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Cam Talbot To Sign With Minnesota Wild

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The Minnesota Wild are expected to sign Cam Talbot according to Frank Seravalli of TSN. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the contract will be a three-year deal worth a total of $11MM.

While we projected Talbot to land in Minnesota, it wasn’t for nearly as much as the Wild have committed in this deal. The team must obviously feel he can carry the majority of the load for the next few seasons, despite struggling in his last opportunity as a starting goaltender.

In 2017-18 when Talbot was the Oilers full-time starter, leading the league with 67 appearances, he registered a .908 save percentage and lost a league-leading 31 games. It went even further downhill the next year when he had an .893 save percentage with the Oilers before a late-season trade to Philadelphia. While Talbot rebounded this season with the Calgary Flames, he also wasn’t asked to play every game.

Minnesota still have Alex Stalock in the mix for the backup role, while top prospect Kaapo Kahkonen is still in the system. Kahkonen took home the AHL Goaltender of the Year award this season and should eventually push his way onto the NHL roster.

Minnesota Wild Re-Sign Matt Bartkowski, Kyle Rau

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The Minnesota Wild have re-signed two of their depth players, inking Kyle Rau and Matt Bartkowski to new one-year deals. Both contracts are two-way and worth $700K at the NHL level, though Bartkowski will earn a bit more in the minor leagues ($325K to Rau’s $275K salary).

Bartkwoski, 32, has 255 NHL games under his belt but has spent almost the entire last two seasons in the minor leagues with the Iowa Wild. The veteran defenseman scored 18 points in 55 games with Iowa this season after helping the team to their first playoff berth a year ago. That minor league veteran role is likely where he’ll spend all of 2020-21, unless the Minnesota roster is ravaged by injury.

Rau is in much the same boat, despite being nearly five years younger than Bartkowski. The undersized forward has been an excellent offensive weapon for Iowa since arriving in 2017 and scored 43 points in 51 games this season. Though he does have a little bit of NHL experience, his bread is buttered in the AHL where he has developed into one of the league’s most consistent scoring threats.

Neither player should figure much into the Minnesota roster next season, but are valuable depth piece in case of emergency.

Minnesota Wild Issues Qualifying Offers

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The Minnesota Wild have issued qualifying offers to Louis Belpedio, Jordan Greenway, Kaapo Kahkonen and Brennan Menell, keeping them in the organization. Stepan Falkovky, Mat Robson and Hunter Warner all went unqualified, meaning they will become unrestricted free agents on Friday.

The only real surprise in the group is Robson, who was a sought after goaltending prospect out of the University of Minnesota a year ago. After a relatively successful first year in pro hockey, Robson won’t be re-signed by the Wild and instead will have to look for another opportunity elsewhere.

Of course, the Iowa Wild could potentially bring Robson back on an AHL deal, but the 24-year-old netminder can wait to see if there are any NHL offers on Friday.

Nashville, Minnesota Complete Nick Bonino Trade

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Trade winds are blowing strong today. After Matt Murray was moved just before the start of the draft, the Minnesota Wild have acquired Nick Bonino from the Nashville Predators. The Wild will also receive picks 37 and 70 in today’s draft, in exchange for Luke Kunin and pick 101.

Wild GM Bill Guerin was with the Pittsburgh Penguins when Bonino won consecutive Stanley Cups and now he brings him into a new team that is desperate for reliable play down the middle. After trading Eric Staal and letting Mikko Koivu leave in free agency, the Wild have made several moves to address the middle of the ice. Nick Bjugstad and Marcus Johansson have both already been acquired through trade, meaning Minnesota will have a brand new look up front next season.

Kunin is the latest to be moved out, but he’s certainly not in the same decline phase as Koivu and Staal. Instead, the 22-year-old forward was one of Minnesota’s younger players and is coming off his first full season in the NHL. Kunin recorded 15 goals and 31 points in 63 games for the team, but still has some warts in his game at the defensive end.

