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Bruins Acquire Vinni Lettieri In Swap With Wild

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The Boston Bruins and Minnesota Wild have swapped depth forwards and fourth-round picks – with Boston acquiring Vinni Lettieri and Pick 110 from the Wild for Jakub Lauko and Pick 122 (Twitter link).

This move comes as much more minor than some of the day’s blockbusters. But it could stand as one of the most memorable trades of the day, with Minnesota using Pick 122 to select star Finnish defenseman Aron Kiviharju. Kiviharju was once considered a lock for the Top 10, and maybe even the Top 5, of the 2024 NHL Draft – after breaking into Finland’s Liiga at the age of 16. He vindicated the hype through his rookie season, tallying three assists in 21 games and adjusting well to the pace of a pro game. That set Kiviharju up for what many expected to be a smash season this year, though a knee injury suffered on September 30th cut his season short before it could even get underway.

Kiviharju returned to captain Team Finland at the World U-18 Championship, recording three assists in five games an looking ready to put his injury aside. But an early end to Finland’s season kept him from playing much more. He finished his draft year with two points in seven Liiga games and tons of questions swirling around him.

But while Minnesota earns a big bet on upside with this swap, the Bruins get a bit more predictability. Lettieri served a modest role on Minnesota’s fourth line last season, working his way to nine points and 24 penalty minutes in a career-high 46 appearances. He’s now up to 27 points in the first 129 games of his NHL career – though he’s shown a knack for filling the gritty roles of a bottom-line center. He moves to Boston alongside Elliott Groenewold, who the Bruins selected at Pick 110. Groenewold also boasts plenty of predictable impact – with a tall frame and long reach making him effective at engaging in, and winning, puck battles – but a lack of explosivity keeping him from ever making too much of a spark.

Boston will hope the pair can have the anticipated effects on the NHL lineup, while Minnesota is taking a home run swing while replacing Lettieri’s role with the quaint Lauko.

Wild Begin Extension Negotiations With Brock Faber

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  • Michael Russo of The Athletic reports the Minnesota Wild and rookie defenseman Brock Faber are expected to meet today to begin contract negotiations. Faber will enter the final year of his entry-level contract during the 2024-25 NHL season but is extension eligible on July 1st. There is no doubt that Faber is a player to invest in as the University of Minnesota product finished second in Calder Trophy voting this past season. Averaging nearly 25 minutes a night for the Wild, Faber scored eight goals and 47 points while playing in all 82 games and proved to be an effective quarterback on Minnesota’s powerplay.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Minnesota, Philadelphia Swap 12th Overall And 13th Overall

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The Minnesota Wild have acquired the 12th overall pick from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for the 13th overall pick and a third-round selection in next year’s draft (X Link).

The Wild would use the selection on defenseman Zeev Buium out of the University of Denver, who miraculously fell to 12th overall. Minnesota adds another dynamic defensive prospect while already having Brock Faber on the back end.

Aside from winning the 2024 National Championship with Denver, Buium rose the draft charts considerably after scoring 11 goals and 50 points in only 42 games. With his strong skating and ability to escape oncoming pressure, Buium is eerily similar to former Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Adam Fox from the New York Rangers. By only having to attach a third-round pick to select one of the best defensemen available in the draft — Minnesota could end up with one of the biggest steals of the night.

The Flyers, on the other hand, used the 13th overall pick to select Jett Luchanko out of the OHL’s Guelph Storm. Considering that this selection is a bit of a reach compared to mock picks, the Flyers were likely more than happy to move back one spot and add a third-round selection next year.

As one of the fastest players in the draft, Luchanko can transition with the puck very effectively. In 68 games for the Storm this past season, Luchanko put up 20 goals and 74 points while winning the William Hanley Trophy as the league’s most sportsmanlike player.

Bruins, Wild Among Top Suitors For Rutger McGroarty

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News broke last week that Jets 2022 first-round pick Rutger McGroarty was seeking a trade, with most assuming that a deal could come across the finish line as soon as a few days ago so Winnipeg could recoup a first-rounder in this year’s draft. It hasn’t happened yet, but there’s still a strong chance he could be moved as the first round kicks off in less than an hour.

Among the teams with significant interest are the Wild, The Athletic’s Michael Russo relays. The Bruins have also held “ongoing talks with Winnipeg regarding McGroarty, Mike McIntyre of the Winnipeg Free Press reported last night. McIntyre added that the Blue Jackets, Islanders and Sabres have also checked in but didn’t use as strong language to describe their interest.

Winnipeg selected McGroarty 14th overall in 2022, one pick later than the selection Minnesota holds this year (No. 13). The idea of a one-for-one swap makes sense. As for Boston, they ended up back with their own first-rounder (No. 25) after it traveled to Detroit and then Ottawa in the past 15 months, recouping it as part of the return for sending 2023 Vezina Trophy winner Linus Ullmark to the Senators. They’d likely need to add an additional pick or an equivalent asset in the form of a roster player or prospect in order to land McGroarty.

