Panthers Acquire Vinnie Hinostroza From Wild
The Panthers have acquired winger Vinnie Hinostroza from the Wild for future considerations, the teams announced. Michael Russo of The Athletic was the first to report. It clears a bit of a forward logjam for Minnesota, which has already acquired Bobby Brink and Nick Foligno in separate deals this morning.
The Wild could have waived Hinostroza, but if he were claimed tomorrow, he wouldn’t have been eligible to play for his new club in the playoffs since he would have changed teams after the trade deadline. Florida likely won’t be reaching the show anyway, but Hinostroza now at least has the option to suit up if it happens.
Hinostroza arrived in Minnesota off the waiver wire last season via the Predators. He’s in the back half of a two-year, two-way deal he signed with Nashville in 2024 and will be a free agent this summer. The veteran of 460 NHL games had been mostly an AHL call-up option for the past few seasons, but had an exceptional scoring run in Milwaukee last season while on the Preds’ farm that put him back on the map. He broke camp with the Wild last fall as a result and has been a decent depth scoring presence for them this season amid a rash of injuries, posting a 3-7–10 scoring line in 48 games while seeing 10:18 of ice time per night.
With Minnesota’s forward group back near full health and their pair of additions today making him the #15 or #16 forward on the depth chart, it’s unlikely he would have played at all if he remained on the Wild’s roster down the stretch. They’ll instead do him a solid by letting him get some bottom-six reps in Florida, who’s dealing with injuries of their own and are expected to move on from a winger in A.J. Greer today, to keep getting some playing time and boost his chances for a one-way deal as a UFA this summer.
Wild Acquire Nick Foligno
In a tight battle in the Central Division, the Wild continue to add depth pieces. Frank Seravalli of Victory+ reports (Twitter link) that Minnesota is close to acquiring winger Nick Foligno from the Blackhawks. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic adds (Twitter link) that Chicago is only receiving future considerations in return. The teams have since confirmed the move.
The 38-year-old is in the final season of a two-year, $9MM contract. Notably, Minnesota will be picking up the full cost of his $4.5MM cap charge as Chicago no longer has any remaining salary retention slots having used two earlier this week on Jason Dickinson and Connor Murphy and one last season on Seth Jones. Meanwhile, Chicago will not replace Foligno as their captain for the rest of the season; NHL.com’s Tracey Myers relays (Twitter link) that winger Tyler Bertuzzi will become an alternate captain for the remainder of the season.
Foligno has had a quiet year offensively, notching just three goals and eight assists in 37 games while also missing 21 contests due to injury. Meanwhile, his playing time has dropped sharply for the second straight year. After logging nearly 18 minutes a night in 2023-24 in his first season with the team, Foligno is now down to just 12:28 per night despite seeing playing time on Chicago’s second power play unit and being part of their penalty killing rotation. It stands to reason that his ice time will slide even more with this swap as he’s a strong candidate to be a fourth liner for Minnesota.
This move, assuming it gets finalized, would reunite Foligno with his younger brother, Marcus Foligno, giving them a chance to play together for the first time. Marcus has spent a good chunk of the season on the Wild’s fourth line as well, so on top of getting a chance to play on the same team, they might even wind up on the same line once he returns from his lower-body injury.
Armed with ample cap space at the trade deadline for the first time in a long time, GM Bill Guerin is putting it to use. This will be his fourth forward addition of the week having swung previous trades for Michael McCarron and Bobby Brink, while he also grabbed Robby Fabbri off waivers. With the roster limit no longer being in effect as of today, Minnesota now has considerable forward depth to mix and match with for specific matchups or when injuries arise. Even with those moves, they can still add more than $5MM in full-season salary, per PuckPedia, meaning that they might not be done just yet.
Wild Acquire Bobby Brink
The Wild are addressing their need for additional scoring depth by acquiring winger Bobby Brink from the Flyers, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic and Frank Seravalli of Victory+. Defenseman David Jiříček is the return headed to Philly, both add. There is no extension in place between the Wild and Brink, who’s a pending restricted free agent, Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff reports. The trade has since been confirmed.
