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Canucks Reportedly Make Offer For Marco Rossi

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In an article by Michael Russo and Joe Smith from The Athletic, which was later confirmed by Patrick Johnston of The Province, there is a growing consensus that the Vancouver Canucks have made a formal offer to the Minnesota Wild for Marco Rossi. While the complete trade offer remains unclear, the trio of writers believes the Canucks proposed the 15th overall pick in the 2025 NHL Draft along with a player.

Johnston elaborated in his article stating that it’s unclear whether the player offered to the Wild was a prospect, or one currently rostered with the Canucks. Still, the news confirms that Vancouver is being aggressive in their pursuit of upgrading their second-line center.

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Gabriel Dumont Announces Retirement

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According to a team announcement, longtime captain for the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, Gabriel Dumont, has announced his retirement from professional hockey. Dumont, 34, recently completed his 15th professional season.

Dumont’s entrance into professional hockey came in the fifth round of the 2009 NHL Draft, when the Montreal Canadiens selected him with the 139th overall pick. He subsequently had a promising year with the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs, scoring 51 goals and 93 points in 62 games with an impressive +43 rating.

Unfortunately, that was the last of Dumont’s high-scoring days for quite some time. He spent the next six years buried in the AHL in the Canadiens organization, scoring 92 goals and 203 points in 389 AHL contests, while managing one goal and three points in 18 NHL games.

After the 2015-16 season, Dumont finally reached free agency and chose to sign a one-year agreement with the Tampa Bay Lightning. This was Dumont’s largest opportunity to play at the top level, scoring two goals and four points in 39 games for the Bolts, while averaging 9:40 of ice time per night. After a brief stint with the Ottawa Senators after being claimed off waivers, Dumont later returned to the Lightning organization, again via waivers, a few months later.

Despite posting a solid 15 goals and 43 points in 59 games for the Crunch in his first year as captain during the 2018-19 campaign, Dumont chose to leave the following summer, signing a two-year agreement with the Minnesota Wild. Dumont largely played in the AHL with Minnesota, scoring 20 goals and 46 points in 68 AHL contests, and going scoreless in three NHL appearances over two years.

The beginning of the 2021-22 season signified Dumont’s last move in his professional career and ended his NHL tenure. Syracuse’s former captain returned, again taking on the same leadership role, for the next four years. Unfortunately, Dumont couldn’t lead the Crunch very deep into the Calder Cup playoffs, but did have the best individual season of his career in 2021-22, scoring 30 goals and 62 points in 75 games.

The former fifth-round selection in the 2009 NHL Draft concluded his AHL career with a total of 202 goals and 459 points across 747 games, playing for the Crunch, Iowa Wild, Hamilton Bulldogs, and St. John’s IceCaps. In addition, he recorded four goals and nine points in 90 NHL appearances with the Canadiens, Lightning, Senators, and Wild. PHR congratulates Dumont on a quality professional career and wishes him the best in retirement.

Update On Minnesota Wild’s Marco Rossi

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According to a new article from Joe Smith and Michael Russo of The Athletic, the trade market for the Minnesota Wild’s Marco Rossi may have already come and gone. The two argue that Brock Nelson’s new three-year deal with the Colorado Avalanche took Rossi’s best replacement off the table, and any trade involving Rossi would ultimately make the Wild worse off.

The pair of writers gave arguments against nearly every available free agent center, admitting that John Tavares, Sam Bennett, and Claude Giroux want to stay with their respective teams, while Jonathan Toews and Matt Duchene don’t serve as obvious upgrades despite the latter’s friendly past with Wild head coach John Hynes.

Furthermore, on the trade market, teams have preemptively taken top center targets off the table. The Vancouver Canucks no longer feel comfortable moving Elias Pettersson given the status of the rest of the team’s middlemen, the New York Islanders have shared that they are uninterested in moving Bo Horvat or Mathew Barzal, the Vegas Golden Knights feel the same with William Karlsson, and New York Ranger Mika Zibanejad, and Calgary Flame Nazem Kadri have fairly heavy trade protection.

Minnesota’s remaining available avenues have seemingly narrowed over the last few weeks, and the team may take a note out of the Carolina Hurricanes’ playbook moving forward. The Hurricanes were in a similar situation last summer with forward Martin Nečas.

