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Minnesota Wild Still Looking To Add A Forward

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The Minnesota Wild currently have ten forwards signed to one-way contracts for the upcoming season, plus Matthew Boldy who is a lock to make the opening day roster. Marco Rossi is another young player with big expectations but the team is also looking to add to their group at some point this offseason. Michael Russo of The Athletic tweets that general manager Bill Guerin is still working the trade market but, if nothing can be accomplished there, would look to sign a forward in free agency.

Despite their challenging cap situation, which has more than $12.7MM tied up in buyout penalties from Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, the Wild do actually have a fair bit of room to add, should they choose to use it. The team currently sits at about $78.1MM with a projected 20-man roster, meaning they don’t have to just look at league-minimum depth options.

Even if a star free agent like Nazem Kadri is off the table, there are a number of other talented players still on the market. The likes of Paul Stastny, Evan Rodrigues, Sonny Milano, Phil Kessel, Jonathan Dahlen, Johan Larsson, Tyler Motte, and others are still theoretically available, offering various skillsets and upside.

It’s not just the Wild who could benefit from some of these names. The free agent market has cooled significantly over the last week, and it is unclear how much players still left would be able to command. If they are looking for short-term deals at this point to try their hands again in a year, cap-strapped clubs could be able to take advantage.

Guerin has also shown he’s not scared of making a big splash through trade. Already this offseason he has sent Kevin Fiala and Cam Talbot elsewhere, restocking his prospect pool in the process by bringing back Filip Gustavsson, Brock Faber, and a first-round pick that turned into Liam Ohgren. While Minnesota might be facing some difficult cap restraints over the next three seasons, they still look like a relatively competitive group, especially if a player like Rossi can step into some of the vacated offensive minutes that Fiala took advantage of.

Adding a forward at this point would only strengthen the overall depth of the group.

Snapshots: Kane, Talbot, Kase

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As the league begins to decompress from a busy NHL Draft with some blockbuster news, the Chicago Blackhawks are sure to be in the forefront of many discussions after being one of the most active teams on the market this week. One question that remains to be answered is how their Hall of Fame talent feels about the club’s direction. The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta confirms today that the team will reach out to winger Patrick Kane “in the very near future” to have a conversation about his future with the team.

Both Kane and Jonathan Toews each have just one year remaining on their matching contracts, both carrying a cap hit of $10.5MM. They also both have full say in what the future holds for them in the form of full no-movement clauses. If one or both do end up wanting a trade out of Chicago in order to make another championship run, it makes sense that the Blackhawks would want to know now. The highest value for them will likely be this offseason, as the risk of declining performance could lower their trade value by next year’s deadline.

  • There’s some good old-fashioned drama in the State of Hockey. Many believed the Minnesota Wild had reinforced their goaltending situation by re-signing Marc-Andre Fleury to a two-year contract yesterday, but as quotes from general manager Bill Guerin and Cam Talbot’s agent George Bazos reveal, Talbot may not be entirely happy with the team’s choice to keep Fleury around. Bazos gave a cryptic quote after meeting with Guerin during the third round of today’s draft, saying that Guerin “had a lot to think about.” Guerin countered later, reminding media that Talbot is still under contract, and said that “George can say whatever the hell he wants.” If the relationship turns sour quickly between Talbot and the Wild, it could leave them in an interesting position next season in the crease.
  • The deadline for issuing qualifying offers to restricted free agents is July 11, and the Toronto Maple Leafs haven’t made a decision on whether or not to qualify winger Ondrej Kase. Kase is eligible for arbitration, and after producing 27 points in 50 games, the award might be too rich for Toronto’s blood if Kase elects for it. Not issuing a qualifying offer to Kase wouldn’t prevent him from returning to Toronto, but it would make him an unrestricted free agent, and could sign anywhere in the league.

West Notes: Kaprizov, Keith, Jets Prospects

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Concerns continue to rise about the availability of Russian players to NHL teams next season. One player who’s come into focus today due to a variety of conflicting reports is Kirill Kaprizov, who Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin confirmed today is still in Russia despite rumors stating he had returned to the United States. In response to reports this morning that Kaprizov is currently wanted in Russia for buying a false military ID card five years ago, Guerin said the following:

We’re not going to push the panic button or anything like that. We’re just trying to gather information right now and find out if this is even credible.

Kaprizov is one of the multiple players whose situations are in limbo, exacerbated by the fact their KHL rights are held by CSKA Moscow, a Russian army-owned team. Russo notes that in the past, CSKA players have been exempt from military service, but this is an informal and non-codified rule. In addition, Kaprizov’s exemption from mandatory military service via a studentship in a Russian organization expired at the end of June. Very little is confirmed about the situation, but it’s a significant development that bears watching over the course of the offseason as it pertains to Kaprizov’s availability to the Wild next season.

