Greg Pateryn Expected To Sign With Minnesota

July 1: The Wild have officially announced the signing, inking Pateryn to a three-year deal worth $6.75MM.

June 30: While the contract can’t be made official until Sunday, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports (Twitter link) that Minnesota is expected to sign defenseman Greg Pateryn.  He adds that the Rangers had shown interest in signing him as well.

After spending the past few years as a depth defender who was in and out of the lineup, the 28-year-old got to play more of a regular role with Dallas in 2017-18 and made the most of it.  He set career highs in games played (73), points (13), and ATOI (19:37) while ranking second on the team in blocked shots with 155 (also a career best).

With the Wild, Pateryn should slot in on the third pairing as he would fall in behind the currently-injured Ryan Suter and pending RFA Mathew Dumba on the right side.  While financial terms of the deal aren’t known, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Wednesday that he could fetch around $2MM per season as several teams had already shown interest at that time.

In our Top 50 UFA list, Pateryn was ranked 36th overall with a projected contract of two years worth a total of $3.6MM to the Wild.