Brink is in the back half of a two-year, $3MM bridge deal he signed with Philly in 2024. He’ll be looking for a notable raise this summer. The 2019 second-rounder has grown into a stable top-nine piece during that time, and while he’s not the top-six center that Minnesota has been aiming for, it was clear the Wild were at least looking for a middle-six winger to augment their depth. They reportedly explored acquiring Nick Foligno from the Blackhawks, and while this doesn’t take them out of that race, it is a notable move to replenish some of the scoring upside they lost earlier this season by trading Liam Ohgren and Marco Rossi to the Canucks in the Quinn Hughes deal.
Since emerging as a full-time piece in the Flyers’ lineup back in 2023, Brink has averaged around a half a point per game. That hasn’t changed much this season with 26 in 55 games, but his finishing has taken a step forward, notching a career-high 13 tallies while shooting at 14.4% clip. He was averaging north of 15 minutes per game for Philly, playing mostly on their second line with Noah Cates and Matvei Michkov.
The inclusion of Brink, who’s still only 24, gives the Wild nine double-digit goal scorers on their roster up to this point in the season. They may still be looking for muscle near the bottom of the lineup. Brink certainly doesn’t provide that at just 5’8″ and 169 lbs, but he plays much larger than he is and is on pace for 100 hits.
For the Flyers, it’s a simple swap of young players from a position of excess to a position of need. The right-shot Jiříček now finds himself on his third team in four years since being drafted sixth overall by the Blue Jackets in 2022, but he’ll never have a clearer path to NHL minutes than he has now. The 22-year-old was on an assignment to AHL Iowa at the time of the trade, but with Rasmus Ristolainen likely on his way out of Philly today amid a rush of offers, the Flyers had a pressing organizational need for a righty who can challenge for top-four minutes.
That gives Jiříček a prime opportunity down the stretch to showcase himself in the extended ice time he’s so desperately desired to be effective. In 84 career NHL appearances over the last four years, he has a 2-11–13 scoring line and a -8 rating while averaging just 13:33 of ice time per game. Assuming Philly recalls him in short order, that number should jump closer to 20 with the potential for power-play opportunity, something Charlie O’Connor of PHLY Sports reports played a role in the move.
Blue Jackets, Wild Interested In Nick Foligno
Emily Kaplan of ESPN reports that the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild have contacted the Chicago Blackhawks about forward Nick Foligno. Chicago’s captain has connections to both organizations.
Columbus is where Foligno had the most successful period of his career. Ahead of the 2012-13 season, the Blue Jackets acquired Foligno from the Ottawa Senators for defenseman Marc Methot. The 38-year-old winger spent four years with the Blue Jackets before being named the team’s captain for the 2015-16 season.
Throughout his nine-year tenure in Columbus, Foligno scored 142 goals and 334 points in 599 games, averaging 17:47 of ice time. Aside from notching a pair of 20-goal campaigns (one of which was a 30-goal performance), Foligno displayed immense physicality, averaging 2.5 hits per game, and a respectable 91.5% on-ice SV% at even strength.
Pulling back into the playoff conversation of late, Foligno is exactly the type of player the Blue Jackets were expected to add. Yes, the club has a trio of pending unrestricted free-agent forwards it could dangle, but it’s clear the team is looking to reward its group with some low-cost additions. Columbus wouldn’t need Chicago to retain any of Foligno’s $4.5MM cap hit either, which would inevitably lower the Blackhawks’ asking price.
Meanwhile, despite never having played for the Wild, Nick’s brother, Marcus Foligno, has been in Minnesota for the last nine seasons. The two play a very similar style of hockey, and they could slot in on the same line if Minnesota ultimately acquires Nick.
Still, Minnesota is known to be looking for a top-six center, and acquiring Foligno, even at 50% retained, would cut into their financial assets. If the Wild cannot acquire a higher-end center, they could focus their remaining cap space on acquiring veteran depth pieces, such as Foligno. Regardless, if the Wild acquired Nick, it would be the first time the pair has played together, even since their high school days.
