With defenseman Mathew Dumba now locked up, the focus the Wild now shifts to RFA winger Jason Zucker. Michael Russo of The Athletic reports (subscription required) that there is still a fairly significant gap financially for the two sides to bridge with Zucker seeking more than $6MM per year with the team offering something between $5.25MM and $5.75MM per season.
The 26-year-old is coming off of a career season that saw him post 33 goals and 31 assists while playing in all 82 games for the first time. Before 2017-18, his previous high for points was only 47 so new GM Paul Fenton may be a little cautious in case this new level of production isn’t a sign of things to come.
Zucker is also one year away from unrestricted free agency so if his case goes to a hearing, it will have to be a one-year award from the arbitrator. If Zucker believes he can maintain this level of production, he could simply go through the hearing, take the award, and hit the open market in the prime of his career next summer where he could very well land a bigger deal than what Minnesota appears to be offering.
Russo adds that Zucker’s agent, Eustace King, is expected to meet with Fenton on Wednesday and with the pre-hearing filings coming on Thursday (48 hours in advance of the Saturday hearing), that may very well be the last ditch effort to get a deal done before going to a hearing.
The Wild don’t have a lot of cap space. They currently have $5,645,576 in cap space. If Zucker is awarded above $5 million, which is likely, the Wild will need to clear a contract or two to give themselves wiggle room cap wise. A forward could be moved because if Zucker signs, the Wild will have 15 forwards. The Wild aren’t carrying that many forwards during the season.
Somehow they need to figure out how to get rid of Koivu. His time is passed. He’s more of an anchor now.