  • The Edmonton Oilers will get some clarity soon on the playing future of defenseman Duncan Keith, who could potentially decide to retire with one season remaining on his contract carrying a $5.54MM cap hit. General manager Ken Holland noted that he’d spoken to Keith twice in the past few weeks and that he’s requested an answer by this Saturday. That gives the Oilers a brief window of time ahead of free agency to work out replacement plans for Keith if he retires. The 38-year-old defenseman would not inflict a cap penalty on the Oilers if he opts to call it a career.
  • Winnipeg Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff gave injury updates today on a pair of important Jets prospects. Cole Perfetti, who suffered an upper-body injury in mid-February, has just started skating again and is not cleared to participate in the 2022 World Junior Championship for Team Canada. Additionally, 2021 first-rounder Chaz Lucius, who underwent ankle surgery after suffering a late-season injury with the University of Minnesota, won’t participate for the United States.

Wild Notes: Goaltending, Johansson, Free Agency

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The Minnesota Wild look set to begin an offseason where major decisions will have to be made. One of the biggest question marks for this Wild offseason has been their goaltending situation, with much discussion devoted to the feasibility of a Cam Talbot–Marc-Andre Fleury tandem for next season. But yesterday, Fleury spoke on that possibility, stating that a return to Minnesota would be “very appealing,” and it seems that Wild GM Bill Guerin agrees with that sentiment. He was very straightforward when addressing the goaltending, saying that they “want both back,” and that the team “likes both goalies.”

While the Wild’s precarious salary cap situation thanks to the Zach Parise and Ryan Suter buyouts will likely be the determining factor in whether or not a reunion actually comes to fruition, it’s clear that all parties involved are interested in getting it done. Playoffs aside, both Fleury and Talbot were great this season, combining for a 41-14-4 record, leading the Wild to one of their most impressive regular seasons in franchise history. It remains to be seen if a Fleury-Talbot tandem can be sustainable for an entire playoff run, of course, but it seems given today’s comments that they will likely get another chance to prove it can work.

Now, for some other notes regarding the Wild:

  • The Wild have a decision to make regarding defenseman Filip Johansson, the team’s first-round pick from the 2018 draft. The team can either sign Johansson to an entry-level contract before July 1st or see their exclusive rights to sign him expire. Johansson, 22, has been getting regular minutes for SHL club Frolunda HC for the past two seasons, and just five months ago signed a two-year extension to stay there. What makes this choice interesting is the fact that the Wild stand to gain a second-round pick, 56th overall, as compensation should they choose not to sign him. Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that “they’re not” signing Johansson, meaning the team has chosen the pick over the prospect.
  • As previously mentioned, the cost of the Suter and Parise buyouts will cast a shadow on everything the Wild plan on doing this summer. Naturally, the team’s approach to free agency would also be altered, and today Guerin shed some light on his strategy regarding this summer’s open market. Guerin said: “Honestly, we’re pretty set. I don’t know how active we’ll be in the free-agent market.” So, with Kevin Fiala a potential cap casualty, it seems Wild fans should not expect Guerin to target any major free agents when the market opens.

Kevin Fiala’s Future Remains Uncertain

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The Minnesota Wild had a heck of a season, recording a franchise-high 113 points and securing home ice advantage in the first round. Unfortunately, it didn’t result in any postseason success, as they were eliminated in six games by the St. Louis Blues.

Despite the fact that they haven’t been together for very long, many were pointing to this season as a sort of “last dance” for the current Wild roster because of cap penalties coming next year. Minnesota will carry a $12.74MM cap charge in 2022-23, and a $14.74MM cap charge in the following two years because of the buyouts of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. With a penalty that amounts to close to 16 percent of the cap ceiling, it’s extremely hard to build a competitive roster, at least when your goal is the Stanley Cup.

That means this offseason, general manager Bill Guerin will have to make some significant changes.

Most notable is the restricted free agent status of Kevin Fiala, who set a career high with 33 goals and 85 points this year after finding immediate chemistry with rookie Matt Boldy. Fiala’s platform year was an outstanding example of the dynamic five-on-five player many have always known he can be, as 67 of those points came at even-strength. Now, as he heads into the summer as an RFA for the final time, the Wild could very well have to move on from their Swiss star. Guerin was clear about that at his press conference today:

There’s uncertainty. We’d love to have Kevin back. I don’t know if it’s going to be possible. We have to dig into it a little bit, to see what we could possibly do. But there is uncertainty, that’s a good word for it. 

I’m uncertain. I am. Look, we can do anything–but at what cost?

