Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Wild Rumors

Wild Sign Riley Heidt To Entry-Level Contract

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Minnesota Wild have signed 2023 second-round draft pick Riley Heidt to a three-year, entry-level contract (Twitter link). Heidt is coming off a dazzling season with the WHL’s Price George Cougars – scoring the second-most points in Cougars history (114 points), behind linemate Zac Funk who broke the record (121 points) this year. Heidt also earned Prince George’s all-time leading scorer title this season, with 277 points across four years and 220 games with the team.

Heidt is a poised and commanding playmaking-centerman who shows a strong understanding of how to play in the three lanes of the ice. His effectiveness comes from his ability to blend with his wingers – forming a great duo with Koehn Ziemmer across the last two seasons and Funk and Terik Parascak this year. While not the flashiest player in his own right, Heidt’s poise and constant scanning bring out the best in his linemates.

The Minnesota Wild will hope he can maintain the newfound tempo he added this season – something that could blend well with the slick-moving Adam Beckman or heavy-shooting top prospect Liam Ohgren – with Heidt potentially joining both players in the AHL next season. But even with the excitement of his first pro deal still fresh, Heidt will first have to focus on Prince George’s looming playoff run after the team’s first 100-point season ever.

Jonas Brodin Out With Lower-Body Injury

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

  • Moving out West, the Minnesota Wild announced that defenseman Jonas Brodin would miss the team’s game tonight against the Los Angeles Kings with a lower-body injury. It will mark the 19th game that Brodin has missed this season with injury, as an upper-body injury, as well as another lower-body injury, have kept him out of the lineup for multiple games at a time. Nevertheless, Brodin is still the second-highest-scoring defenseman for the Wild this season, putting up seven goals and 23 points in 51 games.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Jonas Brodin To Have MRI, Avoided ACL Injury

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

Wild left-shot defenseman Jonas Brodin will undergo imaging today to determine the extent of a lower-body injury he sustained in Tuesday’s 4-0 win over the Ducks, The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports. The belief is that Brodin has avoided an ACL tear in his right knee, which folded awkwardly when Ducks winger Alex Killorn delivered a late shove along the boards (video link, viewer discretion advised). Killorn was not penalized for the play, and he will not face supplemental discipline.

While Brodin may not be out months, it’s certainly possible his 2023-24 campaign may be in jeopardy with only a few weeks left on the regular-season schedule if imaging reveals a mid-grade injury of any kind. The blue-liner, who’s now in the third season of a seven-year, $42MM extension, missed 17 games earlier this season with an upper-body injury.

The injuries have limited Minnesota’s top shutdown man to 51 games on the season, although he’s looked no worse for wear when in the lineup. Brodin has seven goals and 23 points through 51 games, the highest points-per-game pace of his 12-year career, as well as a team-leading +17 rating. He hasn’t overtaken the number-one role vacated by captain Jared Spurgeon’s season-ending injuries, however. That honor has gone to rookie Brock Faber, who’s well on his way toward a top-two finish in Calder Trophy voting with 38 points in 69 games while averaging 25:06 per contest – the most for a rookie since ATOI began being tracked in the 1997-98 season.

Now 30, Brodin remains a core on-ice and off-ice component to this Wild club, and any absence is a gigantic blow to their chances of capturing a playoff spot. The Wild are hot – 6-2-2 in their past 10 games – but only have a roughly 1 in 5 chance of catching the Golden Knights for the second wild-card spot, per MoneyPuck, a number that certainly drops without Brodin and Spurgeon in the fold.

With likely out for tonight’s game against the Kings at a minimum, one of Alex Goligoski or Dakota Mermis will slide into the lineup after serving as healthy scratches against Anaheim. Mermis is much more probable, as the 38-year-old Goligoski has been a scratch in 19 straight games dating back to Feb. 7 against the Blackhawks. Mermis has been a healthy scratch for five straight.

Evening Notes: Hronek, Eriksson Ek, St. Ivany

at CDT | by 1 Comment

There’s always something to look forward to for the Vancouver Canucks, who now have full focus on extending defenseman Filip Hronek after extending star forward Elias Pettersson. This deal should cost the Canucks a pretty penny as well, with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggesting in an appearance on CHEK’s Donnie and Dhali (video link) a cap hit within the range of $7.5MM.

