UNSIGNEDFinal year of his deal. UFA July 1, 2027.
HughesClock · Minnesota Wild · No. 43

The Diminishing Return.

Minnesota paid Rossi, Buium, Öhgren and a first for Quinn Hughes. He still hasn't signed. Every game he plays, the return the Wild could get by trading him melts a little more. At 3 p.m. ET on March 1 it goes through the ice.

Quinn Hughes headshot
GP
–
G
–
A
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PTS
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Cross-section of a frozen lake. The ice sheet's thickness shows the share of Minnesota's season still left to sell, with one crack for every game played.

Rental value left · live

–.0000%

Of Minnesota's 84-game season, a buyer would still get – games of Quinn Hughes. That share drains between every game.

–
Since the extension window opened
–days
–
July 1, 2026. Still no deal.
Until the trade deadline
–days
–
Mon., March 1, 2027 · 3:00 p.m. ET
Until he can walk for nothing
–days
–
UFA day · July 1, 2027
The melt curve

It doesn't thaw. It drops.

Rental value slides one game at a time, then hits a cliff. On deadline day roughly – of the season is still left to sell, and at 3:00 p.m. ET all of it falls through at once.

Line chart of rental value from 100% on opening night, stepping down with each Wild game and dropping to zero at the March 1 trade deadline.
Value leftDeadline cliffToday
The ice sheet

84 games. – safe to stand on.

One tile per Wild game. Cracked tiles are gone. A dot means Hughes put up a point. Striped tiles fall after the deadline, so Minnesota can't sell those games to anyone.

Still sellablePlayed (cracked)After the deadline
The bill

What each game cost Minnesota.

On Dec. 12, 2025 the Wild sent four assets to Vancouver. Since then Hughes has played – games for them, – of them in the playoffs, and scored – points. Spread the package across that and you get the per-game price.

    –of the whole package, per game played in Minnesota
    –of the package, per point he's scored for them
    –most regular-season games they'll ever get if he walks July 1 (plus any playoffs)
    –his $7.85M cap hit per game this season (cap hit ÷ 84, estimate)
    On the record

    Nobody's in a hurry.

    Verbatim, dated, linked. Hughes in white diamonds, GM Bill Guerin in orange.

      How it's calculated

      The honest fine print.

      1. Rental value is the share of Minnesota's regular season a buyer would still get: games left ÷ 84. The NHL went to 84 games in 2026-27, so it's 84, not 82.
      2. It drains live. Between games the number slides from one game's end (estimated as puck drop + 2.5 hours) to the next. That's why the decimals move.
      3. At the deadline it's zero. After 3:00 p.m. ET on March 1 nobody can trade for him, so the rental is worth nothing, whatever's left on the schedule.
      4. This is a cartoon of trade value. Real value also depends on playoff games, his play, his cap hit, who's buying, and whether he'd sign with them. We only count games.
      5. The bill spreads Rossi, Buium, Öhgren and the 2026 first (No. 24 overall, which Vancouver used on Adam Novotný) evenly over every Hughes game in a Wild sweater, playoffs included. It treats all four assets as equal, which they aren't.
      6. Stats come from the NHL API and refresh when update.py runs. Last update: –.
      Sources