After several failed attempts to trade him last offseason, Carolina signed Nečas to a two-year, $13MM contract, and traded him six months later to the Avalanche in a blockbuster trade for Mikko Rantanen. That would require a major gamble for the Wild, given there’s no guarantee a player of Rantanen’s ability rarely becomes available on the trade market.

Rossi and his representation haven’t shown much interest in a short-term offer either. Reports from earlier in June indicated that Rossi was demanding a seven-year deal from the Wild and wasn’t interested in the team’s offer for a five-year deal.

Unless another center becomes available in the next few weeks, it’s beginning to make little sense for the Wild to part ways with Rossi. As the summer drags on, the odds of him signing a shorter-term pact become likelier, as it outweighs the idea of not starting the season on time, or holding out for much of the season.

Canucks Have Shown Interest In Marco Rossi

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A handful of Canadian teams have spoken with the Wild regarding pending RFA center Marco Rossi, but the Canucks are the club with the highest level of interest in the youngster, writes Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. LeBrun adds the Flames have also expressed a mild degree of interest but are looking for a pivot with more size to complement their top six, while the Canadiens have kicked tires but haven’t been remotely progressive in their pursuit.

Rossi is one of the biggest names to watch on the trade market over the next few weeks, especially among centers, unless Vancouver decides to shop their own Elias Pettersson again before his no-trade clause takes effect on July 1. Minnesota has been more aggressively soliciting calls on Rossi since the season ended, after previously denying they were looking to move the 23-year-old pivot. There’s been widespread interest so far, but no team has emerged as a true frontrunner.

That’s due mostly to Rossi’s disinterest in a bridge deal and a desire for a long-term contract worth $49MM over seven years for a $7MM cap hit, according to reports. He’s coming off a strong platform year, finally elevated into consistent top-six deployment and responding with a 24-36–60 scoring line in 82 games despite not having superstar Kirill Kaprizov available on his wing for half of the season. He was second on the Wild in points and only three goals behind Matt Boldy for the team lead. He also hasn’t missed a game since emerging as a full-time NHL option in 2023-24, a notable development for someone who experienced significant post-COVID complications shortly after being drafted No. 9 overall by the Wild in 2020.

Rossi’s leap in production, especially since he was able to shoulder the responsibility of being Minnesota’s top center for a decent portion of the campaign with Joel Eriksson Ek missing time as well, still points to the Austrian having a point-per-game ceiling (or close to it). There’s one limiting factor he has to overcome: his size. Checking in at 5’9″ and 182 lbs, teams generally prefer to have that type of skillset on the wing. Whether justifiable or not, his evaluation by the Wild has been negatively impacted. His minutes were slashed in the postseason as he was reduced to a fourth-line role, still managing three points in six games against the Golden Knights despite seeing a decrease of over seven minutes per game from his regular-season deployment.

The lack of cost certainty and the fact that Rossi only has two full years of NHL experience also hurt, not help, his trade value. As such, it’s hard to identify a solid comparable deal to speculate a return. The Wild have no intention of taking a step back in their competitiveness level next season, though, so as Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff speculated earlier this month, they won’t just be looking for futures in return. If they’re losing center depth, they’ll look to bolster their skill on the wings to compensate.

Few destinations make more sense for Rossi than Vancouver. The Canucks are in desperate need of more offensive depth at every forward position but particularly at center, where they took a temporary hit by swapping J.T. Miller for Filip Chytil in an in-season blockbuster with the Rangers. Slotting in Rossi as their No. 2 center behind Pettersson, as they await the latter’s return to form, would allow Chytil to drop down to a much more comfortable third-line role to begin 2025-26 and give Vancouver three legitimate scoring threats down the middle.

It’s unclear who Minnesota might want in return on the wing, though. They’d presumably prefer a similarly-aged piece to Rossi but the Canucks wouldn’t likely value him high enough to deem him worth parting ways with top prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki. A return based around the 23-year-old Nils Höglander, plus other assets to equal Rossi’s higher trade value, would be more realistic.