Wild Targeting A Top-Six Center
General Manager Bill Guerin is no stranger to bold moves, and that has continued into deadline season. Throughout the past few weeks, the Minnesota Wild have been heavily linked to New York Rangers center Vincent Trocheck, but that interest appears to be waning.
A few days ago, Trocheck himself shared that he would prefer to stay in the Eastern Conference, but there was no indication on whether he would block a trade to Minnesota. It turns out, the Wild are pulling away from Trocheck for different reasons entirely. According to Michael Russo and Joe Smith of The Athletic, Minnesota simply isn’t comfortable meeting the Rangers’ asking price.
There isn’t much detailed information available about what exactly the Rangers are requesting. Still, after effectively trading four first-round picks for Quinn Hughes earlier this year, the Wild may not have the assets to acquire another top player.
Additional Wild notes:
- Regardless of evaporating interest in Trocheck, the team is still trying to acquire a top-six center. In the same report, Russo and Smith suggested that the Wild could target veteran center Ryan O’Reilly from the Nashville Predators. The two teams recently got together on a trade that sent Michael McCarron to Minnesota, so there wouldn’t be any anti-divisional bias from either side. Unfortunately, despite not having any trade protection, the Predators have a handshake agreement with O’Reilly to only send him to a location where he would be willing to play.
- Furthermore, the pair of reporters brought up the fact that the Wild have been interested in Charlie Coyle of the Columbus Blue Jackets for much of the season. Still, things look a lot different in Columbus recently, and the team has openly suggested they’d rather extend Coyle than trade him for future assets at the deadline. At any rate, if the Wild are intent on adding a top-six middleman, the pool of talent is quickly shrinking.
Minnesota Wild Acquire Jeff Petry
The Minnesota Wild are adding a veteran presence to their backend ahead of the playoffs. According to a team announcement, the Wild have acquired Jeff Petry from the Florida Panthers for a conditional 2026 seventh-round pick.
Included in Minnesota’s announcement were the conditions on the draft pick. If the Wild make it to the Western Conference Final, and Petry plays in 50% or more of the Wild’s playoff games heading into the Western Conference Final, the pick will upgrade to Minnesota’s fifth-round pick this season.
At this stage of his career, Petry, 38, is only fit for a depth role. This season, his first with the Panthers, he was relegated to a bottom-pairing role. Throughout the year, he has tallied eight assists in 58 games with a -10 rating, averaging 14:51 of ice time.
That’s largely what he turned into during his time with the Detroit Red Wings. Before moving to Sunrise, Petry spent two years in HockeyTown, scoring four goals and 32 points in 117 games. Unlike his time with the Panthers, Petry was typically in Detroit’s top-two defensive pairings.
Given his play with the Red Wings, it was no question why Petry had to settle for a one-year, league minimum contract last summer. Playing next to Ben Chiarot for much of last season, the pair finished with the lowest xGoals% in the league (for pairings that had played 400 or more minutes together) with a 41.3% output.
That trend has continued with Florida. According to Moneypuck, the combination of Uvis Balinskis and Petry has combined for a 46.6% xGoals% this season, ranking 65th out of 83 defensive pairings that have played 300 or more minutes together.
That makes the move more peculiar on Minnesota’s end. The team already had seven defensemen on the active roster before the trade and had multiple defensive assets in the AHL that have already played this season. At any rate, instead of spending potentially his last season in the NHL with a team outside of a playoff spot, Petry will have the opportunity to compete for the first Stanley Cup of his career.
Wild Reassign Ben Jones
After acquiring center Michael McCarron from the Predators last night, the Wild have reassigned fellow middleman Ben Jones to AHL Iowa. They didn’t need the roster spot, but McCarron’s addition made Jones something of a redundancy, so he’ll be on his way back down.
