Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin is being hailed as a hero today after pulling off a blockbuster trade to acquire Quinn Hughes. It’s a bold, headline-grabbing move for a franchise long accused of playing things too safely.
Hughes is a true franchise defenseman, under contract for this season and next, and he already has an established relationship with Guerin from their time together with Team USA at the 4 Nations Cup. That familiarity mattered. So did Guerin’s willingness to pay a steep price.
To land Hughes, the Wild gave up Marco Rossi, Liam Öhgren, elite defensive prospect Zeev Buium, and a 2026 first-round pick—a package that strips away both present contributors and future possibilities.
Rossi, still just 23, is a smart, competitive center who has already proven he can play meaningful NHL minutes. He’s not flashy, but he drives play, wins battles, and was trending toward becoming a long-term top-six piece in Minnesota.
Öhgren brings a different look—size, straight-line speed, and a power-forward profile that remains highly coveted. He may not yet be a finished product, but his physical upside made him a key part of the Wild’s forward pipeline.
Buium is the real sting. Widely viewed as a potential top-pair defenseman down the road, he’s mobile, creative, and composed well beyond his years. Losing him removes the kind of internal, cost-controlled blue-line solution teams desperately need in a cap world.
Add in a first-round pick, and this was not a casual swing.
Hughes has already acknowledged the significance of the move, saying he’ll remember how Guerin gave up three excellent players to acquire him when it comes time to negotiate his next contract. Free agency, however, doesn’t arrive until after the 2026-27 season.
So far, so good.
But there are two very big buts.
First, Minnesota still lives in a brutally unforgiving division. Colorado and Dallas remain juggernauts, and even with Quinn Hughes anchoring the blue line, the Wild may never escape their own neighbourhood—never mind mount a legitimate Stanley Cup run. If playoff success doesn’t materialize quickly, there’s no guarantee Guerin is even around when Hughes’ free-agency decision arrives.
Second—and far more concerning—blood is thicker than water.
With Quinn’s two brothers already together in New Jersey, many around the league believe that’s where Quinn Hughes ultimately ends up. Loyalty to a GM can matter. Family usually matters more.
That’s where the risk crystallizes. If Minnesota fails to make real noise in the playoffs, Guerin could be out of a job, the Wild could lose Hughes for nothing, and the players and pick surrendered in this deal would be gone with little to show for it.
Today, Bill Guerin looks like a genius.
In two years, this trade could read very differently.
In the NHL, bold bets only age well if banners follow.