Bonino is certainly more well-rounded, but he also comes with a price tag of $4.1MM. The Predators were clearly ready to move money out of the middle—they followed the Bonino trade with a buyout of Kyle Turris—and are now set up to be spenders in free agency once again. For the Wild, Bonino only has one year remaining on his contract and will be an unrestricted free agent next offseason. While the team certainly could re-sign him, the veteran center is now 32 and hasn’t scored 20 goals in a season since 2013-14.

San Jose Sharks Acquire Devan Dubnyk

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In their second trade of the day, the San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild have announced that Devan Dubnyk is heading to California. The Wild will receive a 2022 fifth-round pick in return, while the Sharks will receive a 2022 seventh-round selection in addition to the veteran goaltender. Minnesota will also be retaining half of Dubnyk’s remaining $4.33MM cap hit for the 2020-21 season.

The two teams completed an earlier trade that saw Ryan Donato go to San Jose in exchange for a 2021 third-round pick. Sharks GM Doug Wilson released a statement on the latest deal:

Devan has been one of the League’s top goaltenders for many years and after playing so many years in the Western Conference, is someone our hockey staff is very familiar with. As we head into what will surely be a unique season, his acquisition gives us a high-quality and experienced tandem of netminders.

For the Sharks, this means the team will have an experienced tandem, but one that will need drastic performance improvements next season. The team’s starter Martin Jones has now posted back-to-back seasons with an .896 save percentage, allowing 394 goals in 103 appearances. That save percentage was third-worst in the NHL last season among goaltenders with at least 30 appearances, ahead of Pekka Rinne and, unfortunately, Dubnyk. The Minnesota netminder posted a dreadful .890 in his 30 games for the Wild, though does at least have several recent strong seasons to fall back on. In 2018-19, when Jones was still struggling, Dubnyk posted a .913 save percentage in a league-leading 67 appearances for Minnesota.

Amazingly, these two goaltenders finished fifth and sixth in Vezina Trophy voting in 2017. While it seems unlikely they can get back to that level in 2020, it’s not necessarily out of the question. With Jones signed for four more seasons at a $5.75MM cap hit, the Sharks will try everything to get him back to playing at a high level. Dubnyk meanwhile comes in at a relatively inexpensive $2.17MM cap hit after the salary retention, plus is actually set to earn even less in actual salary.

The Sharks also paid a very low price for the acquisition, swapping a pick two rounds up for the chance to see what Dubnyk can do in San Jose. That’s almost nothing, though given the overflowing goaltending market this offseason this acquisition certainly won’t excite many fans.

For Minnesota, moving on from Dubnyk was an obvious move for GM Bill Guerin. The team wants to get younger and provide opportunities for some of their prospects, which could include reigning AHL Goaltender of the Year Kaapo Kahkonen. The Wild also still have Alex Stalock under contract for two seasons at just a $785K cap hit. Kahkonen, who is just 24 and coming off an outstanding season in the AHL in which he posted a .927 save percentage, is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent in need of a new deal. Whether he can handle the starting job isn’t clear, but with Dubnyk out of the way, there is a clear path to the net.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Minnesota Wild Sign Carson Soucy

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Oct 5: The Soucy contract is now official, with the Wild announcing the three-year, $8.25MM deal.

Oct 2: The Minnesota Wild have been working hard to find a new contract with pending free agent defenseman Carson Soucy, and have finally found some common ground. The team is closing in on a three-year extension that will pay Soucy an average of $2.75MM per year according to Frank Seravalli of TSN. Soucy was set to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent next week and had been drawing plenty of interest.

Soucy, 26, is one of those rare Group VI UFAs that actually demands attention on the open market, after playing 55 games for the Wild this season. He was on track to pass the 80-game threshold that would have kept him a restricted free agent this offseason until he suffered an injury and the season was suspended, leaving the Wild vulnerable to his departure.

