Adding Quinn Hughes, arguably the best defender on the planet, does a lot for a team’s gameplan. So, how should the Minnesota Wild deploy their shiny new blueliner? Well, there are a few ways to look at this.
Who should the Wild pair Hughes with?
Hughes finished ninth in the league in ice time during his Norris Trophy-winning season. Brock Faber is also in the top 10 in time on ice over the past two seasons and is no stranger to playing big minutes.
Faber is also more of a defensive player. Still, he’s not a bad offensive player, and probably one of the better offensive defensemen the Wild have ever had. Still, relative to Hughes, Faber’s defensive metrics are better.
Hughes and Faber are responsible in all areas of the ice, 200-foot players. Faber makes up for what Hughes lacks in defense. Where Faber lacks in offense, Hughes delivers in spades. These two seem like a natural fit to play together, and John Hynes and the Wild coaching staff seem to agree.
Jonas Brodin would also seem like a natural fit, given his strong reputation as a shutdown defender. The Wild could pair Hughes with a defensive defenseman, as the Edmonton Oilers do with Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm, or as the Colorado Avalanche do with Cale Makar and Devon Toews. However, the luxury of having players like Jared Spurgeon, Brodin, and Faber is that you can create one of the best shutdown pairs by having Spurgeon and Brodin play together on the second pair.
Now with injuries, that dream will have to wait. Still, when that top four is assembled, the Wild arguably have the most complete D-core in the NHL. It allows them to slide Jake Middleton down to the third pair, a more natural fit for him. And then give that other spot to Daemon Hunt, Zach Bogosian, or David Jiricek.
In the past, people have been concerned about Hughes’s size. He’s only 5’10”, 185 lbs, but he won the Norris Trophy in 2023-24, and that has not stopped him from being a productive playoff performer. While he’s the sixth smallest active full-time NHL defender in the league, none of that seems to matter because of how good he is with his stick, his edgework, and his intelligence.
And that’s to say, anyone playing with Hughes is going to play better. There are 0, yes zero, full-time Canucks skaters since 2023-24 who have a sub 50% xGF% at 5v5 when playing with Hughes. That is an asinine stat. Any way you look at it, Hughes is a floor raiser for the players he’s playing with. Suddenly, the third line of Vladimir Tarasenko and Yakov Trenin looks a whole lot better with Hughes as one of the defenseman skating with them.
How should they deploy him?
Hughes is going to play a lot, make no mistake about that. Still, how to deploy Hughes is another story. Naturally, he’ll get the most time as the QB1 on the power play for Minnesota, but at 5-on-5 or on the penalty kill, it gets a little more complicated.
Of his nearly 24 minutes at 5-on-5 against the Boston Bruins on Sunday, Hughes spent nine-and-a-half of those minutes against David Pastrnak, or 40.3% of his ice time.
However, Hughes doesn’t typically spend nearly half of his playing time matched up against the other team’s top forward. Of his 26 games with the Canucks this season, Hughes only matched up with the other team’s top forward more than 40% of the minutes a total of six times. And this trend looks even worse when you look at last season’s schedule, where it was only 6 times in 68 games.
The Wild typically play Faber often against the other team’s best players. But after adding Hughes, Faber doesn’t have to be the sole offensive contributor for the Wild on the back end. They can also pair Brodin and Spurgeon, freeing the defensive stalwarts to take on the tough matchups and allowing Hughes to take a more aggressive offensive role without as much of a defensive burden.
We saw the Vancouver Canucks do this with Tyler Myers. They matched him up with the other team’s best players more often, freeing up Hughes to do his thing offensively. We’ve seen this in Nashville and in Tampa Bay with guys like Mattias Ekholm covering for Roman Josi and guys like Eric Cernak and Ryan McDonagh covering for Victor Hedman.
What’s the ideal role for Hughes?
The Wild lead the league in attempted stretch passes, but aren’t good at completing them. They also lead the league in icings. Well, Hughes leads the league in completed stretch passes this season. We’ve already seen it pay dividends in both of his first two games.
Check the end of this clip to spring a Tyler Pitlick chance:
And this viral tweet from Mike Kelly sums it up pretty well:
Where the Wild lacks, Hughes makes up for with his individual abilities. He’s able to carry the transition game and break the puck out at a level that no other player can match. He’s also a catalyst for zone entries, which was previously a weakness for the Wild.
The best way to use Hughes is to play him a lot, pair him with whoever the Wild wants, and use him in whatever situation they want. Give him the minutes, give him the matchups, let him control the puck, control the flow of your defense and transition, and you’ll more likely than not see yourself on the winning side of most hockey games.
With the way he weaponizes the Wild’s defensive core and with the way he elevates everyone around him, the Wild can’t go wrong with playing Hughes and playing him a lot.
All stats and data via HockeyDB, Evolving Hockey, and Natural Stat Trick unless otherwise noted.