The Ferda Room: The Wild are real, and Florida wasted a major

Minnesota got to 1,000 wins faster than any franchise in NHL history on Friday, with a $17 million winger on an eight-game point streak and an unsigned defenseman playing 28 minutes a night. Florida lost two of three, wasted a five-minute major in Washington, and plays Boston at 1 p.m. today on no sleep.

The room agrees the Wild are the best team in the West. It splits on whether Nikita Kucherov should ever see Sunrise.

The big one: the Wild are the real thing

Marcus Lind — What the numbers say

The number is 28.1. That's Quinn Hughes's ice time per game, per NHL data, second in the league to Zach Werenski, with 26 points in 19 games and an eight-game point streak, on a $7.85 million cap hit that expires in July.

Kirill Kaprizov's new deal started this season: eight years at $17 million, $136 million in all, through 2033-34. He has 16 goals and 31 points in 19 games and his own eight-game streak, per NHL data. MVP production at an MVP price, and the conference's best defenseman at a discount with an expiry date.

Minnesota is 3-0-2 in its last five at plus-7, by our count. The sheet is as good as the standings, with one bill coming due that the GM says he won't beg about.

Gord Tremblay — Where it goes from here

Two files run through St. Paul and neither moved this week. Hughes said his feet are planted, Guerin said there's nothing to talk about, both On the record, and together that's a deal done in everything but the signature.

The Larkin file is the one that stalled, and it stalled on Detroit's terms: LeBrun has Larkin's agents refusing to add teams to the list, and the Minnesota talks stuck on Detroit wanting NHL help back, not picks. Grade: Reported.

The read: Guerin's problem isn't price, it's inventory. His best tradeable salary is Yakov Trenin: no goals in 19 games, 10 straight without a point, 13.2 minutes a night, per NHL data. Detroit wants a player. Minnesota is offering a cap dump with a bow on it. The Wild still get Larkin, just not this month.

Sully — The grade and the grievance

Look, Quinn Hughes played 31 minutes against San Jose on Friday. I've had long weekends that felt shorter. The Wild got to 1,000 wins faster than anybody in history with a defenseman who doesn't believe in line changes.

Kaprizov has 16 goals. The Bruins have forwards who've had 16 shots. Jesper Wallstedt is at .930 over his last five starts, per NHL data, which in Minnesota goalie history is a typo.

Grade: A. One concession: it's November, and Minnesota in November is like a Bruins 3-1 lead. Enjoy it while it's there. Buddy, I'm begging you, Bill, sign the man before he plays 35.

Gord Tremblay — Three from the notebook

1. Kucherov's GM has gone quiet, and the people around the player haven't. Friedman says BriseBois hasn't answered Kucherov's "communication and respect" comments, and that people who know the winger believe he's serious about not coming back. His agent called the talks beyond repair. Grade: Reported.

The read: a GM who says nothing in public has decided to wait for the March price. Kucherov scored the overtime winner in Minnesota on Saturday on nine shots, per NHL data. The price isn't falling.

2. Larkin's list is the wall, and it isn't moving. LeBrun has Larkin's camp telling Detroit the 10 teams are the 10 teams. Montreal, Buffalo, Boston and Los Angeles are interested and not on it. Grade: Reported.

The read: Detroit asked for a bigger market and got told no by a player who isn't getting paid. The side losing a game cheque a night usually finds out first whether that's leverage or stubbornness.

3. Pittsburgh is about to sell, and Rust is the easy piece. Friedman says Penguins trades could come "pretty quickly," depending on the no-trade clauses, and that Dubas wants picks or NHL-ready kids for Rakell and Rust. Grade: Rumbling.

The read: Malkin, Rakell, Karlsson and Letang all have protection. Rust doesn't. A 5-2 win over the Kings on Saturday doesn't change a sheet pointed at the deadline since the summer.