It’s still impossible to know exactly what the 6’5″ is in the NHL with so little actual experience, but the Wild are betting that his history of success at the collegiate and minor league level will carry over to the big leagues. It certainly seemed to this season, but it’s worth noting that Soucy didn’t play a big role on either the penalty kill or powerplay. He did however look strong when paired with the recently extended Jonas Brodin, suggesting that he could take on a bigger role next season.

Of course, a deal like this will only strengthen the voices that are suggesting the Wild would consider moving Matt Dumba, given how much money is now tied up on the Minnesota blue line. The team already had nearly $28MM locked into Brodin, Dumba, Jared Spurgeon, Ryan Suter, and Greg Pateryn, meaning Soucy would push the group over $30MM. While that’s not completely debilitating, it doesn’t give you a lot of wiggle room to improve the rest of the roster, especially when big tickets like Kevin Fiala will need new contracts fairly soon.

Still, getting Soucy under contract now doesn’t necessarily mean even he will be suiting up for the Wild next season. GM Bill Guerin has already shown a willingness to move out pieces when he doesn’t believe they fit any longer and it’s hard to imagine there aren’t some more changes coming in Minnesota.

Minnesota, San Jose Complete Ryan Donato Trade

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11:20am: The deal has been officially announced. Donato will head to San Jose in exchange for a 2021 third-round pick.

10:09am: The Minnesota Wild and San Jose Sharks have been working on several trades over the last week and are closing in on at least one of them. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that the two sides will soon announce a trade that will see Ryan Donato head to the Sharks in exchange for a 2021 third-round pick. Devan Dubnyk, who the two sides have also discussed, will be in a separate trade if they can complete it.

Donato, 24, will be heading to the third NHL organization of his young career after previously being traded from the Boston Bruins in 2019. The 2014 second-round pick made one of the most electrifying debuts of the last few years after starring at Harvard and on the Olympic stage, but hasn’t been able to reproduce that magic on a regular basis. In 130 NHL games he has just 57 points and found himself on the fourth line or in the press box on several occasions this season.

That certainly doesn’t mean he won’t take his game to another level in San Jose, but the Wild have clearly made a decision to change the makeup of their forward group. Minnesota GM Bill Guerin has already traded Eric Staal and let Mikko Koivu depart through free agency, acquiring Marcus Johansson and Nick Bjugstad in the process. Donato and his $1.9MM cap hit will head to San Jose for a draft pick, opening up another roster spot for one of the team’s other young forwards.

San Jose of course is looking for ways to rebound after a brutal 2019-20 campaign that saw them score just 180 goals in 70 games. Timo Meier led the club with 49 points and Evander Kane was the only player who could score consistently on the powerplay. Donato will likely have an opportunity to play up in the lineup for the Sharks, who have their own youth movement happening upfront after watching Joe Pavelski leave last offseason. Melker Karlsson and Joe Thornton—two of the team’s three remaining 30-plus forwards—are both unrestricted free agents that could be looking for new homes come Friday.

Nico Sturm Re-Signs With Minnesota Wild

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The Minnesota Wild have locked up one of their restricted free agents, signing Nico Sturm to a new two-year contract. The deal will carry a $725K cap hit at the NHL level and keeps Sturm from reaching restricted free agency.

Sturm, 25, was a highly sought after undrafted free agent in the spring of 2019 after he dominated for Clarkson University. The German-born forward ended up signing with the Minnesota organization and played his first two professional games down the stretch. This season he spent almost the entire year in the minor leagues, putting up 32 points in 55 games for the Iowa Wild. He did get into six more regular season matches for Minnesota and happened to score his first NHL goal in one of the two postseason appearances he made this summer.

The big-bodied forward was never expected to step into the lineup and be a star for the Wild, but when signed he did look like he would be a full-time NHL option for the team. Unfortunately that hasn’t been the case so far, though he’ll get a chance to secure a roster spot on the new-look team. Minnesota GM Bill Guerin has made sweeping changes to the forward group already and has been clear about his desire to get younger upfront.

The Wild still have two important RFA forwards to sign in Jordan Greenway and Luke Kunin, along with several minor league free agents including Kaapo Kahkonen.