That’s a decent step back in offensive ceiling for Minnesota, but Höglander is cost-controlled at a $3MM cap hit through 2027-28. That would still allow the Wild to be aggressive in pursuing a name like Matt Duchene or Mikael Granlund in free agency to replace Rossi down the middle, while the Canucks would still open up more flexbility compared to a futures-based return and might still have the space to pursue a replacement for Höglander on the wing on the open market.

Free Agent Focus: Minnesota Wild

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Free agency is now under a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We continue our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Wild.

Key Restricted Free Agents

F Marco Rossi – Much has already been made of Rossi’s trip through restricted free agency this summer. The former ninth overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft is reportedly looking for a seven-year, $49MM contract with the Wild this summer, and the team has countered with a five-year, $25MM deal. It doesn’t seem like a bridgeable gap at this point, though much can change over the summer months. Despite having his name in the rumor mill for a few years, the trade rumors surrounding Rossi are reaching a peak, meaning it’s more than likely he’s moved this summer.

F Declan Chisholm – Minnesota acquired Chisholm on waivers from the Winnipeg Jets last season, and he quietly had a productive season for the Wild in 2024-25. He reached a career-high in scoring with two goals and 12 points in 66 contests, averaging just shy of 17 minutes of ice time per game. Furthermore, even though he started many of his shifts in the defensive zone, Chisholm finished the season with a quality 50.4% CorsiFor% at even strength, and a 91.5% on-ice save percentage at even strength. Chisholm would make for a reliable depth option to retain on a saturated defensive core.

Other RFAs: F Graeme Clarke, F Adam Raska, F Michael Milne, F Luke Toporowski, D Ryan O’Rourke

Key Unrestricted Free Agents

F Gustav Nyquist – The second iteration of the Nyquist experiment in Minnesota didn’t go as well as the first time. The last time the Wild acquired Nyquist at the 2022-23 season, he scored one goal and five points in three regular season contests, with another five assists in six playoff games. This time around, the Halmstad, Sweden native scored two goals and seven points in 22 games after a trade from the Nashville Predators, and went scoreless in the Wild’s opening-round matchup against the Vegas Golden Knights. There will be better options available to Minnesota on the free agent market to address their secondary scoring needs.

F Justin Brazeau – Like Nyquist, the Wild acquired Brazeau at this year’s trade deadline from the Boston Bruins. He was tasked with giving Minnesota more grit and defensive prowess in their bottom-six for their playoff push, and that’s exactly what he gave them. His ice time was cut by more than four and a half minutes when he was moved to the Wild, and his scoring followed. Still, Brazeau managed nearly two hits a game for Minnesota, and added 22 more in six postseason contests.

D Jon Merrill – Merrill is unlikely to sign another contract with the Wild. Unfortunately, he doesn’t do all that much aside from eat limited minutes. He managed a quality 91.4% on-ice save percentage at even strength in 70 games, but that was only good for fifth on the team among blue liners, meaning the Wild can easily replace his value internally.

Other UFAs: F Travis Boyd, F Devin Shore, F Tyler Madden, D Cameron Crotty, G Troy Grosenick, G Dylan Ferguson

Projected Cap Space

The time has finally come for Minnesota to forget about the buyout burden from Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. After paying the pair of former-veterans nearly $15MM last season, the Wild’s payment drops down to $1.7MM for the 2025-26 season, giving them nearly $16MM in salary cap flexibility with few roster spots to fill. Minnesota have already placed a priority on signing superstar Kirill Kaprizov to a long-term extension this summer, so they’ll have to game out any free agent additions with that extension in mind.

Contract info courtesy of PuckPedia.

Photo courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images

Offseason Checklist: Minnesota Wild

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The offseason has arrived for all but two teams now with the playoffs nearing an end.  Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming weeks with free agency fast approaching.  Next up is a look at Minnesota.

This season saw some ups and downs for Minnesota.  They had some injuries to key players while some other core pieces took steps back.  But in the end, they were able to lock down a playoff spot despite their offensive struggles and gave Vegas a good run in the first round before falling in six.  GM Bill Guerin now has much more cap flexibility moving forward; putting that to good use is a big chunk of their checklist for this offseason.

