Last summer at the start of free agency, Wild owner Craig Leipold floated the idea that, for the team’s fans, it could be Christmas in July.

On Friday night, general manager Bill Guerin reminded fans that Christmas comes in December.

With the Wild battling Colorado and Dallas for supremacy in the Central Division, Guerin pulled off perhaps the biggest in-season move in the franchise’s 25-year history, bringing superstar defenseman Quinn Hughes to Minnesota for at least this season and next.

Guerin sent young defenseman Zeev Buium, center Marco Rossi, forward Liam Ohgren — all of them former first-rounders — and a first-round selection in the 2026 NHL draft to the Vancouver Canucks for Hughes, who is widely considered one of the top two or three blueliners in the NHL.

Hughes, 26, is a t

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