Oct 5: The Soucy contract is now official, with the Wild announcing the three-year, $8.25MM deal.
Oct 2: The Minnesota Wild have been working hard to find a new contract with pending free agent defenseman Carson Soucy, and have finally found some common ground. The team is closing in on a three-year extension that will pay Soucy an average of $2.75MM per year according to Frank Seravalli of TSN. Soucy was set to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent next week and had been drawing plenty of interest.
Soucy, 26, is one of those rare Group VI UFAs that actually demands attention on the open market, after playing 55 games for the Wild this season. He was on track to pass the 80-game threshold that would have kept him a restricted free agent this offseason until he suffered an injury and the season was suspended, leaving the Wild vulnerable to his departure.
It’s still impossible to know exactly what the 6’5″ is in the NHL with so little actual experience, but the Wild are betting that his history of success at the collegiate and minor league level will carry over to the big leagues. It certainly seemed to this season, but it’s worth noting that Soucy didn’t play a big role on either the penalty kill or powerplay. He did however look strong when paired with the recently extended Jonas Brodin, suggesting that he could take on a bigger role next season.
Of course, a deal like this will only strengthen the voices that are suggesting the Wild would consider moving Matt Dumba, given how much money is now tied up on the Minnesota blue line. The team already had nearly $28MM locked into Brodin, Dumba, Jared Spurgeon, Ryan Suter, and Greg Pateryn, meaning Soucy would push the group over $30MM. While that’s not completely debilitating, it doesn’t give you a lot of wiggle room to improve the rest of the roster, especially when big tickets like Kevin Fiala will need new contracts fairly soon.
Still, getting Soucy under contract now doesn’t necessarily mean even he will be suiting up for the Wild next season. GM Bill Guerin has already shown a willingness to move out pieces when he doesn’t believe they fit any longer and it’s hard to imagine there aren’t some more changes coming in Minnesota.