Hronek has become a crucial piece of Vancouver’s lineup since joining the team at last season’s Trade Deadline. He’s not only boosted his own impact but made the players around him better as well – serving as the perfect partner for star defenseman Quinn Hughes. Both Hronek and Hughes have recorded a career-high in scoring this season, with 45 and 77 points respectively. The duo is playing upwards of 24 minutes each game – representing the only Canucks pairing averaging more than even 19 minutes of ice time. Hughes is signed through the 2026-27 season, carrying a $7.85MM cap hit. Vancouver will lock up their top defensive pairing for the future if – and hopefully when – they’re able to sign Hronek to a comparable deal.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Minnesota Wild centerman Joel Eriksson Ek won’t join the team for the final two games of their California road trip, getting held back by a lower-body injury per The Athletic’s Michael Russo (Twitter Link). Russo adds that Minnesota is holding Eriksson Ek out a bit longer, in an effort to be cautious with his injury. The 27-year-old centerman has missed Minnesota’s last two games. His next chance to return will be on March 23rd when the Wild host the St. Louis Blues. Eriksson Ek’s absence should continue to benefit Marco Rossi’s ice time, after the Austrian played a career-high 20:44 in the team’s last game.
  • Jack St. Ivany has been reassigned to the AHL, jumping back-and-forth between the NHL and AHL lineups on a few call-ups since Sunday. (Twitter Link). St. Ivany will hope to receive his NHL debut on his next recall, after serving as an NHL healthy scratch for the first time on Saturday. St. Ivany, 24, has four goals, 12 points, and 30 penalty minutes in 52 AHL games this season – though he hasn’t scored a point since a two-goal performance on February 14th.

Wild Sign Rasmus Kumpulainen To Entry-Level Deal

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Wild signed forward Rasmus Kumpulainen to a three-year, entry-level contract on Monday, per a team announcement. Financial terms were not disclosed, although Minnesota did confirm the deal will begin in 2024-25.

A natural center, Kumpulainen was the first of two second-round picks the Wild owned in the 2023 draft. Their other selection was WHL Prince George forward Riley Heidt, who’s third in the league in scoring with 114 points in 64 games.

The 18-year-old Kumpulainen went off the board earlier as a safer but lower-ceiling pick, as evidenced by his solid but not overly impressive transition to North American ice. After spending his draft year with Lahden Pelicans U20 in Finland’s top junior circuit, he came to Ontario after the OHL’s Oshawa Generals made him the 13th overall selection in last year’s CHL Import Draft. The physically-inclined two-way center (6-foot-2, 194 lbs) has 28 goals, 27 assists, 55 points, and a +13 rating in 56 games with the Gens, placing him sixth on the team in scoring. He’s heated up as of late, though, posting 14 points and a +8 rating in his last 10 outings. He’s registered a point in all eight of Oshawa’s games in March.

Kumpulainen also represented Finland at this year’s World Juniors, scoring twice in seven games en route to a bronze-game loss to Czechia. He’s ranked as the 12th-best prospect in the Wild’s system by Scott Wheeler of The Athletic, with his classmate Heidt checking in at fourth.

Kumpulainen’s contract is eligible for an entry-level slide as he’ll be 19 next season. If he plays under 10 NHL games in 2024-25, a likely scenario, the beginning of his contract will defer to 2025-26. Any signing bonuses included in the first season of his deal must be paid regardless. He’ll be an RFA at the end of the ELC, which could be in either 2027 or 2028.

Wild Reassign Vladislav Firstov To AHL

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Wild reassigned forward prospect Vladislav Firstov to AHL Iowa on Sunday, per a team announcement. The 22-year-old returns to North America after spending most of the last two seasons on loan to Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.

