The Minnesota Wild have reportedly “shown significant interest” in Vancouver Canucks veteran forward Kiefer Sherwood, according to The Athletic’s Michael Russo and Joe Smith.
Sherwood, a pending unrestricted free agent, is widely expected to be dealt by the Canucks before the trade deadline next year. According to Russo and Smith, “The Canucks have shopped him around the league and originally wanted a good, young prospect.”
Smith and Russo now cite league sources who tell them the Canucks “have since changed gears” in their expectations, and “now want a good roster player and have also asked teams for a first-round pick.”
Whether the Wild remain interested in trading for Sherwood specifically at that price remains unclear. Earlier this month, we covered reporting indicating that Sherwood clearly fits the exact kind of mold of player Wild GM Bill Guerin would like to acquire.
The 30-year-old is notoriously difficult to play against, combining pest-like attributes with a real physical edge to his game. 
The sandpaper in Sherwood’s game (he registered a whopping 462 hits last season) pairs with Sherwood’s more recent emergence as a goal scorer to create a really intriguing player for teams to target.
Sherwood has already scored 12 goals this season, and he had 19 goals and 40 points last year. While he’s rapidly increasing his expected asking price in free agency next summer, he’s also rapidly increasing his overall on-ice value.
As for his potential trade fit in Minnesota, it’s important to also note that there is some recent history of substantial trade talks between the Wild and Canucks. Russo and Smith in the same piece as earlier reported that “the Canucks turned down an offer from the Wild” that would have sent Wild center Marco Rossi to Vancouver at the 2025 draft. Per Russo and Smith, the offer included the No. 15 overall pick, center Aatu Raty, and netminder Arturs Silovs.
While Sherwood has gone cold in terms of scoring over the past two weeks, it’s unclear whether that will play a role in changing the leaguewide interest in his services. The trade market for established NHLers has been widely characterized as slower than usual, with few teams embracing the role as true sellers.
The fact that the Canucks appear clearly motivated to deal their unrestricted free agents, even established NHLers, makes them unique in the overall trade market landscape of the NHL right now. As a result, it’s likely that the high level of trade interest in Sherwood will likely be immune to the game-to-game fluctuations in his form.
As for where Sherwood might fit in Minnesota, the clear objective for the Wild in pursuing him would be to help address their need for more secondary scoring. Stars Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy are doing a lot of the heavy lifting for the Wild in terms of production, and they’re the only two Wild players with a double-digit goals total so far in 2025-26.
Sherwood would add a third such player to their team, and would give head coach John Hynes a player who could easily slot in on their third line, perhaps in the spot of veteran Yakov Trenin. While Trenin’s salary ($3.55MM AAV) merits more of a third-line role, Trenin has produced like a fourth-liner in Minnesota. He has eight points in 30 games this season and scored just 15 points in 76 games last year.
Whether the Wild are in enough of a need of immediate secondary scoring help to surrender what the Canucks are asking for in exchange for Sherwood is not clear at this time. For as many positive qualities Sherwood brings on the ice, trading a first-round pick as well as a “good roster player” for him is a steep price.
The Wild are already without second-round picks in each of the next two drafts thanks to prior transactions. Consequently, Guerin may need to think carefully before spending another premium draft asset on immediate help.
When it comes to acquiring Sherwood, or any other veteran player for that matter, Minnesota will need to carefully balance the value of immediate help versus the risks of depleting the resources the team’s amateur scouting department, led by Judd Brackett, will have at their disposal next year.
Photos courtesy of Jeff Curry-Imagn Images
Vancouver wanting a 1st round pick involved in the potential trade transaction is absurd. Sorry, Kiefer Sherwood is an admirable bottom six player but he’s not worth a 1st round pick. He’s potentially worth a 2nd (arguable) or a 3rd (seems more fitting) especially if they’re getting a player in return. Vancouver needs to take the expectation level down a good bit IMO.
I don’t think the 1st is a crazy ask on its own (whether they actually get it is another story) when you take his salary into account. Literally any team in the league would be in on him given his cap hit so the chance someone coughs it up is higher. And while he was considerably younger (I think 23 or 24 at the time) the Hawks were able to pull two 1st round picks and parts for Hagel who had played well but similarly not a highly touted prospect originally (and had a cheap cap hit).
Had they asked that at the beginning of the year when he had 9 goals in 9 games they may have gotten it and while Sherwood is a fantastic player he shouldn’t be getting a first as a return at this point.
They need to bundle Sherwood with Hughes to make Quinn a more appealing trade target!
Most definitely! Sherwood has 6 times as many goals and 134 times as many hits as Hughes!!!!
Please just post one article stating everybody has great interest in Sherwood. Because there is not one team that could not use him or like to have him on their team.
Pin it to the corner of the home page, in case anyone forgets.
The Wild are 23rd in offense, Acquiring Sherwood won’t help that.
Sherwood for Rossi?
Would be a good fit for what the Wild need.