Pick A Direction With Rossi

For a team that has had challenges developing centers, it feels like Marco Rossi has perpetually been on thin ice with the Wild.  Yes, at 5’9, he’s undersized for the position but he was the ninth-overall pick back in 2020 and despite a health scare soon after, he has become a legitimate middleman at the top level.

Rossi became a full-time NHL player in 2023-24 and had a solid rookie campaign with 21 goals and 40 points, earning him some down-ballot Calder Trophy votes.  He was even better this season, tallying 24 goals and 60 points, good for second in points on the team.  However, part of the current question stems from his usage in the playoffs when he went down to just 12 minutes a night after averaging 18:15 per contest during the regular season.

On the contract side, various reports have suggested that Rossi’s camp is using teammate Matt Boldy as a desired comparable in negotiations at seven years and $7MM per season.  Meanwhile, Guerin is believed to have offered five years at $5MM in-season, an offer that was rejected.  Notably, that would have set Rossi up to hit the open market heading into his age-29 season.  A bridge proposal is believed to have been pitched as well but with his playoff usage, finding a number that works for both sides will be tough.

There are two ways the Wild can go here.  The first is that they can work out a long-term deal to the satisfaction of both sides.  With a bridge agreement looking unlikely, the second is that they find a suitable trade.  It’s not often that young centers with his pedigree become available and with many teams – rebuilders and contenders alike – needing help down the middle, Rossi should command a strong return if that’s the route they choose.

However, it would also open up another spot at center to try to fill in a summer that should already see Guerin looking to add an impact middleman even if Rossi stays.  Landing one isn’t easy; landing two would be that much harder, even with nearly $16MM in cap space, per PuckPedia.  While restricted free agents can drag out negotiations, this feels like a situation that needs to come to a head before July 1st comes around.

Work On Kaprizov Extension

For a couple of years now, extension discussions with Kirill Kaprizov have been a key point of speculation.  When the time comes, will he be willing to commit to a long-term agreement or would he look to hit the open market and perhaps move to a bigger market?  Those questions have come even with Kaprizov consistently saying he wants to stay; including after the playoffs last month when he stated that “I love everything here. It should be all good.”  Well, come July, we’ll start to get a first sense of where things could go as that’s when he becomes eligible to sign a contract extension.

The 28-year-old has been one of the most productive players in the NHL on a per-game basis over the past four years (1.27 points per game in 264 outings) although he has only had one season with more than 80 games in that stretch.  This season, he missed half the games but still managed an impressive 56 points in 41 outings.  He’s a premier winger in the NHL, as long as he’s healthy enough to stay in the lineup.  But while the track record of injuries is worth noting, it’s unlikely to materially affect any extension talks.

For one more year, Kaprizov will make $9MM but his next contract will almost certainly blow past that by a significant margin.  With the projected growth of the salary cap and the potential for a record-setting contract coming to a winger this summer (Mitch Marner), finding comparables is a bit tricky.  Marner’s next deal seems likely to check in somewhere between 14% and 15% of the Upper Limit, a number that checks in above Artemi Panarin (the current record-holder for richest winger deal).  David Pastrnak and William Nylander are over $11MM apiece but in the old salary cap environment, they don’t hold up as well but their cap percentages start with a 13.

With the 2026-27 cap being projected to land around $104MM, we can start to come up with a framework for Kaprizov’s next contract.  At 13%, a new deal would be $13.52MM per season.  Speculatively, that feels low, especially with the expectation that Marner could beat that this summer.  At 14%, the cost jumps to $14.56MM and at 15%, $15.6MM, a number that feels on the high side, especially for an early extension.  $15MM (14.4% of the cap) has been speculated as a reasonable middle ground, an increase of $6MM per season.  That would be the richest deal in NHL history but if Minnesota is hesitant to give it to him, his camp knows someone else will later on.  Are both sides prepared to work something out around that price point?  We’ll find out this summer.

Add Scoring Help

Scoring has been an issue for Minnesota in recent years.  They haven’t been in the top 20 league-wide in goals scored for the last three seasons while they saw their goal output drop from 248 in 2023-24 to just 225 this season.  Most of the time, that firepower isn’t good enough to get into the playoffs.  While Kaprizov missing half the season contributed to some of that drop, they’re still a below-average team in that regard.