Firstov inked his entry-level contract with the Wild in March 2022, nearly three years after they selected him in the second round of the 2019 draft. The left winger had a highly unusual development path, playing his youth hockey with his local Russian club before heading to North America to suit up for the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks in his draft year. Firstov then headed to the University of Connecticut for three seasons after being drafted, also suiting up for Russia at the 2021 World Juniors. The 6-foot-1, 181-lb winger barely played for the Wild organization inking his ELC, however. He logged two assists in eight games for AHL Iowa to close out the 2021-22 season after signing and played just one game to kick off 2022-23 before the Wild loaned him to the KHL at the player’s request.

The move has proven beneficial for the speedy forward, who’s emerged as a top-six threat for Torpedo. Over the past two seasons, Firstov logged 28 goals, 33 assists, 61 points, and a +12 rating in 114 games, routinely averaging north of 15 minutes per game. His 17 goals and 35 points ranked third on Nizhny Novgorod this season. The Yaroslavl native also recorded a team-high 68 PIMs in 2023-24 and has overall displayed upside as a bottom-six grinder with strong possession numbers overseas.

Firstov now gets a shot down the stretch to show if he can translate his strengths to North American ice with Iowa. Unfortunately for the Wild, they likely won’t see him in postseason action – Iowa ranks last in the AHL’s Central Division with a 20-33-5 record and is nine points back of a playoff spot.

While Firstov signed his ELC in March 2022, the contract didn’t begin immediately, instead deferring to the 2022-23 campaign. The deal, which carries a cap hit of $925K, still has one season remaining and makes him an RFA in 2025. As such, Firstov will likely remain in Iowa next season and has an outside shot to compete for an NHL spot out of camp later this year.

Joel Eriksson Ek May Not Travel With Team

at CDT | by 2 Comments

  • After missing the team’s game against the Anaheim Ducks with a lower-body injury, it appears that Minnesota Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek may not join the team on their upcoming road trip to California. Joe Smith of The Athletic reported that Eriksson Ek is still considered day-to-day, and the team was waiting to see how he responded to the next couple of days of practice.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Joel Eriksson Ek Out With Injury

at CDT | by 1 Comment

  • Before the team’s game tonight against the Anaheim Ducks, the Minnesota Wild announced that center Joel Eriksson Ek would miss the game due to a lower-body injury. It is a tough loss for Minnesota, as the team has willed their way back into the Western Conference playoff conversation. Eriksson Ek has been a focal point of that effort, scoring four goals and 15 points in his last 12 games for the Wild.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Joel Eriksson Ek Out Day-To-Day With Undisclosed Injury

at CDT | by 7 Comments

  • The Wild will be without top center Joel Eriksson Ek for Thursday’s game against the Ducks, but head coach John Hynes confirmed he won’t be absent for long as Minnesota battles to hang on in the Western Conference wild-card race (via Michael Russo of The Athletic). The 27-year-old sustained an undisclosed injury in the third period of Tuesday’s game against the Coyotes and did not return and is listed as day-to-day. Minnesota has not placed him on injured reserve, so he’s eligible to return at any time, but he’s still expected to miss a few games. In the third season of an eight-year, $42MM extension, Eriksson Ek is having a career year with 60 points and a +16 rating in 66 games while averaging 20:39 per game, second only to Kirill Kaprizov among Wild skaters.

Johansson Skates, Nearing Return; Firstov's KHL Season Ends

at CDT | by 2 Comments

  • Wild forward Marcus Johansson skated at practice today as he works his way back from a lower-body injury, relays John Shipley of the Pioneer Press. The issue has held him out of the lineup for the last three games and it’s not yet known if that stretch will be extended as head coach John Hynes was unsure of Johansson’s availability for tomorrow.  The 33-year-old has 27 points in 61 games so far this season.
  • Still with the Wild, The Athletic’s Michael Russo notes (Twitter link) that prospect Vladislav Firstov’s KHL season has ended, suggesting that he could now return to AHL Iowa. The 22-year-old is in the second season of his entry-level deal but has spent pretty much that entire time at the KHL level with Torpedo.  This season, Firstov had 17 goals and 18 assists in 67 regular season games and while he’s unlikely to join Minnesota (unlike Marat Khusnutdinov whose NHL debut is likely to come this week), he could benefit from simply getting in some AHL contests.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

scroll to top