McGroarty, 20, was one of the best players in college hockey this season. Suiting up in his sophomore campaign at the University of Michigan, he finished top ten in NCAA-wide scoring with 52 points (16 goals, 36 assists) in 36 games. He was a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award for the top player in collegiate hockey and captained the United States to a gold medal at the 2024 World Juniors, scoring five goals and four assists in seven games.

But he wasn’t given a clear role on Winnipeg’s roster next season, and as such, he’s decided to return to Michigan for his junior season rather than play for their AHL affiliate in Manitoba. Of course, he could decide to turn pro after a trade and make his NHL debut for a different team in the fall.

Wild To Non-Tender Mason Shaw

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  • The Wild have informed Mason Shaw that he’ll be non-tendered for the second straight year, notes Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). Shaw battled back from a torn ACL to earn a new deal with Minnesota back in February and he got into 20 games with the big club, recording three points and 29 hits while averaging just over eight minutes a night.

Daniel Winnik Announces Retirement

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Versatile forward Daniel Winnik has retired, as he announced on his personal X page this morning. A veteran of 11 NHL seasons, Winnik had a respectable journeyman career, suiting up for eight major league teams after being taken in the ninth round of the 2004 draft by the Coyotes. The 39-year-old last suited up in the NHL in 2018 before heading to Genève-Servette HC of the Swiss National League, where he’s spent the last six seasons.

“For the past 19 years, I have lived a dream, from signing my first contract with the Phoenix Coyotes to my last with Geneva Servette,” Winnik wrote in his announcement. “Some experiences I thought would only remain dreams became reality: being coached by Wayne Gretzky, playing for my hometown team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and representing Canada at the Olympic Games.”

As expected for a late-round pick, Winnik took a few years to break into the NHL. But unexpectedly, he wasn’t a depth piece or a fringe player subject to endless recalls and reassignments. Instead, he immediately cemented himself as a full-time piece for Phoenix upon making his debut in 2007-08, making 79 appearances in his rookie season while contributing 11 goals and 26 points in 14:06 of ice time per game, a good portion of which came on the penalty kill. Winnik spent the first three years of his NHL career with the Coyotes, recording 52 points (18 goals, 34 assists) in 202 games before they traded him to the Avalanche for a fourth-round pick in the 2010 offseason.

In 2010-11, Winnik rediscovered his valuable depth-scoring contributions from his rookie season, matching his 11 goals and 26 points in 80 games for the Avs while averaging 16:33 per game, the most he’d played at that point in his career. He was also one of Colorado’s most-used forwards in shorthanded situations that season, averaging 2:44 per game while down a man. Unfortunately, he was slugging it out on an Avs team that finished with only 68 points, earning them the right to select future captain Gabriel Landeskog with the second-overall pick in that summer’s draft.

Winnik was dealt again to the Sharks midway through the 2011-12 season, beginning a run of playing for seven different teams in the final seven seasons of his NHL career, including two separate stints with the Maple Leafs. He would also end up logging action for the Capitals, Ducks, Penguins and Wild, although he only managed to play more than 150 games for one team, the Coyotes. His career-defining season was split between Toronto and Pittsburgh in 2014-15, recording a career-high 34 points (nine goals, 25 assists) in 79 games and a +23 rating, earning him a second- and fifth-place vote in Selke Trophy polling.

However, after completing a one-year, $660K contract with the Wild in 2017-18, which saw him produce six goals and 23 points in 81 games, there wasn’t much interest in his services stateside. That led him to head to Geneva, where he broke out immediately as one of the best two-way threats in the top-flight Swiss league. Over six seasons with the club, he recorded 91 goals and 234 points in 270 games, winning three major trophies – a Spengler Cup in 2020, an NL championship in 2023, and a Champions Hockey League title this season. He also represented Canada at the 2022 Winter Olympics, contributing a goal and an assist in five appearances.

Ultimately, Winnik ended his NHL career with 82 goals, 169 assists, 251 points and a +52 rating in 798 games. We all at PHR congratulate Winnik on such a lengthy stint in the pros, especially for a ninth-round pick.

Wild Notes: Mermis, Johansson, Eiserman

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Most of the Wild’s roster will be back next season. Only a select few players who ended the season with the team are free agents, and none of them were consistently in the lineup.

At least one of those expiring depth players won’t be back next season, though. That will be veteran depth defenseman Dakota Mermis, who will head elsewhere searching for a one-way contract, The Athletic’s Michael Russo reports.

Set to hit unrestricted free agency for the third time next week, the 30-year-old Mermis played a career-high 47 games in 2023-24. It was his seventh season seeing NHL time, serving as a top-four minor-league option with depth recall potential for the Coyotes, Devils and Wild since making his debut in the 2017-18 season.

