Free agency is now just under a month away and many teams are already looking ahead to when it opens up. There will be several prominent players set to hit the open market in late July while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign as well. Minnesota has been busy in recent days with some re-signings but still has two impact RFAs and several veteran UFAs in need of new contracts.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Kirill Kaprizov – Technically speaking, Kaprizov doesn’t even qualify for restricted free agency as he doesn’t have enough service time to qualify to be tendered an offer sheet but he needs a new deal nevertheless. Minnesota is believed to have already made a long-term offer to the 24-year-old but such a contract doesn’t appear to be to Kaprizov’s liking. Something shorter-term that sets him up for a new deal in a more favorable cap environment while being in the prime of his career would be preferable on his part though not for the Wild. With Kaprizov not having arbitration rights either, his leverage is limited to stalling in the hopes of getting a better offer from Minnesota so this is a deal that could be slow-played longer into the summer. Regardless of how long it takes, he will make substantially more than the $925K base salary (which includes the signing bonus) he made on his entry-level deal this season.
F Kevin Fiala – Despite the last two seasons being shortened by the pandemic, the winger has reached the 20-goal mark each time for only the second and third time of his career. Fiala has settled in nicely with the Wild after being acquired back at the 2019 trade deadline in exchange for Mikael Granlund. The 24-year-old has arbitration eligibility for the first time and is two years away from reaching unrestricted free agency. If a long-term deal is worked out that buys out some of those UFA-eligible years, Fiala may have a shot at doubling the $3MM AAV he had on his bridge contract. Worth noting, his qualifying offer stands a little higher than that at $3.5MM.
Other RFAs: F Will Bitten, F Brandon Duhaime, F Mason Shaw
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Nick Bonino – Statistically speaking, Bonino had a similar season on a points per game basis compared to his time with Nashville (who traded him to Minnesota last fall). At this stage of his career, he’s best served as a third-line center and as someone who is routinely above average at the faceoff dot, he should have considerable interest on the open market. However, spending on the bottom six dried up last summer and with the cap staying flat, that’s likely to continue this summer. Accordingly, it would be surprising to see the 33-year-old match the $4.1MM AAV he got from the Predators in his last trip to free agency back in 2017.
F Marcus Johansson – Last season didn’t go well for Johansson as he managed just six goals and eight assists in 36 games. However, he had two straight 30-point seasons before that and going back to his time in Washington, he had five seasons of 44 or more points. There’s a track record of offensive success in the right environment. He was patient two years ago and landed a two-year, $9MM contract from Buffalo but he won’t have a shot at that this time around. However, he’s an intriguing middle-six option out there, especially if he’s open to a one-year contract to try to boost his value and show he has something left in the tank.
D Ian Cole – The veteran was acquired early in the season to stabilize their third pairing and he did just that, logging nearly 16 minutes a night over 52 games while providing plenty of physicality. Cole should have a decent-sized market this summer but it will be in that limited capacity, not as a top-four player which is how he was able to sell himself three years ago in free agency when he managed to land a $4.25MM price tag. Half of that may be the ceiling this time around.
Other UFAs: D Matt Bartkowski, D Louis Belpedio, F Joseph Cramarossa, F Gabriel Dumont, G Andrew Hammond, D Brad Hunt, F Luke Johnson, D Ian McCoshen, D Dakota Mermis, F Kyle Rau
Projected Cap Space
Minnesota finds themselves with just under $16MM in cap space which may sound like a lot at first but a significant chunk of that will need to be allocated to Kaprizov and Fiala. By the time they fill out their roster with some depth players, that will basically be it for summer spending. As a result, if GM Bill Guerin wants to add a significant piece to his roster, that will likely have to come via the trade route. If that doesn’t happen, it could be a relatively quiet summer for the Wild.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. Contract information courtesy of CapFriendly.