u2019s the price of winning and having Quinn Hughes on this team and giving us a better chance to win, we\u2019re on board.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zuccarello on Dunn hit<\/p>\n
After missing five games with a concussion, Mats Zuccarello returned to the lineup against Edmonton and had a couple of assists. Sunday was our first chance to get his opinion of the unpenalized hit that he took by Seattle\u2019s Vince Dunn on Dec. 8. After reviewing the play on the ice after initially calling a major, the officials decided the initial point of contact was to the chest and rescinded the penalty. The Department of Player Safety agreed and felt the head contact was unavoidable.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a hockey play,\u201d Zuccarello said. \u201cLike, obviously, he hits my head a lot. I wouldn\u2019t get hurt if it wasn\u2019t contact to the head. But it is what it is. I\u2019m back now, so I don\u2019t think about it too much.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dunn hit on Zuccarello pic.twitter.com\/5jPq7soJdy<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Spoked Z (@SpokedZ) December 9, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n Props to Draisaitl<\/p>\n The Edmonton Oilers\u2019 Leon Draisaitl reached the 1,000-point milestone last week against the Penguins, making him the first German-born player to complete the feat.<\/p>\n Count the Wild\u2019s Nico Sturm as one of his proud countrymen \u2014 and not surprised.<\/p>\n \u201cYou watch him play, and most nights he\u2019s noticeable, of course, but you look at the score sheet, and he\u2019s got a goal and two assists,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cThe best players in the world, that\u2019s what they do: They always find a way to contribute. There was a time when people said, \u2018Yeah, he\u2019s just feeding off of Connor (McDavid)\u2019, but he\u2019s become the prototype center: big, strong, good at draws, lethal shot \u2026 probably the best passer in the league, especially on his backhand. The way he shields the puck \u2014 when he puts his arm out, it\u2019s very, very hard to get the puck.<\/p>\n \u201cYou think of the prototype No. 1 center? That\u2019s what he is.\u201d<\/p>\n Sturm, who could be seen congratulating Draisaitl during pregame warmups before Saturday\u2019s Wild-Oilers meeting, hasn\u2019t had much of an opportunity to play with Draisaitl, even at the international level, so he\u2019s looking forward to being a teammate at February\u2019s Milan Olympics.<\/p>\n Duhaime, Fleury hijinks<\/p>\n Before Brandon Duhaime returned with the Washington Capitals to face the Wild last week, he had one question:<\/p>\n \u201cDoes (Marc-Andre Fleury) have a credential to the locker room or anything?\u201d Duhaime quipped. \u201cIs he part of the staff?\u201d<\/p>\n