標籤: Wilds

According to a recent report from Michael Russo of The Athletic, Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin attempted to acquire Luke Hughes from the New Jersey Devils during the 2025-26 season — a move that would have seen Luke leave one brother, Jack Hughes, to join forces with another in the form of Quinn Hughes.

Of course, rumors and speculation about the future of all three Hughes brothers have been running rampant. Just last week on an episode of The Sheet with Jeff Marek, all three brothers’ agent, Pat Brisson, talked about the idea of ​​them all playing together at some point:

“We probably haven’t had any specific discussion about this. These are possibilities, I will not deny the factBut when your three brothers get together during the summer or in the offseason, we have lots of fun conversations about lots of fun things.

Obviously, no deal happened for Luke. Based on the language used by The Athletic, it doesn’t seem like the Devils ever seriously considered parting ways with Luke.

But here’s what we know. All else being equal, there is no reason to believe that Quinn will be someone More He is willing to sign an extension beyond his current deal (which runs through 2026–27), which he would not have done if the team had made a deep run in the playoffs.

“I’m definitely ready to re-sign here,” Quinn said in his exit interview today. He also said that getting a deal in the summer is “more ideal”, but is “so mentally tough” that it is not possible to go into the season without it.

Regardless, the possibility remains that Guerin attempted to acquire Luke to increase his leverage for a Quinn extension. This will prompt a GM who does not have full Confidence in your ability to accomplish it. Quinn’s words confirm that the outlook at this position is far from certain, even if he enjoys playing in Minnesota.

At the end of the day, the Devils have something the Wild don’t: both of Quinn’s brothers. There’s no telling what Devils GM Sunny Mehta’s plan will be – and whether he’s considering a potential pursuit of Quinn in any near-term decisions.

Additionally, Quinn is already 0-for-1 on a contract extension entering the season and there are plenty of rumors surrounding him. Even if he is 100% genuine in his desire to stay in Minnesota, things could change quickly if he doesn’t make a move this offseason.

Mehta, Guerin and everyone involved know that Jack’s contract expires after 2029-30 and Luke’s after 2031-32. If Quinn really wants to play with his brothers, the quickest path is to New Jersey.

While ex-Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald has rightfully faced his fair share of scrutiny, some of his late decisions could potentially play a big role in any Devils success in the future:

Her refusal to part with Luke may one day be the reason the Devils finally meet Quinn. And their ability to let Ondrej Palat’s contract out without any salary retention would add some much-needed flexibility for Mehta to work with this offseason.

Time will tell what direction the Quinn saga and the Devils as a whole will take. In the meantime, until proven otherwise, Devils fans should hold their positions full confidence In Mehta.

Daniel is the New Jersey Devils beat reporter for SportsNut. He graduated from Montclair State University in 2025… More about Daniel Amoia

The Minnesota Wild’s final loss of the season was their most painful.

The Wild blew an early three-goal lead over the Colorado Avalanche in Game 5 of the Western Conference Second Round series on Wednesday night at Ball Arena. They were still ahead by two before allowing a pair of goals in the final 3:33 of regulation that forced overtime.

Minnesota failed to convert on two excellent scoring opportunities early in overtime before Avs defenseman Brett Kulak scored at 3:52 of OT to secure a 4–3 win. Colorado advanced to the conference finals against the Anaheim-Vegas series winner. Minnesota is going home with one of the most painful defeats in its history.

Kulak broke through an excellent scoring chance in the defensive zone before running down the ice, taking a pass from Martin Necas and one-timeing it past Jesper Wallstad for the series-winning goal. It was his first goal since January 19, when he was playing with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Before Colorado’s late rally, it looked like the Wild had the game in hand; They led 3-1 with less than four minutes remaining.

But the Avs came within one when Jack Drury deflected Devon Toews’ long wrist pass to Jesper Walstad with 3:33 to play. They tied it with 1:23 remaining when Nathan MacKinnon took a short lead with an accurate shot from the bottom left circle.

By that time, the night had become wild.

Wild season with 4-3 OT loss to Avalanche in Game 5

Marcus Johansson scored 34 seconds into the game to put Minnesota up 1–0. Nick Foligno then scored twice in less than five minutes, giving the Wild a 3–0 lead in less than 16 minutes.

Parker Kelly got a goal back for Colorado midway through the second period, but the Wild remained in command until final goals by Drury and MacKinnon forced overtime.

The crowd of 18,159 came prepared to see the Presidents Trophy winners advance to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since winning the Cup in 2022. But Wilde showed from the initial face-off that he had other plans.

Johansson put Minnesota on the board in the first inning. Matt Boldy circled Colorado’s Brock Nelson behind the net and made his way into the left corner. He delivered a perfect pass to Johansson, who beat Mackenzie Blackwood to make it 1–0.

Foligno made it 2–0 at 11:03 with his first goal of the postseason. He went to the net, got his stick on Nico Sturm’s pass and deflected it to Blackwood.

The Wild thought they had made it 3–0 at 12:26 when Michael McCarron caromed a carom off the post into the net during a delayed penalty. But a video review showed that the Wild center had used his gloved hand to dodge Blackwood, and the goal went off the board.

Minnesota took a three-goal lead at 15:56 of the second minute of the period on Foligno. Blackwood missed Sturm’s long wrist and Sturm beat Avs defenseman Jack Ahkan to the puck. His backhand cross-crease pass found Foligno, who fired it into the open left corner for a 3–0 lead.

The Avs changed goaltenders after Blackwood allowed three goals on 13 shots in the opening 20 minutes. Scott Wedgwood relieved him — and Colorado came out with the kind of energy it lacked in the first period.

