Minnesota is asking teams that have shown interest in wingers Charlie Coyle, Jason Zucker, and Nino Niederreiter to take on the final year of center Tyler Ennis’ contract as well, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Ennis struggled considerably in his first year with the Wild and as a result, he is a strong candidate to be bought out of the final year of his contract which carries a $4.6MM cap hit. The deadline for players to be bought out is next Saturday so they will have to move fairly quickly if they want to include Ennis in a deal.
More from Minnesota:
- While some teams are willing to move their first-round selections, Minnesota is not one of those teams, reports Michael Russo of The Athletic (subscription required). The team has received interest in their 24th overall selection – including from the Canadiens in a proposal involving winger Max Pacioretty – but GM Paul Fenton said they are “absolutely” against dealing it.
- Also from Russo’s piece, the team is hesitant to move defenseman Jonas Brodin given the uncertainty surrounding Ryan Suter’s ankle injury. Brodin has been coveted around the league for a while as a stable top-four defender and with Mathew Dumba in line for a significant new deal this summer, some wondered if Brodin and his $4.17MM cap hit could be dealt to free up some cap room. Representatives from the team met with Dumba’s agent on Thursday, presumably to talk about his next contract.
- Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune suggests that it’s likely that the Wild are more active on the trade front this summer than in free agency. They may look to shake up the roster with some player-for-player deals and then use their cap room to shore up their depth and on the back end.