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Jacob Middleton To Play For Canada At IIHF Worlds

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After revealing their initial roster yesterday for the upcoming World Championship, Hockey Canada announced (Twitter link) that Blues goaltender Joel Hofer and Wild defenseman Jacob Middleton have been added to the roster.  Hofer spent most of the season with AHL Springfield but didn’t look out of place in six games with St. Louis where he posted a .905 SV%.  He’s expected to be the backup for the Blues next season and will compete for playing time in this event with Buffalo’s Devon Levi and Montreal’s Samuel Montembeault.

As for Middleton, the 27-year-old played in 79 games for the Wild this season, picking up 15 points and 155 blocks while logging over 19 minutes a night, all career bests.  He also picked up a pair of assists and 24 blocked shots in Minnesota’s opening-round exit to Dallas.  It will be his first time representing Canada internationally.

Ryan Reaves And Wild Have Mutual Interest In Contract Extension

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The Wild acquired veteran winger Ryan Reaves back in November, and it appears that they don’t want his addition to just be a short-term one.  Instead, it’s believed that there is mutual interest in signing the pending UFA to a contract extension, report Joe Smith, Michael Russo, and Shayna Goldman of The Athletic (subscription link).

The 36-year-old was more productive than usual with Minnesota, potting five goals and ten assists in 61 games following the swap, matching the second-highest point output of his career.  Of course, Reaves is best known for his physicality as he added 152 hits, giving their fourth line a much tougher look.  Reaves also suited up in all six playoff games, picking up 21 hits and 14 penalty minutes.

Even though there appears to be interest in an extension, it’s far from a guarantee that they’ll be able to come to one.  Reaves’ expiring deal carries a $1.75MM cap charge and while the Wild were able to afford that this season, they won’t be able to next year.

The dead cap charges for the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter increase by $1MM each next season while extensions to Matt Boldy, Frederick Gaudreau, and Marcus Johansson are adding nearly $8MM more to their payroll.  As things stand, they have a little over $8MM in cap room, per CapFriendly, with six or seven roster spots to fill including a new deal for pending RFA netminder Filip Gustavsson.

Accordingly, paying a high premium for a fourth liner, or any premium at all, really, is a luxury that Minnesota can’t afford as things stand.  Meanwhile, there’s a very good chance that will be Reaves’ last contract so he’ll likely be looking for as much money as possible and perhaps a second year on the deal.  With that in mind, it certainly looks like the Wild will need to create some cap space before realistically trying to keep the veteran in the fold.

Latest On Matt Dumba

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The Minnesota Wild’s 2022-23 season ended with yet another first-round playoff loss last week, beginning the offseason work of general manager Bill Guerin. Guerin has a tall task ahead of him, as his mandate is to build a Stanley Cup contender around superstar Kirill Kaprizov but he must do so with the cap penalties charged for the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts set to rise to nearly $15MM combined.

One of the first cap casualties the Wild are anticipated to face due to the cost of those buyouts regards longtime Wild blueline staple Matt Dumba. The five-year, $6MM AAV contract Dumba signed in 2018 is set to expire, leaving his future in Minnesota in uncertain territory. Yesterday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on the 32 Thoughts podcast that it is “much more likely than not [Dumba] tests the market” when the new league year begins in the summer.

While Dumba may not reach the $6MM on his next contract that he earned on his last, it seems as though the Wild simply will not have the financial bandwidth to offer Dumba a market-rate contract. Friedman did add that the Wild are not yet closing the door on finding a way to retain Dumba, due to how much they respect and appreciate the player, but that his return has to be considered highly unlikely.

The upcoming class of free agent right-shot defensemen isn’t exactly overflowing with talent, and Dumba fits in as one of the top names set to be available, next to teammate John Klingberg and New Jersey Devils rearguard Damon Severson. While Dumba’s play has definitely declined since his 50-point peak in 2017-18, and his offensive production hit career-lows this past season, the 28-year-old still gave head coach Dean Evason over 21 minutes a night, including nearly two minutes short-handed.

21 minutes a night is, to be fair, a noticeable decline from the past few years as Dumba hadn’t averaged below 22 nightly minutes since he was in his first few seasons as an NHL regular. As a result, this decline in tangible returns for Dumba’s play (the decrease in ice time, points production) has left the 28-year-old’s ultimate value in a relatively nebulous place.

Is he still the dynamic, at times game-changing blueliner he was in the past? Can he still reach that point on his next contract?

Or is he a defense-only blueliner at this point in his career, and if that’s the case how much value in his own end will he bring?

Those are the questions teams will have to answer for themselves when they ponder extending Dumba a contract offer in the offseason.