Minnesota Wild Shopping Ryan Donato

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Oct 1: Russo updated his piece today with a report that Donato and Dubnyk could both be on their way to the San Jose Sharks in short order. The deal may be hinging on Dubnyk’s partial no-trade clause, which allows him to list 19 teams that he can be traded to. The 34-year-old goaltender has just one year remaining on his contract and carries a $4.33MM cap hit, but is owed just $2.5MM in actual salary.

Sep 30: The Minnesota Wild are one of the teams to watch over the next several weeks. GM Bill Guerin has been anything but shy in revamping his roster, with Eric Staal and Mikko Koivu already on their way out and Nick Bjugstad and Marcus Johansson in. Now he’s looking move another forward, as Michael Russo of The Athletic reports that Ryan Donato is being shopped.

The San Jose Sharks have shown interest according to Russo, while Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet also suggested that the Florida Panthers could be looking at the Paul Fenton favorite. Fenton was the GM of the Wild when they acquired Donato in 2019 and is now an assistant GM in Florida.

Donato, who is now 24, has long been an intriguing talent without much to show for it. The 56th overall pick in 2014, he quickly became one of the best collegiate players in the country, challenging for the Hobey Baker award in 2018. That same year he suited up for Team USA at the Olympics and made his dazzling NHL debut, scoring three points for the Boston Bruins and instantly becoming a fan favorite.

Unfortunately, that instant success didn’t carry over to the next season. Donato had just nine points in 34 games for the Bruins in 2018-19 before a trade sent him to the Wild. He made an early impression in Minnesota too with 16 points in 22 games down the stretch, but this year found himself on the fourth line or in the press box more often than not.

With just 23 points in 62 games and a roller-coaster history, it’s not clear what Donato’s real trade value would be. One thing in the Wild’s favor is his cost—he’ll carry a $1.9MM cap hit in 2020-21 before becoming a restricted free agent once again.

As for the other trade targets on the Wild roster, Russo provides updates on Matt Dumba, Devan Dubnyk, and Zach Parise in his lengthy piece. Each presents their own challenges and none appear to be imminent.

Morning Notes: Johnson, Murray, Predators

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Jim Rutherford may be a bigger fan than most of Jack Johnson, but that doesn’t mean the Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman will be in the lineup on opening night. Rutherford, the Penguins GM, spoke with Josh Yohe of The Athletic yesterday and explained that after acquiring Mike Matheson from the Florida Panthers there may not be any room on the left side for Johnson next season.

[Brian] Dumoulin and [Marcus] Petterson are still young and aren’t going anywhere. And obviously we like Matheson a great deal. He’ll play on the left side. So, that’s our left side. Those three. That’s it.

Rutherford suggested that Johnson could play the right side or is maybe “just going to be a depth guy” for 2020-21, but it certainly wasn’t the same vote of confidence he gave when the season ended. There is still lots of offseason left and the Penguins priority may be moving a goaltender, but make no mistake that there may still be changes coming on the blue line.

  • Michael Murray has been hired by the Minnesota Wild as an assistant to the general manager, coming over from his post with the AHL. Murray was named vice president of hockey operations for the minor league in 2011 and was considered the second in command behind commissioner Dave Andrews. As Michael Russo of The Athletic points out on Twitter, Murray happens to be the son of Minnesota GM Bill Guerin’s former agent. The team explained that Murray will help oversee the day-to-day of the hockey operations department and assist with contract negotiations, player development, and scouting.
  • The Nashville Predators are considering moving one of their centers according to Frank Seravalli of TSN, who lists Ryan Johansen, Matt Duchene, and Nick Bonino on his latest Trade Bait board and mentions Kyle Turris as well. Nashville has an incredible $26.1MM in cap space locked up in those four, with only Bonino’s deal (the cheapest of the bunch) expiring anytime soon. There wasn’t a 45-point player in the bunch of them this season, with Duchene (42) coming closest.

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