Trade Deadline Primer: Minnesota Wild

The trade deadline looms and is now less than two weeks away. Where does each team stand, and what moves should they be looking to make? We continue our look around the league with the Minnesota Wild.

After yet another first-round exit during the 2021-22 NHL playoffs, the Minnesota Wild are poised to return this season. Unfortunately, their Stanley Cup hopes have ended quite early, having failed to reach the second round since the 2014-15 season and failing to reach the Conference Finals since 2002-03. Although a deep run in the playoffs has eluded the Wild for many years, they finally have produced a young, homegrown NHL superstar to build around. The Russian-born Kirill Kaprizov cracked the 100-point plateau during his age-24 season last year and is projected to fall near it once again.

Under GM Bill Guerin, Minnesota didn’t make a significant acquisition at the deadline until last season. Adding legendary goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury from the division-rival Chicago Blackhawks and shoring up the back-end with the trade for Jacob Middleton from the San Jose Sharks. However, the elephant in the room is the dead cap left behind in the wake of buying out forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter. This season, those players have accounted for $12.7MM in dead cap space for the Wild, and it will increase to $14.7MM for the 2023-24, and 2024-25 NHL seasons. With this in mind, it is safe to assume the Wild will be looking at short-term additions to the lineup this trade deadline season as they are once again looking to make a run in the playoffs.

Record

31-21-5, 4th in Central

Deadline Status

Buyer

Deadline Cap Space

$10.04MM in full-season cap space today, $11.95MM at the deadline, 1/3 retention slots used, 44/50 contracts used, per CapFriendly.

Upcoming Draft Picks

2023: MIN 1st, MIN 2nd, MIN 4th, MIN 5th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th

2024: MIN 1st, MIN 2nd, MIN 3rd, MIN 4th, MIN 5th, MIN 6th, MIN 7th

Trade Chips

After an incredible 50-point season in 2017-18, it was no surprise the Wild opted to extend defenseman Mathew Dumba with a five-year, $30MM contract. Unfortunately for both he and the team Dumba hasn’t quite regained form from that year. Failing to score more than 30 points in a season since, Dumba and the Wild appear headed toward a split. Nearly every season since that contract was signed, Dumba has found his name in the trade rumors.

After being healthy-scratched twice this season, the Wild could look to recoup some assets instead of losing to Dumba in free agency. It is hard to imagine Dumba being at the top of any team’s trade list this season, but for those teams that are in on Erik Karlsson, he might come as a consolation prize as a right-handed shooting defenseman.

If the Wild are going to look past rental options, and try to squeeze a player into their long-term approach, one of the more interesting prospects in their system is Carson Lambos. A second-round draft pick of the Wild during the 2021 NHL Draft, Lambos has scored 43 points in 46 games for the Winnipeg Ice in the Western Hockey League this season. Although many teams would highly regard a player like Lambos, he could become an attractive trade chip for the Wild.

Currently, the Wild have four defensemen on their roster signed beyond next season. Calen Addison has had an impressive 27 points in his first full NHL campaign, so it is safe to assume the Wild will look to resign him this summer. As Lambos’ time in the WHL comes to a close, the Wild may be unable to give him the minutes a player of his caliber might otherwise receive.

An off-the-radar trade piece the Wild have at their disposal is goalie Filip Gustavsson. After acquiring Gustavsson from the Ottawa Senators, Gustavsson has impressed with a 15-8 record and a .928 SV% splitting time between the pipes with Fleury. As young goalie Jesper Wallstedt continues to improve with Minnesota’s AHL affiliate Iowa Wild, Minnesota must decide how he fits into their future. Because of Fleury’s age when he signed his most recent contract with the Wild, he will be incredibly challenging to move given his 35+ NMC included in his contract. As the cap crunch continues next year for Minnesota, they simply may not be able to afford what Gustavsson will want on his next contract.

Other Potential Trade Chips: Dakota Mermis (D), Brandon Duhaime (F), Danila Yurov (F)

Team Needs

1)  Top-Six Winger: After placing fifth in GF/G with 3.72 during the 2021-22 NHL season, the Wild have dropped to 25th in the same category this year. Because of the dead cap space from recent buyouts, the Wild have a Kevin Fiala-sized hole in the lineup this season. As the defense has continued to be a strength, and the goaltending has rebounded from a lousy start to the year, it has become imperative that the Wild add a goal-scoring forward at the deadline to continue their hopes of a long playoff run.

Two of the most obvious choices are off the board in Vladimir Tarasenko and Bo Horvat, so the crop to choose from has become smaller for the Wild. If Minnesota looks at rentals, there are still a couple of goal-scorers on the market. Philadelphia Flyers forward James van Riemsdyk comes to mind as an obvious fit for Minnesota. He would add to their crop of large and imposing forwards who excel at putting the puck in the net. Due to their recent trade activity at last year’s deadline, it would not be a shock to see the Wild engaged with the Blackhawks on their upcoming UFA Patrick Kane. Although Kane must approve of his new destination, his goal-scoring capabilities are ideal for the Wild. Aside from rentals, if they can make room in their near-to-long-term plans, Brock Boeser is an interesting player to consider as well. A native Minnesotan, Boeser has shown incredible flurries of goal-scoring in his career, and currently finds himself on a rebuilding team in the Vancouver Canucks.

2) Long-Term Cap Flexibility: Acknowledged as a bold move at the time, the buyouts of Parise and Suter still loom large over the brass of the Minnesota Wild. Accounting for just over 15% of the Wild’s overall cap space, this dead cap has prohibited the Wild from adding more talent around young superstar Kaprizov. This problem will persist until after the 2024-25 season when the dead money drops considerably. The Wild will have to get extremely creative over the next several seasons to retain some of their up-and-coming players. Having already locked up core pieces such as captain Jared Spurgeon, Joel Eriksson Ek, Matt Boldy, as well as Kaprizov, the Wild and GM Guerin are up to the task of adding more talent around this group.

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