While the Wild don’t have a true number one center, it hasn’t prevented them from having a strong first half of the season as they sit third in the Central Division. Nevertheless, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported on a recent appearance on WGR 550 (audio link) that they’re looking to add some depth down the middle between now and the March 21st trade deadline.
Minnesota has benefitted from Ryan Hartman being able to make the transition back to playing at center after spending most of his career on the wing while Joel Eriksson Ek is a capable, albeit under the radar, top-six two-way pivot as well. However, their depth thins out quickly after that. Frederick Gaudreau has spent most of his career in the minors, Victor Rask is no more than a fourth liner at this stage, and Nico Sturm is still relatively unproven. They also have Nick Bjugstad but he’s currently injured and is also more of a role player than a core piece.
As a result, there’s definitely a need for GM Bill Guerin to try to add a middleman. In a perfect world, someone that can play on the third line or move onto the second line would be a good fit but the Wild certainly won’t be the only team looking for someone like that.
From a salary cap standpoint, Minnesota is in good shape for this season. Per CapFriendly, they can add someone making a little over $5.3MM today, a number that more than doubles if they wait until the trade deadline. Affording an upgrade won’t be an issue as long as it’s a rental player. With the dead cap charges for the buyouts of Ryan Suter and Zach Parise increasing by $8MM for next season, the Wild are unlikely to want to bring in anyone with term unless it’s a very team-friendly contract that would carry a significant price to trade for.
Dreger notes that Ottawa and Minnesota have scouted each other a lot lately and it just so happens that the Senators have a center that could fit what the Wild need in Chris Tierney. The 27-year-old is best utilized as a bottom-six forward but in recent years, he has been able to play higher in the lineup when called upon and produce, notching two 40-point seasons while scoring at a similar rate in 2019-20.
Whether it’s Tierney or someone else, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Guerin try to add some center help to give the Wild a lift heading into the playoffs. With the fewest games played in the Western Conference, it’s a move that Minnesota may want to make sooner rather than later to maximize the value of whoever they decide to bring in with a pretty heavy schedule on the horizon.
Travis Boyd is the answer.
Chris Tierney probably wouldn’t even be in the Senators top 4 depth chart at center had they been healthy. I could not see him being much of an upgrade on a good team like Minnesota.
JT Miller is the answer and it’s for Fiala and Addison
Center for two years, Fiala has been on the third line a lot this year too
Just my $0.02
Fiala’s third on the team in scoring, and he’s on track for a 60+ pt season. It’s not THAT much of an upgrade, and Minnesota would have to overpay, given that Fiala a RFA after this season and Miller still has another year of team control.
Beyond that, what possibly could be VANCOUVER’s interest in making that swap? Miller’s the big genuine prize of the trade rumor mill, and someone’s going to offer the Canucks something like a key impact player, a prospect and multiple high round picks. Obviously Minnesota has to be all in *this* season, but is Miller the difference between a Cup and not-a-Cup?
He’s a chance at a run because (hate to tell you this…) your Wild are in for a few “lean” years coming up so it’s probably best to take a shit when you got a bullet left in the chamber.
That’s a low return on the Miller trade
… “my” Wild? (blinks owlishly)
And yeah, they have a few lean years coming, but you still don’t make pointless trades where you overpay badly unless you get something out of it. Miller just isn’t enough of an upgrade to be worth it, and I can think of a whole lot of such trades that bit teams hard for many years down the road. (We’ll take the Bruins as Example A. Bet they sure would’ve liked to have had the last fifteen years of Joe Thornton or the last eleven years of Blake Wheeler or the last nine years of Tyler Seguin back, huh?)
Giroux.
Dylan Strome for a draft pick- FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!!!