Guerin explained that there have not yet been discussions with Fiala’s agent but there is no rush at the moment. As an arbitration-eligible RFA, the team still has control over the 25-year-old through the summer and doesn’t necessarily have to rush to get a new contract or a trade completed in the coming weeks.

Importantly, the Wild already have more than $75MM committed to next season with the buyout penalties, and other roster holes to address. That includes the goaltending position, where Cam Talbot is under contract, but Marc-Andre Fleury is a potential candidate for a short-term extension. They also will have several forward spots open even beyond Fiala, with Nicolas Deslauriers and Nick Bjugstad both scheduled for unrestricted free agency.

There are some internal candidates for those spots, with Marco Rossi leading the way after he returned from illness to have an excellent minor league season. The 20-year-old forward is expected to compete for a spot in training camp and likely has an inside track, given his relatively inexpensive entry-level contract. Rossi’s offensive upside could help to soften the blow of losing Fiala, and a trade could net the Wild other pieces to help build their club into a contender once again. It will be difficult, however, which makes this first-round loss likely sting all the more for fans in Minnesota.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Minnesota Wild Looking To Add At Trade Deadline

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The Minnesota Wild are quickly becoming a wagon of a team, separating themselves from the rest of the pack in the Western Conference. Their .689 points percentage puts them on pace for 113 points this season, which would break their record of 106 set in 2016-17 and would be their fifth 100+ point season since joining the league in 2000-01. Despite a track record of decent teams, though, Minnesota has only advanced to the Conference Final stage once — their third season, 2002-03. They’ve made the playoffs numerous times since then but have only escaped the first round twice, losing back-to-back Second Round series in 2014 and 2015.

But with the good ol’ salary cap looming over his team’s head in the near future, general manager Bill Guerin knows there’s no time like the present to add assets for a potential Stanley Cup run in a weak Western Conference. Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that the Wild are still in on J.T. Miller, who would be a hot commodity if Vancouver does opt to trade him after their recent hot stretch. Miller was linked to the Wild as far back as November 2021. They’ll face stiff competition, though, as Seravalli notes the Boston Bruins and Calgary Flames are also interested in his services.

The Fourth Period also notes that Ottawa Senators general manager Pierre Dorion was spotted scouting tonight’s game between the Wild and Montreal Canadiens. Senators center Chris Tierney is a pending unrestricted free agent, and the experienced bottom-six pivot will also likely be gone at the deadline. He’s another body the team could be interested in.

A center is a common theme here, and it’s the position at which Minnesota lacks the most. Ryan Hartman is enjoying a career year playing between stars Kirill Kaprizov and Mats Zuccarello, but he’s not a natural center and has won just 46.6% of his faceoffs this year. Miller, who’s got 39 points in 39 games so far with Vancouver, is a proven top-six center with better faceoff numbers, the ideal complement down the middle to Joel Eriksson Ek.

It’s worth noting that Miller does have one season remaining after this one on his contract, which carries a $5.25MM cap hit. With the buyout penalties of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter increasing by a staggering $8MM this offseason, salary retention may be a requirement for them. There’s no guarantee Vancouver would be willing to oblige, and Miller will certainly have other suitors.

Armstrong, Guerin Among Staff No Longer Involved In Olympic Selections

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Dec 27: As expected, Quinn will take over the head coaching duties of Team USA. John Vanbiesbrouck, assistant executive director of USA Hockey, will serve as general manager–a position he already holds for the National Junior Team that is currently competing in Alberta. Without NHL participation, several members of that junior group could find themselves on the Olympic team in a few months.

Dec 22: The NHL isn’t going to the Olympics, and that doesn’t mean just Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane. The active NHL executives and coaches that had previously been announced will also be pulled out, meaning, for instance, that Bill Guerin is no longer the general manager of Team USA and Doug Armstrong is no longer with Team Canada.

For the U.S. the announcement that the managers and coaches will no longer be involved was made this morning, though no direct replacements have been officially named. David Quinn, formerly of the New York Rangers, has been linked to the head coaching position by several reports, including Chris Peters of Daily Faceoff. The U.S. management group is expected to name the final roster–one that will now be made up of players from college, the minor leagues, and European leagues–by mid-January. Peters projected a potential “Plan B” roster earlier this month.

For Canada, Armstrong confirmed to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that he will step down as general manager. He’s handing the reins to Hockey Canada’s Scott Salmond who will now have to find a roster outside the NHL to compete at the Games, one that doesn’t have the luxury of the Spengler Cup later this month to prepare. In LeBrun’s interview with Armstrong, the St. Louis Blues manager confirms that Crosby would have been the team’s captain, something that was decided very early on. He also explained that they had already locked in “three full forward lines and two sets of D” with January 12 the date they would reveal the entire group.