Jones, 27, doesn’t have much of an NHL track record but has slowly been pushing for more opportunities in Minnesota over the past two years. He’s played 26 games for the Wild this year with a goal and an assist, the first points of his career. He’s got a -10 rating and some ugly shot attempt numbers, but has proven to be of value as a faceoff specialist at the bottom of the lineup, winning 53.5% of his draws. He last got into a game on Jan. 20 and, while he was recalled again from Iowa over the Olympic break, was scratched for Minnesota’s last four games.
The Ontario native is now a pending UFA after signing a two-year, two-way deal with the Wild in 2024. He’s been quite a capable offensive producer on an Iowa club that’s one of the worst in the AHL at both ends of the ice, so they’d likely prefer to retain him and keep him there as much as possible. He’s now the AHL team’s captain and has five goals and 16 points in 18 games for them this season.
Wild Activate Jonas Brodin From Injured Reserve, Reassign Matt Kiersted, Tyler Pitlick
8:15 PM: As anticipated, the Minnesota Wild have activated Brodin from injured reserve (Twitter Link), while Kiersted as well as today’s unclaimed Tyler Pitlick are headed to the Iowa Wild of the AHL. Not having played since January 12, Brodin will rejoin longtime teammate Jared Spurgeon in what has become an eventful day for Minnesota, as they acquired Michael McCarron from Nashville for a 2028 second rounder.
Kiersted and Pitlick, both with NHL experience, will be welcome additions back to Iowa, currently ranked last in the AHL.
3:30 PM: Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin is expected to return to the lineup tonight against the Lightning, Joe Smith of The Athletic reports. He’ll need to come off injured reserve. Minnesota didn’t have an open roster spot entering today, but has assigned D-man Matt Kiersted to AHL Iowa, per PuckPedia, giving them the flexibility to activate Brodin.
Brodin, 32, has been out for the past seven weeks after undergoing a minor lower-body procedure in mid-January. Thanks to the Olympic break, he only missed 14 games. It was his second multi-game absence of the season after missing four games with a related lower-body issue in December.
Minnesota’s defense is now at full health for the first time since early December as they jockey for playoff seeding in the Central Division with the Avalanche and Stars. They’re 7-2-1 in their last 10, but those two regulation losses have come in their last two games, dropping contests to the Mammoth and Blues by a combined score of 8-3. They’ll have Brodin back in their top four on a familiar pairing with captain Jared Spurgeon as they try to end that brief slide against a Lightning team reeling from a 6-2 loss to the Sabres over the weekend.
Now in his 14th season in Minnesota, Brodin remains as high-end a defensive piece as ever. His ice time is under 22 minutes per game for the first time in six years, due in part to Quinn Hughes‘ acquisition pushing him out of the de facto #1 slot on the Wild’s left side, but he’s maintained a +13 rating in 42 games while starting 54.8% of his 5-on-5 shifts in the defensive zone. That’s his highest figure since 2020-21, and it’s come with him controlling 48.6% of shot attempts but 52.4% of expected goals.
Kiersted, 27, heads back to Iowa after serving as an extra defenseman for the Wild’s first three games out of the break. The Minnesota native has suited up four times for the Wild this year in addition to posting a goal and seven points in 33 games for Iowa.
Wild Acquire Michael McCarron
Moments ago, the Nashville Predators announced that center Michael McCarron wouldn’t play tonight against Columbus for what they called “roster management purposes”. Sure enough, he has been dealt to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for a 2028 second round pick, per Michael Russo of The Athletic. The Wild as well as the Predators have officially announced the trade.
Once a first round pick in 2013 by the Montreal Canadiens, the 30-year-old McCarron grinded away in the AHL for several years, emerging as a full time NHLer in his late twenties. At 6’6″, he is strong at the face-off dot, currently with a 52.8% win rate, coming in north of 54% last season.
McCarron showed unusual scoring touch in 2023-24, recording 12 goals and 22 points in his best season, but since then has put up numbers synonymous with a pure fourth liner. He has five goals and 12 points in 59 games across the campaign. At even strength, McCarron’s possession metrics are unsurprisingly below average, hovering around the 46% mark in recent years. Yet GM Bill Guerin is not adding the Michigan native with those traits in mind.