It’s unclear at the current moment the level of wider leaguewide interest there is in Dumba, though it’s worth noting that all it really takes is one “believer” for Dumba to get a nice payday on his next deal.

Based on the fact that the Wild remain passionate supporters of Dumba’s overall value, and the fact that the team is still reportedly holding out hope they can find a way to retain him despite their dire cap situation, it’s entirely possible that another front office holds Dumba in a similarly high regard. If that’s the case, though, then his time in Minnesota (which has thus far lasted nearly 600 games played) is likely over.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Snapshots: Gaudreau, Jonsson-Fjallby, Bell

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The Minnesota Wild were eliminated in the first round of the postseason and have now revealed what injuries their players were dealing with in the playoffs. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, forward Frederick Gaudreau has been dealing with a significant abdominal injury and will require surgery. The injury has been nagging him for four months and he continued to play through it, but will now have surgery to repair the damage.

Gaudreau played all 82 regular season games and all of the team’s six playoff games, so the injury did not take him out of the team’s lineup. The 30-year-old forward scored 19 goals and 38 points for the Wild, adding some depth scoring and playing a gritty, defensively responsible role as well. He added three goals in six postseason contests as well. After proving his value this season, Gaudreau signed a five-year contract extension last month that kicks in next season and has a $2.1MM cap hit.

  • While Gaudreau was locked up by his team, one play that is now eligible to hit the open market is Winnipeg Jets forward Alex Jonsson-Fjallby. As capfriendly.com reports, the 25 year old will become a Group 6 UFA because of his age, and career games played. Had the Swedish winger played 75 career games before the end of this season, he would have retained RFA status and remained property of the Jets. He finished this season with 74 career games played.
  • The Belleville Senators have announced their new head coach. Per a team release, David Bell will take over behind the bench and becomes the third head coach in franchise history. The 46 year old was the team’s interim head coach since February 2, but was officially named the future bench boss for the 2023-24 season this week. He had been the team’s assistant coach since 2019 and has been behind the bench of an OHL or AHL team going back to the 2004-05 season.

Marco Rossi To Play For Team Austria

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  • Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Minnesota Wild prospect, Marco Rossi, will suit up for Team Austria in the 2023 IIHF World Championships. Although playing in limited NHL action over the last two seasons, Rossi has been one of the better performers in the AHL, playing for the Iowa Wild. In his rookie season, Rossi scored 18 goals and 35 assists in 63 games played, and followed that up with almost a point-per-game performance this year, scoring 51 points in 53 games. In the opening round of the Calder Cup Playoffs, although his team was eliminated in two games by the Rockford IceHogs, Rossi managed a goal and an assist.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Minnesota Wild Sign Marcus Johansson To Extension

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A few short days after their season came to its conclusion at the hands of the Dallas Stars, the Minnesota Wild have announced they will be bringing back forward Marcus Johansson into the fold. The contract will be a 2-year, $4MM contract, extending Johansson through the 2024-25 season.

In his second tenure with the Wild, Johansson was a critical forward down the stretch in Minnesota’s playoff hunt. After being acquired from the Washington Capitals at this year’s trade deadline, Johansson played in 20 games, scoring six goals and 12 assists. Just as importantly, Johansson brought his career exceptional possession numbers, providing the Wild a Corsi For % of 52.2.

Heading into this year’s offseason, Minnesota was going to find itself in an increasingly difficult salary cap situation. Due to the past buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the cap penalty will increase from $6.37MM per player to $7.37MM per player, taking almost $15MM away from the Wild’s available cap. Even after signing Johansson, Minnesota still has five players headed for unrestricted free agency (three forwards, and two defensemen) and five players headed toward restricted free agency (three forwards, one defenseman, and one goalie).

Up to this point, taking into account the massive cap penalty given to the Wild due to their past buyouts, General Manager Bill Guerin has done a good job assembling a roster worthy enough to get into the playoffs almost year-in-and-year-out. He will have to continue to remain creative throughout this process, and bringing back Johansson on a relatively cheap contract is one way to get that started.

Joel Eriksson Ek Underwent Surgery, Will Be Ready For Camp

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Minnesota Wild forward Joel Eriksson Ek played just one shift in his team’s first-round exit in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, sidelined by a lower-body injury sustained during the tail end of the regular season. Speaking during the team’s season-ending media availability today, Eriksson Ek told reporters, including The Athletic’s Joe Smith, that he sustained a broken fibula that “didn’t hold up” during his attempted return in Game 3.

The Wild center had surgery to repair the break and plans to be ready for training camp next season.

Eriksson Ek, the team’s strongest all-around center, was a critical absence in the Wild lineup as they failed to get much offense generated against the Dallas Stars. He notched a career-high 38 assists and 61 points in 2022-23.

