The Minnesota Wild have a long checklist to work through during the 2026 offseason.
At the top of the list, of course, is extending Quinn Hughes. Hughes’ current contract expires after the 2026-2027 season. Still, Wild owner Craig Leipold was recently very adamant that he will be re-signing with the team.
Another major to-do on their list is acquiring a center. The Wild have been in the mix for Dylan Larkin, with GM Bill Guerin saying he’s in constant contract with Red Wings GM Steve Yzerman regarding the situation.
One of the less-important things to do this offseason was in regards to Bobby Brink.
Minnesota Wild Do Not Extend Qualifying Offer to Bobby Brink
GettyLAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 06: Bobby Brink #10 of the Minnesota Wild skates with the puck against Jack Eichel #9 and Jeremy Lauzon #5 of the Vegas Golden Knights in the first period of their game at T-Mobile Arena on March 06, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Wild defeated the Golden Knights 4-2. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Per PuckPedia on X, the Minnesota Wild decided not to extend a qualifying offer to Bobby Brink, as well as a handful of other names.
“The [Minnesota Wild] did not issue qualifying offers to: Bobby Brink Cameron Butler Samuel Hlavaj Bradley Marek Oskar Olausson They will now be unrestricted free agents.”
Michael Russo of The Athletic provided some further insight on the matter.
“Wild said they were qualifying Brink a half hour before deadline, but in the end did not. They’re hoping to still sign him for less than what his going rate would be as RFA (north of $3.5M). As of this moment tho, he becomes a UFA Wednesday.”
Per Russo, the Minnesota Wild will still be looking to extend Brink, but now they may have to contend with offers from other teams. If they want to get ahead of his eligibility to talk with other teams, they’ll need to get a deal done today.
Quinn Hughes Gets Clear Message from Craig Leipold
GettyMILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 22: Jack Hughes #86 and Quinn Hughes #43 of Team United States celebrate winning the gold medals after the team’s 2-1 overtime victory in the Men’s Gold Medal match between Canada and the United States on day 16 of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena on February 22, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold recently talked about extending Hughes, displaying major confidence that it will get done.
“First of all, Quinn Hughes is an extraordinary player and an extraordinary person.
We had to give up a lot to get him in this past year. We are going to re-sign him. The question will be for how long. We would like to go as long as we could. He will probably want it to be a little shorter — shorter being maybe three years. We hopefully will end up at five, I don’t know, and the reason I can openly talk about this is that I’m not doing the negotiating.”
Even though he owns the franchise, Leipold can’t tell the future. Obviously, the Wild are going to do everything they can to keep Quinn Hughes in the State of Hockey. It’s most likely that it will happen, but no one predicted that Hughes would end up in Minnesota to begin with either.
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