Marcus Lind — The number

The number: $7.85 million. That's the cap hit Minnesota pays its 28-minute defenseman this season, the last year of the deal he signed in Vancouver in 2021. Cale Makar's new number is $20.4 million, about 18 percent of next year's ceiling. Hughes is playing more minutes for less than two-fifths of that.

Sign him now / Wait: Quinn Hughes

• Sign him now: my price is eight years at $14.5 million, a projection built from Makar at the top and Seth Jones's $9.5 million as the floor for a true No. 1. That's about 12.8 percent of a $113.5 million ceiling, and the share shrinks as the cap climbs. Every 28-minute night moves the comparables up.

• Wait: the only argument is Guerin's, that it isn't complicated and resolves itself. Hughes can't sign elsewhere until July 1 and has said where his feet are. Waiting costs Minnesota nothing in leverage.

• My call: sign him now anyway. Leverage isn't the point; the number is. The price went up with the Makar deal and goes up with every 31-minute night. Lock the share of the ceiling today.

Sully — The grievance

Look, I'll own mine first. I said McDavid's streak ends this week. He had three assists Saturday and it's 18 straight, every game he's played. I've been wrong before. I've never been wrong about something that went and got more right on purpose.

Now Florida. The Panthers were handed a five-minute major nine minutes into Saturday's game in Washington. They scored once on it, went 1-for-5 for the afternoon, and got two more power plays in the third period down a goal and two. Zero goals. They lost 4-3.

That's not a power play. That's a guy at the free-sample counter who won't take the toothpick. Florida out-hit Washington 31-8, so they hit everything in the building except the net.

Now they're in Boston at 1 p.m. against a rested first-place team. In Boston we call that a hazing with a start time. Grade: D for the power play, and that's the curve.

Kept off the sheet: Connor Murphy, Edmonton. Thirteen straight games without a point at 21.0 minutes a night, per NHL data. He's on the ice for 21 minutes and the score sheet files a missing-persons report.

Fight of the week stays with Anaheim and Vancouver, five of them on Tuesday, and I already handed out the verdicts. Nobody topped it. Nobody tried.

Tommy Kessler — Campus minute

Wisconsin took No. 1 on Monday and went into Mariucci on Saturday and won the Border Battle 6-0. New No. 1 teams usually spend a week proving it. The Badgers needed one period.

The Hockey East weekend was BU in East Lansing: the Terriers won 6-2 Friday, Michigan State won 5-0 Saturday, and I called a split with BU stealing the second night. Right result, wrong night.

In the league, UNH swept Lowell, Maine and UMass split 2-1 and 2-0, Providence closed a home-and-home with UConn by winning 8-1 in Storrs, and Vermont and BC tied 4-4.

Elsewhere, Quinnipiac won in Ithaca and Hamilton on back-to-back nights, and Yale beat Harvard in overtime.

The prospect the NHL crowd should know is Ryder Cali, the Panthers' second-round pick, who went into the weekend centering Providence's top line at 17 with four goals in six games.

Meg Halloran — The W minute

Canada opened the Worlds in Herning without Poulin, Fillier or the Maple Leaf and beat Sweden 5-1 anyway, with Jessie Eldridge scoring twice on the top line she inherited. The U.S. beat Switzerland 7-0, and Aerin Frankel's eight-save shutout tied Jessie Vetter for the most Worlds wins by an American goalie at 16.

Denmark gave the hosts a night, beating Japan in a shootout. On campus, UConn swept BC in a home-and-home, and Northeastern finally has company at the top of Hockey East.

The W read: the IIHF put its two best teams in plain sweaters and got outscored 12-1 by them on day one. The jersey fight is the federation's problem. The gap to the field is everyone else's.

Pabs — The Panthers table

Three games, one win. Detroit spoiled the jersey night 5-3 on Monday, Sandis Vilmanis went for four in a 5-3 win over Chicago on Wednesday, and Florida wasted a major in Washington on Saturday.

