Souhan: Why the Wild’s Quinn Hughes trade might be the most impressive acquisition in recent Minnesota sports history

Minnesota sports fans have been complaining about the Herschel Walker trade for 35 years.

The Quinn Hughes deal is what the Walker trade was supposed to be.

In fact, the Wild’s trade for Hughes might be the most impressive acquisition in recent Minnesota sports history, and has failed to resonate with casual fans because Hughes isn’t a household name who tries to sell you insurance during every commercial break.

The Wild made similar waves in 2012, signing Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. The pursuit of those free agents featured all of the elements that would capture the imagination of the long-suffering Minnesota sports fan.

The nice-guy owner, Craig Leipold, spent big on big names.

The players — Parise from the Twin Cities and Suter from Wisconsin — chose Minnesota over other competitors, in part because they wanted to live here.

When the signings occurred, on July 4, 2012, it felt like the entire state celebrated concurrent holidays.

The signings also followed the plot of a quality suspense thriller, featuring rumors, clandestine meetings, reporters stalking sources and, eventually, the big reveal.

The Parise and Suter signings weren’t the only bold and aggressive moves made by Twin Cities sports teams over the years.

Recently, Wolves boss Tim Connelly has made a habit of shocking the market with unforeseen deals for Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Donte DiVincenzo.

The Gophers hired Lou Holtz when he was one of the country’s best coaching candidates. The Twins signed Jack Morris and Chili Davis — although Mike Boddicker and Kirk Gibson were their first targets.

The Vikings traded a large assortment of assets for Herschel Walker and, later, Jared Allen. The Vikings also brought Brett Favre to Minnesota, a move that had helicopters circling the team’s facility.

Favre was on a late-career revenge tour. Connelly’s moves were stunning and led to two conference finals, but Gobert, Randle and DiVincenzo, while highly effective players, are not superstars. Morris and Davis were bargain long shots near the end of their careers. The Allen trade was shrewd, and almost led to a Super Bowl berth, but Allen did not have the pristine reputation that Hughes has. And let us speak no more of Walker.

The Hughes deal outshines them all. The Wild outbid a slew of teams for a star in his prime and added him to one of the hottest teams in the NHL.

A couple of months ago, the Wild, who haven’t won a playoff series since 2015, looked hopeless. Backup goaltender Jesper Wallstedt saved their season and the team responded, performing as well as any NHL club in November.

Wild General Manager Bill Guerin looked at a roster featuring two capable goalies, defense depth, a star in Kirill Kaprizov and a rising star in Matt Boldy, and paid a large price. He traded Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam Ohgren and a first-round draft pick for Hughes.

Hughes could leave after next season in free agency. Those are the kinds of risks you take to acquire this caliber of player.

The Twins have made plenty of impressive deals over the years, but they were usually for someone unknown who later blossomed, like Johan Santana or Joe Nathan.