The managers and coaches involved will all now have to focus on their own NHL schedules–ones that are currently on hold and seemingly changing by the hour.

Bill Guerin Named GM Of U.S. Olympic Team

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It had been quite some time since Stan Bowman was removed from the general manager position with the U.S. Olympic Men’s Hockey Team, but there had been no official replacement named. Until now that is, as Bill Guerin has been introduced as the new GM, with Chris Drury named an assistant. The two will work with John Vanbiesbrouck, assistant director of hockey operations at USA Hockey, to build out the roster.

Guerin had been an assistant GM before Bowman’s scandal forced his removal from the program, and was the obvious choice to take over the reins. He spoke with the media today and called it the “dream of a lifetime” though his appointment does not guarantee that NHL players will decide to go to the tournament in Beijing next year. The Minnesota Wild GM told reporters including Michael Russo of The Athletic that he has been in touch with Jack Eichel’s agent to discuss the Vegas Golden Knights forward’s status in regards to the Games.

Vanbiesbrouck meanwhile explained that if the NHL players decide not to go, the team will have to look at AHL, NCAA and international talent. His full focus currently is on the NHL and as Nick Cotsoniko of NHL.com tweets, it appears as though USA Hockey is proceeding as if the NHL will be participating.

Guerin of course has already been an Olympian, representing the U.S. on three occasions during his long playing career. He won a silver medal in 2002 at the Salt Lake City tournament. Drury too was a three-time Olympian during his playing days, and has been USA Hockey’s choice for GM of the World Championship team in both 2019 and 2021.

Snapshots: Three Stars, Fiala, Brooks

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The NHL has released their Three Stars for last week, headlined by Calgary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau who takes home the top spot. Gaudreau put up four goals and seven points in four games last week, including two game-winning tallies. After a strong bounce-back campaign in 2020-21, the diminutive forward has upped his game once again and now has 22 points in 19 contests this season.

Second and third go to Ilya Samsonov and Cale Makar respectively, with each young player putting up a pair of outstanding performances. Samsonov didn’t allow a single goal in his two starts for the Washington Capitals, posting a pair of shutouts and raising his save percentage to .924 on the season. Makar meanwhile had five points in two games for the Colorado Avalanche, something that has become relatively routine for the young defenseman. Through 113 career games, Makar now has 107 points.

  • When Kevin Fiala and the Minnesota Wild settled on a one-year contract just a day ahead of his arbitration hearing this offseason, it raised some questions about his long-term future with the team. Other key forwards like Kirill Kaprizov and Joel Eriksson Ek were being locked up well into the future, while the 25-year-old Fiala was now scheduled to be a free agent once again in 2022 after this $5.1MM contract expired. That’s when the Wild have some huge buyout penalties hitting the cap, making it challenging to go through the uncertainty of an arbitration process again with a player like Fiala. Yesterday, Michael Russo of The Athletic wrote about Fiala’s future with the team, suggesting it is “hard to see Fiala being long for this organization.” Today, Jeff Marek and Elliotte Friedman discuss it on Sportsnet’s 32 Thoughts podcast, and note that though there is some smoke, Wild GM Bill Guerin has never been one into a decision.
  • It’s been several days since Adam Brooks was claimed off waivers by the Vegas Golden Knights, but he had not yet made his debut for the club due to some immigration issues that needed to be resolved. Resolved they’ve now been, and Brooks will be in the lineup for the Golden Knights this evening, head coach Pete DeBoer told reporters including David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Max Pacioretty, who is nearing a return, is on the trip but not yet quite ready to play tonight.

Snapshots: Team USA, Wild, Ghost Pirates

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When Stan Bowman stepped away from the Chicago Blackhawks yesterday, he also removed himself from the position of Team USA general manager for the upcoming Olympics. According to Steven Ellis of The Hockey News, that position is expected to go to Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin, who had previously been serving as AGM for the team.

Guerin, who had previously been involved in an investigation hailing back to his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins, was cleared recently by the U.S. Center for SafeSport according to Ellis. (UPDATE: Katie Strang of The Athletic reports that it is not quite that simple, and Guerin has not been cleared of wrongdoing as the case has not even progressed to the level of complainant interviews yet.)

  • The Minnesota Wild may be facing a COVID protocol situation, according to Michael Russo of The Athletic. The team is waiting for further testing and canceled practice today, as they prepare for their game tomorrow night. Russo believes at least two players are expected to be moved into the protocol, while the Wild are going to recall Kyle Rau, Connor Dewar and Jon Lizotte from the AHL.
  • The ECHL has announced their newest franchise, set to join the league in 2022-23. The Savannah Ghost Pirates will start play next season and sport green and black as their primary colors.

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