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NHL Quinn Hughes Traded Six teams made legitimate offers for Quinn Hughes before the Canucks traded him to the Wild. Bob Frid / USA Today It was around 6 p. m. Central time on Friday that Bill Guerin got the call from his old boss Jim Rutherford, and heard words he will never forget. “Jimmy called me, and he’s like, ‘I think we’re inching our way to a deal here, Billy, ’” Guerin told The Athletic on Saturday. “I just got really excited. Look, there’s excitement, there’s nerves, there’s risk. But Quinn Hughes is one of the top defensemen in the world. Advertisement “And Jimmy taught me this when I worked for him (in Pittsburgh): make fair deals. That’s why I loved working with him and Patrik (Allvin). It’s fair. We got what we needed, and they got what they needed — because they got some really good young players. It just works. ” The hockey world is still buzzing after the Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks made one of the biggest blockbusters of the decade in the NHL. Guerin, the Wild’s president of hockey operations and general manager, will never be accused of lacking confidence. The two most surprising elements of the deal were: 1) How quickly it came together. It felt inevitable Hughes was going to get traded eventually, but most teams figured it would play out longer. And 2) That he ended up in the Western Conference. Everyone involved believed Hughes’ preference was to go East, and the majority of teams that put their best foot forward in talks with Vancouver were indeed Eastern Conference teams. But he ends up with the Wild — which is, well, wild. The full deal: Hughes in exchange for prized defensive prospect Zeev Buium, center Marco Rossi, winger Liam Ohgren and an unprotected 2026 first-round pick. Vancouver obviously heard from a whole host of teams, but according to league sources, in the end, the Canucks got serious trade offers from six clubs. The New Jersey Devils, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers are among those six teams confirmed to have made legitimate offers. The Devils feel they made a strong first offer. I can also confirm that the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes showed interest. The Philadelphia Flyers were among the teams that kicked tires but didn’t get to the next level. The Flyers weren’t willing to give up the assets the Canucks wanted, so that took Philadelphia out of being a major player in it. Advertisement Despite rumors to the contrary, my understanding is that the Washington Capitals were never real players in it. The Caps would not have wanted or been willing to move the kind of pieces it would have taken. It didn’t make sense for them. (Also, they really love Cole Hutson. ) In the end, Minnesota came at it strongest. “I was impressed with how quickly Bill Guerin moved. His first offer was significant. He didn’t mess around, ” Hughes’ agent, Pat Brisson of CAA Sports, told The Athletic on Saturday. Teams that were involved obviously wanted some kind of sign from Brisson about the likelihood of Hughes extending, but the reality is that the veteran agent couldn’t commit to that with any of the teams, including Minnesota. “We were looking for a fit where hopefully Quinn will have a tremendous hockey experience and reevaluate from there whether he will extend or not, ” Brisson said. “But I wasn’t able to guarantee to any of the teams whether he would sign or not. ” Which is to say, Brisson strongly denied that there’s any side deal involved with Minnesota ahead of July 1, when Hughes is allowed to sign a year out from his current deal expiring. Brisson said Hughes will decide at some point if he likes it in Minnesota and wants to stay long-term. The reaction around the league to such a blockbuster? “Minnesota’s back end is scary with Hughes and Faber, ” one Eastern Conference executive said. “Vancouver gets talented young players who can help for a while. Good job. ” “Very surprising since you didn’t hear much about Minnesota even being interested, and I figured Vancouver would want to send him East, ” a West executive said. “But the Canucks got a good return. I’m a big Buium fan, and Rossi has already proven to be a 25-goal and 60-point guy. Trade will really be judged on who the first-round pick turns out to be and if Minny re-signs Hughes. If they just get him for a year and a half, that’s a lot to give up. But if they re-sign him, they are getting arguably the second-best offensive defenseman in the NHL behind (Cale) Makar, with term. Time will tell. ” “Bill Guerin looked around the Central and knew he had to be bold, ” another West exec said. “He went in and got a superstar to bolster their already impressive core. That division is quite the gauntlet. I like the swing, even if they can’t re-sign him. They make the playoffs every year, they wanted to take a step and this is a win-now type of move. Vancouver was in a tough spot once they knew they’d have to move him. You’ll never win the perception battle when you’re trading a superstar, but they got what they wanted to get out of it. Now they can move forward. ’’ Advertisement “Vancouver did very well, considering the circumstances, ” yet another West exec said. “Bold move by the Wild. Pressure is on to win now. I think the longer it went, the less the Canucks would get in return. Buium could be a very similar player in the near future. ” There were a number of other rival team execs who didn’t want to be quoted, but if there was a theme to what they shared on background, it’s that the Wild deserve huge props for that kind of swing — but also the Canucks did very well on the return. I didn’t get one single exec who, even off the record, thought the Canucks could have done much better. The real criticism, of course, for the Canucks is that they were in this position in the first place, with a franchise defenseman in his prime who was not happy because they couldn’t surround him with a better team. That’s the crushing part for Canucks fans, to be sure. But in a vacuum, Rutherford and Allvin got a nice return for Hughes. As an aside: How about Hughes, Makar and Miro Heiskanen all being in the same division now? The Norris Trophy will be decided in the old Norris Division for several years to come. A key factor, as noted, is whether the Wild can convince Hughes to extend past his current contract, which expires after the 2026-27 season. But as one East exec noted, if the Wild win a Stanley Cup in the meantime, it’s worth it either way. True enough. “When you’re dealing with a player of Quinn’s caliber, you need to part with equal value, ” Guerin said. “We gave up a lot. ” But well worth it given the quality of the superstar acquired. It’s a home-run swing, and it’s got the league buzzing. Playing in a division with the NHL’s top two teams, Colorado and Dallas, Minnesota just served notice. They’re with the big boys now. Pierre Le Brun has been a senior NHL columnist for The Athletic since 2017. He has been an NHL Insider for TSN since 2011 following six years as a panelist on Hockey Night In Canada. He also appears regularly on RDS in Montreal. Pierre previously covered the NHL for ESPN. com and The Canadian Press. Follow Pierre on Twitter @Pierre VLe Brun