An undrafted free agent signing by Arizona in 2015, 64% of Mermis’ NHL experience came this season. He cleared waivers to begin the campaign and wasn’t on the opening night roster, beginning the season with AHL Iowa, but was recalled a week later with injuries affecting the Minnesota blue line and was shuffled between leagues over the next two months.

Mermis then remained in the NHL for the balance of the season after a recall on Dec. 14. He averaged 14:15 per game for the Wild, adding three goals and eight points with a -2 rating. He’s not the biggest frame in the world (6’0″, 195 lbs) but plays a physical game and has plenty of leadership experience in the AHL, where he’s served as a captain for two seasons and an alternate captain for four.

The Illinois native’s possession numbers were solid, controlling 49.5% of shot attempts and 47.9% of expected goals at even strength, per Hockey Reference. After logging minor-league time in eight of his nine professional seasons, he’ll look to land a full-time NHL look, likely as a team’s extra defender.

Elsewhere out of the State of Hockey:

  • Forward Marcus Johansson could be a trade candidate this summer with the Wild looking to optimize their limited cap space, posits Harman Dayal of The Athletic. The 14-year veteran has one season left on his contract at an only mildly consequential $2MM cap hit, but he struggled last season with 11 goals, 30 points and a -15 rating in 78 games while again averaging over 15 minutes per game. However, he holds a full no-trade clause that significantly complicates any potential move. Entering the summer, the Wild do have $6.25MM in projected cap space with a nearly full roster size of 19, per CapFriendly.
  • The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler and FloHockey’s Chris Peters spoke to The Athletic’s Joe Smith about options for the Wild with their no. 13 overall pick in this week’s draft. U.S. National Team Development Program goal-scoring record-breaker Cole Eiserman, who we mocked to Minnesota in our 2024 Mock Draft, was among the players discussed.

Devils, Wild Swap Graeme Clarke For Adam Beckman

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The Devils have traded winger Graeme Clarke to the Wild for fellow winger Adam Beckman, the teams announced. Both are headed for restricted free agency next month.

Clarke, 23, was a third-round pick of the Devils in 2019. The older brother of Kings top defense prospect Brandt Clarke has knocked on the door of the NHL for the past two seasons but hasn’t gotten much of a shot in Jersey. He played just three big-league games, all coming this season. He was held without a point and had a -2 rating, 2 PIMs, and two shots on goal while averaging 11:23 per game. The Devils sparingly used him in offensive situations, and as such, they controlled less than 42% of shot attempts with Clarke on the ice at even strength.

Given his performance in the minors, he likely deserved more of a chance. Clarke has scored 25 goals in back-to-back campaigns with the AHL’s Utica Comets, leading them on both occasions. His 58 points in 68 games in 2022-23 led the team outright but weren’t enough to earn him his NHL debut. After completing his entry-level contract, he’s now on his way to Minnesota, where he has a feasible chance of cracking the Wild’s opening night roster in the fall. He’s no longer waiver-exempt and would need to be exposed to the remainder of the league for Minnesota to send him down to their AHL affiliate in Iowa.

The Devils land Beckman, a 23-year-old with slightly more NHL experience but less offensive upside. The Wild have given Beckman a brief look in each of the past three seasons, totaling 23 appearances, 11 of which came in 2023-24. However, the points never came for Beckman, who was selected five spots before Clarke in 2019. He’s still searching for his first NHL goal and logged three assists while averaging 10:02 per game.

Beckman has been solid in three full seasons with Iowa, though. Serving as an alternate captain this season, he finished fourth on the club in scoring with 19 goals and 33 points in 51 games. He still hasn’t quite had the impact Minnesota expected after he led the WHL in scoring with 48 goals and 107 points in his post-draft season, though.

Like Clarke, Beckman has lost his waiver-exempt status and will need to hit the wire if New Jersey attempts to assign him to Utica. The Devils owe Beckman a $874,125 qualifying offer to retain his rights before June 30, while the Wild must issue a $813,750 offer to Clarke.

Evening Notes: Maple Leafs Defense, Goligoski, Mikheyev

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The Toronto Maple Leafs will be prioritizing size as they gauge potential additions to their defense, shares David Pagnotta and The Fourth Period.

That news comes as no surprise from a Toronto team that acquired 6’4” Joel Edmundson and 6’2” Ilya Lyubushkin at the Trade Deadline, sending a third-round pick for each defender. Neither seemed to make much of a splash in the year’s second half, with Lyubushkin potting just four assists in 19 regular-season games, while Edmundson went pointless through nine games while battling injury. The duo were two of many vying for ice time on Toronto’s bottom pairing, competing with the likes of Simon Benoit, William Lagesson, Conor Timmins, and Maxim Lajoie. Nobody on the list was able to push into routine top-four minutes, though the Leafs found reasons for optimism, with Pagnotta adding that the team is interested in re-signing Edmundson – at least ahead of other pending free agents Lyubushkin and Lajoie. That deal would return Edmundson to a crowded Toronto depth chart, though his stout defense on both sides of the ice could provide nice flexibility for a Leafs team that always seems to face nagging injuries.