Perennially in the Selke conversation, Eriksson Ek’s presence down the middle is a must-have for Minnesota to continue success with a cap-strapped roster next season. The Wild are expecting a breakout campaign from young Marco Rossi next year but need the leadership of Eriksson Ek to maintain playoff positioning.

Eriksson Ek joins pending restricted free agent Mason Shaw as Wild centers sidelined with long-term injuries over the offseason.

Marc-Andre Fleury Intends To Honor Final Year Of Contract

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After serving as the backup for most of the playoffs, Wild goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury indicated to reporters including Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link) after Friday’s series-ending loss to Dallas that he intends to fulfill the final year of his contract and not retire this summer.  Russo notes (subscription link) that the veteran had indicated that he’d be open to hanging up his skates if he showed this season that he couldn’t play up to his standards.  While Fleury didn’t have his best campaign, he still posted an above-average .908 SV% along with a 2.85 GAA in 46 games, clearly showing he can still compete at the top level.  He’ll enter next season seven wins away from tying Patrick Roy for the second-most regular season victories in NHL history.

Wild Notes: Gustavsson, Sundqvist, Zuccarello

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Michael Russo of The Athletic is reporting that Filip Gustavsson was the first goalie off at Minnesota Wild practice today indicating that he will likely get the start in game six tonight against the Dallas Stars. Gustavsson has been between the pipes for four of the Wild’s five playoff games and has given up just nine goals on 125 shots. Although those numbers are sparking, Gustavsson has struggled in each of his last two starts giving up three goals in each game on just 24 shots. This drop in his play coupled with the brilliant play of Dallas netminder Jake Oettinger has Minnesota on the ropes as they will face elimination in game six tonight.

There was some speculation that Minnesota could turn to veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to start game six, but Fleury has struggled in his last four starts dating back to early April. The former Vezina winner has only started one game in the series, a game two loss in which he gave up seven goals on 31 shots. Gustavsson had superior numbers to Fleury in the regular season as well and may even garner some Vezina consideration come awards season.

In other Minnesota notes:

  • Michael Russo tweeted that Oskar Sundqvist could possibly play tonight for the Wild. Sundqvist hasn’t dressed since game two of the Dallas series and has a goal in just a single game in these playoffs. The two-time Stanley Cup winner was healthy scratched for game three and hasn’t seen game action since. The 29-year-old Swede came over from the Detroit Red Wings in a trade deadline move for a fourth-round pick and looked to be a fit putting up seven points in 15 games. However, in the playoffs the Wild have opted for more toughness and have kept Ryan Reaves in the lineup over Sundqvist.
  • Russo also tweeted that Wild forward Mats Zuccarello will likely be out of the lineup, or best-case scenario he will be a game time decision. The Norway native didn’t skate yesterday with the team and is dealing with an undisclosed ailment. The Wild have been tight lipped about the situation and at this point there are more questions than answers. Zuccarello has been fantastic for the Wild this season with 67 points in 78 games during the regular season and has followed that up with two goals and three assists through five playoff games. Should he be unable to dress, the Wild will be hard pressed to replicate his production in the most important game of their season.

Minnesota Wild Recall Nine Players

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The Iowa Wild were eliminated from Calder Cup contention a few days ago, but it isn’t summer vacation for all their players yet. Nine members of Iowa’s roster are on their way to join the Minnesota Wild as a set of “Black Aces,” players who will practice with the club and serve as injury insurance in the playoffs.

Adam Beckman, Steven Fogarty, Nic Petan, Marco Rossi, Nick Swaney, Samuel Walker, Daemon Hunt, Dakota Mermis, and Zane McIntyre have all been recalled.

Of course, after dropping game five on Tuesday the Wild are on the brink of elimination themselves. They’ll take on the Dallas Stars in a do-or-die matchup tomorrow night, trying to force a game seven in the first-round series.

All but Hunt have appeared in the NHL previously. The 20-year-old defenseman is in his first professional season after being selected 65th overall in 2020, and posted 11 points in 59 regular season games for Iowa.

The others are a mix of minor league veterans and top prospects. Rossi falls into the latter category, though his time in the NHL this year didn’t go well. The 2020 ninth-overall pick registered just a single assist (and no goals) in 19 games with Minnesota. While his development has been interrupted by health issues, Rossi’s inability to grab a roster spot was one of the season’s low points for the Wild.

There is at least a possibility that someone from this group does enter the lineup. According to Michael Russo of The Athletic, Mats Zuccarello and Ryan Hartman are both not practicing today, though their status for tomorrow’s game is unclear.

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