​ST. PAUL, Minn. --- Dec. 12 will go down in Minnesota sports history for two vastly different, and unrelated, “where were you when” newsmakers 15 years apart: Snow leading to the Metrodome roof collapse in 2010 and a blockbuster trade Friday evening that shocked the NHL world when the Minnesota Wild acquired superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes.

One incident was an oh-so-Minnesota moment, while the other was a Minnesota-did-what?! moment.  

“It was a good night, last night,” Wild general manager Bill Guerin told the media in a press conference ahead of Saturday’s Wild game against Ottawa. “Bringing in a player like Quinn Hughes here, you just don’t get these opportunities all that often.” 

In exchange for Quinn Hughes, the Wild send young-stud defenseman Zeev Buium, center Marco Rossi, forward Liam Ohgren and a 2026 first-round NHL Draft pick to the Vancouver Canucks. The trade news broke Friday evening with the Wild announcing the move soon afterward. Saturday, Guerin said he was going to go get Hughes to bring him to Minnesota, expecting him to be in the Wild lineup for Sunday’s 5 p.m. game against the Boston Bruins. 

So, where does this trade rank in Wild history? Let’s keep riding with these significant sports dates here. The Wild signed Zach Parise and Ryan Suter on July 4, 2012. That seemed like Christmas in July for Wild fans. Guerin was not the Wild’s GM at that time. So, now he has his own moment to unwrap excitement. 

“It’s Christmas at Christmas,” Guerin said. 

Multiple times during Saturday’s presser, Guerin said that if Hughes wasn’t available, the young players – “kids,” he called them – Buium, Ohgren and Rossi would still be on the Wild roster today, and he was completely fine with that. He sang the praises of these young players. 

Still, Guerin also said that when a player of Hughes’ caliber becomes available, and there’s an opportunity to get him, the Wild were willing to do what it took to bring him to Minnesota. 

Guerin loved the way the deal went down, saying Minnesota got what it was looking for, “and I think Vancouver got what they were looking for. They got three really good young players that are going to help build their team, and we got a franchise defenseman.”

Hughes, 26, has scored two goals and 23 points in 26 games with Vancouver this season. Both of his goals have come on the power play, along with 10 assists. He’s been an elite defenseman in the league since his NHL debut on March 28, 2019; since then, he leads all NHL defensemen in assists and power-play points. He’s a James Norris Memorial Trophy winner in 2023-24, the annual award given to a defenseman who shows a great all-around ability at the blue-line position. He’s played in 459 NHL games, scoring 432 career points. 

With Vancouver struggling, it was no secret that Hughes was likely to be dealt in a trade. His two brothers, Jack and Luke, play for the New Jersey Devils. Maybe that destination would have made sense, or somewhere else among the 20-something NHL teams? But no. Hughes ended up with the Wild. Guerin shared his pride for the deal, for Minnesota and for the hockey played here.

“Look, I love Minnesota,” Guerin said. “Our players love Minnesota. This is a great place to play. 
“But no matter what, whether you have good weather, good taxes… Hockey has to be good. Hockey has to be, you can live in the sun. You can live in these great places, or make a little more money, but if the hockey is not good, you won’t be happy. 
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“So that’s really what matters. If the hockey is good, if your job is good, you will be happy. And I think he’ll be really happy.” 

ST. PAUL, Minn. --- The Minnesota Wild started Thursday night’s game against the Dallas Stars with all the momentum and by outshooting their opponent 9-0.  

But then Ryan Hartman took a hooking penalty in the Dallas zone which halted the fast-start momentum. It really turned the tide when Dallas winger Jason Robertson scored his 20th goal of the season on the first shot of the game for the Stars to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at Grand Casino Arena. 

That had the potential to be an omen of what was to come against the second-place Stars (21-6-5). The Wild also allowed a shorthanded goal to Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen about halfway through the game, right off a faceoff in the Wild end. 

Instead, the Wild (17-9-5) came back both times to tie the game before eventually scoring the game-winner in the third period on the way to a 5-2 victory. They came out with a win against a team ahead of them in the standings on the same day that Mats Zuccarello and defenseman Jake Middleton were placed on Injured Reserve. 

“We came out really strong the first 10, 15 minutes,” said Wild winger Marcus Johansson. “I feel like we took momentum. They got a goal on the power play, but we kept going. I think 5-on-5 we were the better team.”

Joel Eriksson Ek scored late in the first period to tie the game 1-1. He pounced on a rebound in the crease after Matt Boldy took the initial shot and Dallas goaltender Jake Oettinger couldn’t freeze the puck. 

Dallas thought it took a 3-1 lead in the second period on a Wyatt Johnston shot. But the Wild quickly challenged the play as being offsides, and it was quickly reviewed as an overturned goal to keep it a one-goal game. 

Again, late in the period, the Wild’s Danila Yurov won an offensive zone faceoff, with Vladimir Tarasenko and Zeev Buium quickly getting the puck over to Zach Bogosian near the blue line and the Wild bench. Bogosian fired a blast, and the puck found its way into the net to tie the game 2-2 with 2:30 left in the second period. 

It was Bogosian’s first goal of the season. 

“That was a classic, just get it on net and luckily it went in,” Bogosian said.

The Wild maintained their edge in shots on goal throughout the game, outshooting the Stars 32-18. That marked a season-low in shots for the Stars. The Wild also snapped Dallas’ 10-game point streak. 

Tied in the third period, the Wild had a few chances to break through, including an odd-man rush where Yurov just missed a wide-open net with his shot with 13:10 left in regulation. But a couple of minutes later, with 11:20 left, the Wild finally took the lead in the game with Johansson’s 10th goal of the season. He buried a perfect feed from Boldy, his second assist of the night. 

“You’ve always got to expect it from him, I think,” Johansson said, of Boldy’s pass. “So, it was a great play by him. We kind of tried that faceoff play a few times, and it worked out perfectly.”
 
Dallas pulled Oettinger with more than two minutes remaining trailing by a goal, and for the second time in as many games the Wild scored a pair of empty-net goals. First it was Boldy from Kirill Kaprizov with 1:31 left, and then Johansson turned and fired the puck down the ice from the other zone, with the puck hitting the inside of the post along the ice to make it a 5-2 game. 

Johansson notched his second multi-goal game of the season. 
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“JoJo is having a great year,” said Wild coach John Hynes. “I think he’s always been a player that we valued, whether he was scoring or whether he wasn’t scoring. I think this year he’s getting rewarded more than, in my experiences with him the last couple years. But I don’t think his game has changed.”