Neal: Happy holidays, Wild fans. Quinn Hughes is the fantastic present you didn’t expect.

The Wild were giving up goals. Mats Zuccarello and Nico Sturm had not played a game because of injuries. The young players played like erratic young players.

On Oct. 28, before the Wild lost 4-3 in overtime to Winnipeg, Wild President of Hockey Operations Bill Guerin was asked if he needed to go out and deal for reinforcements following a terrible start to the season.

“I’ve got time,” Guerin said. “Let’s see how the kids play.”

I was impatient. The Wild were in a skid in which they won once in nine games. Following the loss to the Jets, I suggested we should begin to expect less from this underachieving team. The reasoning was they were digging too deep of a hole.

On Friday evening, I was pushing a fork into my mouth when I learned Guerin was pushing his chips in on the trade market, shaking up the NHL and sending a warning to Central Division opponents.

Quinn Hughes? Are you kidding me?

The Wild went from looking ready for a eulogy in October to making a move that serious contenders make in December.

The Wild deal tops them all. The Gobert trade is a strong contender, but the Wild landed a more elite, dynamic athlete.

What about the twin signings of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, you ask? They were very good players. Hughes is the best defenseman not named Cale Makar, and he joins the Wild at 26 while Parise and Suter were 28 when they signed.

In Hughes and Kirill Kaprizov, the Wild have two of the top 20 players in the game, maybe the top 15. Let that sink in. And imagine a Hughes-Brock Faber defensive pairing, if things shake out that way.

Get ready to see some scoring from the blue line, folks. In 2023-24, Hughes put up 92 points with the Canucks. And he will breathe fire into the Wild power play with Kaprizov and Matt Boldy.

This is a go-for-it move. A big swing by Guerin. He wasn’t paying lip service when he spoke about how he would strengthen the roster once the organization was unshackled from the Parise and Suter contracts. This is move that should fire up a fan base.

This trade will be analyzed over the next several years. The Wild gave up a ton in former first-round picks in Zeev Buium, Liam Ohgren and Marco Rossi, plus a first-rounder in 2026. But it was the cost of doing business, and making a team look like a contender. And that first-round pick will likely be toward the bottom of the first round.

It will be tough to stomach if the Wild doesn’t sign Hughes to an extension. But you can’t fault Guerin for aiming high.

“Adding somebody like Quinn — I think the guys are happy,” Guerin said.

The Wild had two things in their favor. In addition to the assets to execute this deal, you can thank two players for making it easier to deploy them.

One is Jesper Wallstedt. The young goalie raised his game and helped stabilize the season in November. Now they have one of the strongest goalie tandems in the league with Wallstedt and Filip Gustavsson. That is a plus when there’s no drop-off between two netminders.

“Danila keeps getting better and better,” Guerin said. “That’s what really made it possible. I’m not worried about our center depth at all.”

As for me, I’m a dope.

Sturm is back and is an asset on the penalty kill. Zuccarello was productive until his latest, likely short-term, injury. The goaltending is strong. Kaprizov and Boldy are doing their thing, The Wild lost only three games in November and currently look capable of beating any team in the league.

Now Hughes enters the chat.