According to Natural Stat Trick, the Avalanche had nine of 10 scoring chances in the middle period, along with a 33-8 edge in shot attempts. But the “Wall of St Paul” kept them off the board until the end of the 11th minute, when Kelly lofted Brent Burns’ right-point slapper past Wallstead to make the score 3–1.

Colorado continued to push and earned its first power play when Danila Yurov high-sticked Cale Makar at 16:52. Wallstedt made three saves and MacKinnon hit the post, giving the Wild two goals in 20 minutes of play.

The Wild appeared to be content with playing defense in the third period, rarely entering the offensive zone. The strategy worked well until 16:27, when Drury got its second chance of the postseason in the same game as Kelly’s goal. Toews took a long straight wrister, and Drury deflected it past Volstead to make the score 3–2.

Now with the crowd roaring in full swing, the Avs pulled Wedgwood with two minutes remaining and tied it on MacKinnon’s rip from the bottom left circle, creating a small opening on the short side.

Key takeaways after Wild season ends with loss to Avs in Game 5

paid a heavy price to sit in the back

Minnesota defeated Colorado 13–12 and took a 3–0 lead after a dominant first period. Unfortunately for the Wild, the game was not over.

Colorado controlled the remainder of the game to show why it finished first in the regular season standings. The Avs defeated Minnesota 22–7 after the opening period, including 4–0 in overtime. According to Natural Stat Trick, Colorado had a 22-3 edge in scoring chances at 5-on-5 after the first period and a 9-2 advantage in high-danger opportunities during that time.

Minnesota appeared content to consistently sit back, dump the puck and get the Avs up 200 feet instead of trying to get another goal. It’s a difficult strategy to implement over long periods of time against the NHL’s highest-scoring team. In the end, Wild had to pay the price.

Foligno’s big night is getting ruined

The Wild added Nick Foligno on March 6 with Columbus to play a lower-level role, often alongside younger brother Marcus. The 38-year-old had scored only one goal in 17 regular season games following the trade and did not score in Minnesota’s first 10 playoff games.

That all changed in the first period, when he connected twice in less than five minutes to put the Wild up by three.

It was the second multi-goal playoff game of his career – and the first since Game 6 of the first round with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

What’s next for the Wild?

The way their season ended will sting for some time, but the Wild look like a team on the rise.

The best news was that they won a playoff series for the first time since 2015, ending a streak of eight consecutive opening round/preliminary round losses. They have great players on the left wing (Kirill Kaprizov) and defense (Quinn Hughes), a rising star in forward Matt Boldy and an excellent No. 2 defenseman in Brett Faber.

The absence of center Joel Eriksson and defenseman Jonas Brodin due to injury against Colorado hurt.

Coach John Hynes will have the offseason to decide whether he wants to give Walstead the No. 1 job. He spent most of the season in the 1B role behind goalkeeper Filip Gustavsson. But Gustavsson’s five-year, $34 million contract begins next season – a big deal for a backup/1B goaltender.

But the biggest question is the future of Hughes, who has one year remaining before becoming an unrestricted free agent. GM Bill Guerin gave up a lot for the Vancouver Canucks to get the 26-year-old player in December. He can sign an extension starting on July 1 and will undoubtedly make every effort to make that happen.

stat shots

The Avs won the series at home for the first time in their last 10 tries in 2008. That also came against Wild.

Colorado’s comeback from three goals down was the first by any team in this year’s playoffs. Five teams won after trailing by two goals.

Kulak clinched the series and became the 16th Avalanche player to score a goal during the second round, breaking the NHL record for most goals in a series.

Colorado became the 13th team in NHL history, and the second team joining the Carolina Hurricanes in 2026, to need nine or fewer games through the first two best-of-7 series to make the first round of the Finals.

Jon Krieger covered his first New York Rangers game (against the California Golden Seals) in November 1975 and it… More about Jon Krieger

The Oklahoma City Thunder were missing several key guys heading into another high-intensity contest against the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. They did not include Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso, to name a few. But as long as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is on the court, the Thunder are almost impossible to stop.

Try as the Nuggets might, Gilgeous-Alexander may just have his numbers. Despite Nikola Jokic’s best efforts to save the Nuggets from dead, the Thunder ultimately won 129-126, thanks to Bonkers Game-Winning Stepback Triple From the current MVP.

With 8.5 seconds left in the game, Gilgeous-Alexander received the ball from Ajay Mitchell out of bounds. The reigning MVP had Spencer Jones draped over him, but it didn’t matter. Gilgeous-Alexander then stepped on Jones before stopping on a dime and then pulled to his right for a tough game-winning triple from which the Nuggets could not come back.

sga for the win

mvp momentpic.twitter.com/SXn8Oun6Ck

– Underdog NBA (@UnderdogNBA) 10 March 2026

There were about two seconds left on the clock after Gilgeous-Alexander made a three, but the Nuggets no longer had any timeouts. As a result, Aaron Gordon had to throw a layup from approximately 90 feet, which missed the left side of the rim.

This game once again had playoff intensity written all over it, and it will be a treat for neutral observers to see these two heavyweights lose once again in the postseason stage.

Thunder remain the team to beat thanks to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

Gilgeous-Alexander has a lot of critics due to being an alleged free-throw merchant. But make no mistake, he is the best pure scorer in the NBA. He can reach his location at will, and remains efficient no matter who guards him. His entire life has been consistent, as he once said, and it shows: He has now scored 20 points or more in 126 consecutive games.

In the win over the Nuggets, Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points, nine rebounds and 15 assists in a complete destruction of the Thunder’s biggest rival.