With Zeev Buium joining the Wild full-time next season, they probably don’t need to do much on the back end.  They may try to re-sign RFA Declan Chisholm but that’s about it.  That means the bulk of that cap space can be spent up front.  If Rossi re-signs for something close to his asking price, that should still leave enough for an impactful top-six addition.  Again, ideally that’s a center but they’re not in a spot where they can be too choosy.  Even if it’s a winger, an improvement would be great.  And if Rossi does wind up moving, they’d need a couple of top-six pickups.

This season, Minnesota had just four players reach the 40-point mark after having seven get there the year before.  In a perfect world, there’s some internal improvement from some of their underachievers; deepening their forward group could help in that regard.  Now that they have some long-desired flexibility cap-wise, they need to spend it on adding some offensive firepower.

Look Into Goaltending Insurance

When the Wild brought back Marc-Andre Fleury for one more season, the plan was clear.  Jesper Wallstedt would get one more year in the minors and then move up.  The two-year, $4.4MM contract they handed him soon after only cemented that.  That contract was a head-scratcher then (following the one Yaroslav Askarov got from San Jose which was also a puzzling one) and it looks much worse now as Wallstedt struggled mightily with AHL Iowa this season, posting a 3.59 GAA and a .879 SV% in 27 games in the minors.  Had they waited to sign him until now, the cost would have been a lot lower.

Is Guerin comfortable with promoting Wallstedt to the full-time backup spot behind Filip Gustavsson coming off the year he just had?   Given his draft stock as a first-round pick back in 2021, it’s fair to say he’s still envisioned as someone in the long-term plans for Minnesota between the pipes.  In that lens, it’d be reasonable to think they would want to give him the first crack at the spot.  If that’s the case, then the goaltending depth they’d need would be a veteran AHL starter who could come up in a pinch with their other two signed netminders (Samuel Hlavaj and Riley Mercer) not quite NHL-ready.

But it’s worth noting that Wallstedt is still waiver-exempt for next season.  In theory, they could send him down to Iowa again, lowering his cap charge in the process to $1.05MM.  That would then allow them to try to pursue a more proven option.  That would mean spending less on the forward position but would allow them to have a bit more piece of mind at the backup spot while giving Wallstedt a chance to bounce back from his tough year in Iowa.  Either way, they’re likely to add another netminder in the coming weeks.

Photo courtesy of Nick Wosika-Imagn Images.

Suitors Are Beginning To Emerge For Marco Rossi

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In another update on the tumultuous relationship between Marco Rossi and the Minnesota Wild, Joe Smith and Michael Russo of The Athletic offered some hypothetical landing spots for the former ninth-overall pick of the 2020 NHL Draft.

The pair of reporters listed the Vancouver Canucks, Philadelphia Flyers, Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, Calgary Flames, Utah Mammoth, and Winnipeg Jets, in that order, as the likeliest landing spots for Rossi if the Wild trade him. Furthermore, Smith and Russo believe the Canucks can offer the most compelling trade package of the listed teams.

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Devin Shore Signs With HC Sparta Prague

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After spending his entire career in North America, pending UFA forward Devin Shore is heading overseas. He signed a one-year deal with HC Sparta Prague of the Czech Extraliga today, the club announced.

Shore, 31 in July, spent this season on a two-way deal with the Wild. He was meant to be a top-six piece for AHL Iowa, but a never-ending list of injuries to Minnesota’s forward group meant he spent most of the season up with the big club.

Outside of throwing the body with 76 hits, he wasn’t particularly effective in fourth-line minutes. Averaging 8:39 of ice time over 55 games, Shore recorded a 1-4–5 scoring line, a minus-eight rating, and some of the worst even-strength possession metrics on the team (40.9 CF%, 38.1 xGF%).

Shore was once an everyday NHL contributor and even had back-to-back 30-point seasons with the Stars in 2016-17 and 2017-18 to kick off his career, but he hasn’t held down a consistent role since. His 55 appearances this season were his most since the 2018-19 campaign, and he hasn’t hit double digits in goals since then, either.

A second-round pick by Dallas in 2012, he’s appeared in parts of the last 10 NHL seasons and has also made stops in Anaheim, Columbus, Edmonton, and Seattle. He heads overseas after recording 52 goals and 144 points in 498 NHL games, a career that’s unlikely to extend at his age.