In that way, Edmundson’s role would mirror former St. Louis Blues teammate Robert Bortuzzo, who’s stood strong in spot starts with the Blues and New York Islanders. In fact, Toronto may be drawing a lot of interest from the Blues defense, also showing renewed interest in trading for veteran big-man Colton Parayko, shares Pagnotta. Toronto has been tied to Parayko for many years, though he becomes a more palatable trade chip with the more time he spends on his pricey eight-year, $52MM contract. That deal is set to carry Parayko through the 2029-30 season – posing a major hurdle to any interested buyers. Parayko scored 10 goals and 26 points in 82 games this season – with strong goal-scoring lifting up an otherwise slowed season. Now 31 and on a very pricey deal, Parayko certainly isn’t an ideal trade target – though his veteran presence and Stanley Cup precedent could make him a strong acquisition with salary retention.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The Minnesota Wild aren’t expecting aging defenseman Alex Goligoski to return next season, shares Anthony Di Marco of The Fourth Period (Twitter link). Goligoski became a routine healthy scratch in the second half of the season, ceding ice time to Dakota Mermis and Declan Chisholm. The 38-year-old veteran ultimately appeared in just 36 games, recording 10 points, all assists. Now set for the free market, he’ll face the question of if now is the right time to retire, having accumulated 1,078 games, 475 points, and one Stanley Cup across 17 seasons in the NHL. Meanwhile, Di Marco adds that Minnesota could look externally for a new depth defenseman.
  • The Vancouver Canucks have granted player agent Dan Milstein permission to find a trade for client Ilya Mikheyev, shares Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK News (Twitter link). Mikheyev has muddled through the last two seasons with the Canucks, with untimely injuries making it hard to find a comfortable role. He ultimately totaled 59 points in 124 games with the club, and will now look to find a spark with a change of scenery. Mikheyev has two seasons left on a contract carrying a $4.75MM cap hit.

Wild Shopping Filip Gustavsson

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The Wild are entering next season with three goalies as it stands with Marc-André Fleury back for his final campaign and top prospect Jesper Wallstedt primed for more NHL starts. In his latest Trade Targets piece, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff said the team is “open for business and listening” on trade offers for Filip Gustavsson, who’s quickly looking like the odd man out in the Minnesota crease.

Gustavsson, now 26, signed a three-year, $11.25MM deal with the Wild last summer following an arbitration filing. He got that deal after a breakout 2022-23 campaign, finishing second among qualified netminders with a .931 SV%. But while he ended this season on a relatively high note, a horrid start to 2023-24 tanked his second season in the State of Hockey. Gustavsson made a career-high 45 appearances and managed to record his second 20-win season, but his standard and advanced metrics regressed considerably. His SV% dropped to .899, and his goals saved above expected nosedived to -4.8 from last season’s 24.2, per MoneyPuck.

While Gustavsson was struggling, Wallstedt was having a terrific season behind a poor Iowa Wild team in the AHL. The 2021 20th overall pick had a .910 SV% and two shutouts in 45 games, earning his second All-Star Game nod in as many years while keeping an otherwise hapless Iowa club out of last place in the Central Division. The 21-year-old Swede is viewed as one of the five best goalie prospects in the world, and general manager Bill Guerin already confirmed the plan is to ease him into more consistent NHL action next season. After a tough NHL debut against the Stars in January, Wallstedt stopped 51 of 53 shots faced in two wins over the Blackhawks and Sharks to end the season.

Gustavsson has two years left on his deal at a $3.75MM cap hit, a reasonable deal for a young netminder with decent rebound potential. He was solid in the back half of the season, posting a 7-5-2 record with a .906 SV% in 16 games after the All-Star break. Moving him reduces the cap hit of their goaltending tandem from $6.25MM, including Fleury, to just $3.425MM with Fleury and Wallstedt, less than what Gustavsson alone costs. That’s important savings for a team still dealing with a $14.744MM cap penalty from the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts next year.

The Wild likely wouldn’t need to retain any salary in a Gustavsson deal. His contract is arguably a bargain for his services already – Evolving Hockey projects he’d land a $4.125MM cap hit if he signed a two-year deal in free agency this summer. It’s also a cheaper option for teams looking to upgrade their crease than some of the more established netminders potentially available for trade, like Juuse Saros and Linus Ullmark, and he has experience starting more games than top UFA options Laurent Brossoit and Anthony Stolarz. As such, there should be a fair amount of interest.

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