Minnesota inherits McCarron’s reasonable $900k cap hit which expires this summer. Rumored to be after a top six center, Guerin still has the space to make another splash, but the Wild are limited in assets as they go all in. After tonight’s deal, they don’t have a second round pick in the next three drafts, also losing this year’s first in the Quinn Hughes blockbuster.
Acquired by Nashville from Montreal in 2020 in exchange for Laurent Dauphin, a top AHL scorer who departed the Habs organization but has actually returned to Laval, McCarron became a fan favorite in Nashville. Even if they move forward on a rebuild, they could have re-signed the towering grinder as he fills an important role. However, in a seller’s market, a second round pick was enough to entice GM Barry Trotz to send McCarron to a divisional rival, although they’ll have to wait two years to use it.
The Predators lack anybody in the cupboard to replace McCarron’s role, but October waiver claim Tyson Jost figures to slot in at 4C from here on out. Nashville will likely shop for a new physical face-off specialist this summer in free agency.
A steep price to pay, Minnesota has again supplemented their bottom six, having claimed Robby Fabbri off waivers from St. Louis yesterday. The Wild have struggled with defensive zone face-offs, and McCarron offers more of a mean streak than Nico Sturm. He has reached the 100 penalty minute mark in each of the last two seasons, and currently at 73, it’s not impossible he could keep the streak going especially while motivated to endear himself to the Wild faithful.
Wild head coach John Hynes likely gave the green light on the acquisition, reuniting with McCarron, who broke through in 2021-22 with 51 games as a Predator under Hynes. He could also play alongside Yakov Trenin, a teammate then, the two hitting everything in sight.
McCarron could make his Wild debut as soon as Friday, as the group travels to Vegas.
Image Credit: James Carey Lauder-Imagn Images
Wild Claim Robby Fabbri, Place Tyler Pitlick On Waivers
March 3: Pitlick passed through waivers unclaimed, per Friedman.
March 2: The Minnesota Wild have found a depth forward upgrade on the waiver wire. Minnesota has claimed St. Louis Blues winger Robby Fabbri off of waivers and, in a corresponding move, placed Tyler Pitlick on waivers to clear roster space, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Fabbri will join former Blues teammate Vladimir Tarasenko in his move to the Wild.
Fabbri signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Blues in December after beginning the year with three games and two points, with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers. He slotted into a fourth-line role – but routinely stepped up in the lineup – in his return to St. Louis, where he spent the first four years of his career. Fabbri racked up four points, 12 penalty minutes, and a minus-three in 15 games with the Blues before landing on waivers. His waiver designation came in conjunction with Robert Thomas‘ return from a month-long absence due to injury and personal leave.
Fabbri was a first-round pick for the Blues in 2014. He made his NHL debut two seasons later and posted what’s become a career-year right out of the gates – marked by a career-high 18 goals and 37 points in 72 games. Fabbri’s career was quickly derailed by multiple knee injuries, holding him out of over 100 games between 2016 and 2020. Despite that, Fabbri stuck in the lineup long enough to seal a Stanley Cup victory with the Blues in 2019, netting a combined seven points in 42 games between the 2018-19 regular season and playoffs.
Fabbri will rival fourth-line minutes in Minnesota. Pitlick recorded only two goals, along with 24 penalty minutes and a minus-four, in 32 games with Minnesota this season. He has also scored 11 points in 12 AHL games this season. Pitlick spent the entire 2024-25 season with the AHL’s Providence Bruins. He finished the year ranked third on the team in scoring, with 46 points in 59 games. Pitlick rotated through NHL extra forward roles between 2013 and 2024 – making appearances with seven different clubs, including the Blues and Edmonton Oilers. In total, Pitlick has scored 58 goals and 111 points in 452 NHL games. He will return to a productive role in the minor leagues, if no team finds a need for his depth services in the NHL.