With just two teams still playing, the rest have already started their offseason planning. What storylines lie ahead around the league? Our Offseason Keys series continues with a look at the Minnesota Wild.
Following a disappointing first-round exit, Minnesota was hoping for better things in 2017-18. They had another strong regular season as they hit the 100-point mark for the third time in four years. They also hovered near the top-ten in both goals scored and allowed and did so despite several key injuries to some of their top players. In the end, the final result was the same, a five-game series loss in the opening round. One big change has already been made with Paul Fenton replacing Chuck Fletcher as GM; what will Fenton have on his plate this offseason?
Decide On An Ennis Buyout
The inclusion of Tyler Ennis in the trade that saw Marco Scandella go to Buffalo was more for salary cap purposes than Minnesota wanting him but they were certainly hopeful that a change of scenery would help him get closer to the 40+ point mark that he reached a couple of times with the Sabres. While his offensive numbers improved slightly, he still didn’t provide much value compared to his $4.6MM cap hit.
Now, with just one year remaining on his contract, a buyout looks like a realistic possibility. Because his deal was front-loaded though, they’d still be on the hook for a $2.17MM cap charge in 2018-19 plus $1.22MM in 2019-20. That said, they could still find a suitable replacement for Ennis for less than the roughly $2.5MM difference between his current AAV and his buyout cap hit for next season which would allow them to allocate the savings to fill another hole.
The other idea that they may want to explore is a trade with 50% retention. While that would bring about a slightly higher cap hit compared to a buyout for next season, it would get him off the books entirely for 2019-20. However, they’d also likely have to take another contract back which would lessen the benefit from doing this. It’s also a possibility that Ennis stays but given how tight they’re going to be on the salary cap, he is someone that appears to be in line to be a casualty in some form.
Re-Sign Dumba, Zucker
The Wild don’t have many restricted free agents to re-sign but they have a pair of prominent ones to lock up in defenseman Mathew Dumba and winger Jason Zucker.
Dumba is coming off of his bridge contract and had a great platform season, posting 50 points while logging just shy of 24 minutes per night. He has emerged as a top pairing defender and has positioned himself to get a significantly higher payday than his $2.75MM qualifying offer. Dumba is two years away from UFA eligibility so a long-term deal is a likely outcome with an AAV around double what his qualifier is.
As for Zucker, he vastly outperformed his two-year, $4MM deal for the second straight season and posted career bests across the board offensively. Those types of numbers (33 goals, 31 assists) will look awfully strong in an arbitration room. While Dumba’s deal is certainly important, Zucker’s case may be even more so as he is just a year away from UFA eligibility. If they can’t agree on a long-term deal, he can just opt for arbitration, get a significant raise, and potentially hit the open market next summer. That’s not a scenario Fenton and the Wild will want to deal with so it wouldn’t be surprising if they push to get something done sooner than later with Zucker.
Add Defensive Insurance
Because of their cap situation, Minnesota basically rolled with four quality defenders and used youngsters and depth players to fill out the back half of their back end. That’s a risky play when everyone is healthy, something that may not be the case to start the season with Ryan Suter’s availability being in doubt.
With that in mind, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Fenton try to add a veteran that can be a strong fit on a third pairing when the full lineup is available that can move up and hold his own on a second pairing when there are injuries. Ideally, a true top-four defender would be better but even with the expected increase to the salary cap, they won’t have a lot of room to work with once Zucker and Dumba are locked up. A fourth or fifth defender is about all that they will be able to afford but that would still give them some form of insurance which is something they didn’t really have this past season.
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