The kid left that one nine minutes in after a Tom Wilson boarding major, and Maurice said they'll know more when the doctors are done.

The number that matters is still the division. Florida is 0-3-0 against the Atlantic and 9-6-2 overall with 20 points, by our count, and Boston at 1 p.m. today is the first chance to fix it.

Reinhart's point streak is at six, per NHL data. Barkov and Marchand are on the trip for morning skates, not games, with early December the target.

In Estero, the Everblades beat Jacksonville 4-1 on Saturday and sit 7-1-0, tied for second in the South at 14 points. Box score.

The week ahead: Boston today at 1, at Columbus Tuesday, Detroit again Thursday in Sunrise, then St. Louis and Dallas next weekend.

• Marcus: Reinhart at 24:45 and Tkachuk at 23:55 on Saturday, per NHL data, is what a sheet at $1.41 million of space looks like when it loses a forward. There's no call-up money until Barkov's $2.56 million activation bill is settled, so the minutes go to the stars.

• Gord: Detroit comes back to Sunrise on Thursday with its captain's standoff in its third week. Florida is on his list and nowhere near a deal, which is the right place to be. The Red Wings beat you once while shopping their best player. Don't let it happen twice.

• Sully: Gustav Forsling. Eight straight games without a point at 21.0 minutes a night, per NHL data. Buddy, you're out there 21 minutes a night. At this point the score sheet has you down as a healthy scratch.

• Kessler: Vilmanis went for four on Wednesday on 12.5 minutes a night for the season, per NHL data, and he was on the first line when he left Saturday. What the doctors say this week decides whether Florida's December problem starts in November.

The Room's locks

Last week's calls, with the receipts:

• Pabs: wrong. Detroit won 5-3 in Sunrise on Monday. Half a sweep is no sweep.

• Marcus: wrong. No Hughes extension. Guerin's "nothing to talk about" is the only announcement Minnesota made.

• Gord: wrong. Larkin is still a suspended Red Wing. The Minnesota talks stalled on Detroit wanting players back.

• Sully: wrong. McDavid's streak is at 18, every game he's played.

• Kessler: right. Wisconsin is No. 1 in the USCHO poll. Michigan is second.

• Meg: right. The U.S. beat Switzerland 7-0 in its opener.

Season records: Pabs 3-3 · Marcus 4-2 · Gord 5-1 · Sully 2-4 · Kessler 4-2 · Meg 3-3.

And this week's calls:

• Pabs: Florida beats Detroit on Thursday in Sunrise, and it isn't close.

• Marcus: Hughes is still unsigned next Sunday. I'll take the number I was wrong about last week and bet it the other way.

• Gord: Pittsburgh trades an NHL regular before next Sunday.

• Sully: McDavid's streak reaches 21. Fine. I'm on the bandwagon. Somebody hold my coffee.

• Kessler: Michigan State passes Michigan for No. 2 in Monday's USCHO poll.

• Meg: The U.S. and Canada both finish the preliminary round unbeaten in regulation.

Where they split

The week's real disagreement is whether Kucherov belongs in Sunrise. It's Sully against Marcus.

• Sully: Yes. Tampa has to trade him somewhere, and I'd rather he beat the Bruins in a Panthers sweater than a Canadiens one. Florida is 0-3 in the Atlantic. Pick the number that scares you.

• Marcus: No, and it isn't an opinion. Florida has $1.41 million of space, 47 of 50 contracts used and a $2.56 million bill when Barkov is activated. Taking on $9.5 million means sending out $9.5 million, and those players are the ones winning the games.

Last word: Sully

Boston lost James Hagens to injured reserve on Saturday, and the Bruins are still 12-4-1 and first in the Atlantic, which in my family is called the setup. Florida walks into the Garden at 1 p.m. on the back half of a back-to-back.

I've seen this movie. The Bruins win today, feel great about it, and someone in a Panthers sweater we haven't heard of yet scores in April. Enjoy the afternoon, Boston. Keep the receipt.