He’ll head to Czechia to link up with other ex-NHLers like Roman Horák, Michal Kempný, and Mark Pysyk on Sparta’s 2025-26 roster.

Marco Rossi’s Contract Demand Becoming A Roadblock

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Marco Rossi’s asking price for his next contract is quickly becoming an issue, and not only for the Minnesota Wild. Earlier today, in an article by Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff, he indicates that teams aren’t interested in Rossi if his seven-year, $49MM extension demand remains.

Di Marco indicates that the Philadelphia Flyers had ’lukewarm’ interest in Rossi dating back to 2024. The discussions at that time centered on Morgan Frost, before he was traded in a separate deal to the Calgary Flames. According to a source, the Wild are interested in recently extended Tyson Foerster, along with one of the Flyers’ late first-round picks for the upcoming draft, originally belonging to the Colorado Avalanche and Edmonton Oilers.

Later on, in an article from Michael Russo of The Athletic, Minnesota General Manager Bill Guerin denied Di Marco’s report, saying, “I’ve talked to lots of teams about lots of players — not just Marco — and names come up all the time, but there’s never been any serious discussion with anybody yet.”

According to Russo’s report, the Wild have offered Rossi a five-year, $25MM extension and a shorter-term offer for an undisclosed amount. Regardless, there seems to be a clear disconnect between the team’s assessment of Rossi’s value and his own.

It is unlikely that Minnesota will meet Rossi’s asking price for an extension. The Wild gave the same contract to winger Matt Boldy, who scored 102 points on his entry-level contract, compared to Rossi’s 101. The sticking point is that Boldy did it in 60 fewer games played.

Still, Rossi could make a solid case for himself by comparing himself to Flames forward Matthew Coronato. Coronato signed a seven-year, $45.5MM extension with Calgary a few weeks ago, and he had 13 fewer points than Rossi this past season.

At this point in the negotiation, there doesn’t seem to be a bridgeable gap between Minnesota and Rossi, unless he opts for the shorter-term offer. Russo listed the Buffalo Sabres, Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Montreal Canadiens, and Vancouver Canucks as suitable candidates should they pivot to trading their former ninth-overall selection.

Wild Sign Marcus Johansson To One-Year Contract

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The Minnesota Wild have signed veteran forward Marcus Johansson to a one-year, $800K contract for the 2025-26 season. The deal was first reported by Michael Russo of The Athletic. Johansson was set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, after concluding a two-year, $4MM contract signed with Minnesota in 2023.

Johansson maintained his modest scoring through his last two years in Minnesota. He posted 11 goals, 34 points, and a minus-seven in 72 games this season – all a slight improvement over the 11 goals, 30 points, and minus-15 he posted in 78 games last year. Johansson also contributed two assists in five postseason games this year, marking his third-consecutive postseason appearance with two points – though he’s alternated appearances in and out of the playoffs.

Johansson will continue onto his 16th NHL season with this deal. He’ll also be set up to reach his 1,000th career game in Minnesota – currently sat just 17 games back from the milestone. Reaching that mark will put a pin on what’s been a tremendous career for the versatile Johansson. He was originally drafted 24th-overall in the 2009 NHL Draft, and has carried his slick skating and role-filling talents through tenures with six different clubs.

His career-year stands as the 2016-17 season, when Johansson posted 24 goals and 58 points while appearing in all 82 games of the Capitals’ season. It’s the only season he has played in every game. Johansson moved out of Washington in the following summer, and has stayed on a steady but manageable decline ever since. He’s routinely rivaled 10 goals and 30 points through each of the last eight seasons, fighting through injury and shifting lineup roles. His only return to scoring prowess came back in Washington in 2022-23. After joining the team partway through the prior season, Johansson was able to pot 28 points in 60 games before another mid-season move – but then rounded out his year with 18 points in 20 games with Minnesota, good for 46 combined points on the year.

Johansson isn’t likely to challenge those scoring heights in what could be his final season in the NHL. Instead, he’ll likely return to a middling role on the Wild’s third-line, where he’ll offer a veteran presence and shifty backup in the case of injuries.

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