Free Agent Focus: Minnesota Wild
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
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
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.
Devin Shore Signs With HC Sparta Prague
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
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
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.
Multiple Teams Showing Interest In Marco Rossi
The Blackhawks, Kraken, Flyers, Penguins, and Sabres are among the teams that have shown interest in acquiring Wild pending restricted free agent center Marco Rossi, according to RG’s James Murphy. While general manager Bill Guerin has refuted trade speculation surrounding the 2020 ninth overall pick in the past, there hasn’t been much noise around progress in contract talks so far this offseason, especially after he had his minutes slashed in the playoffs by head coach John Hynes.
For a team considering parting ways with a young player, it’s never a good sign when virtually every club with a need at the position with the assets to make an appealing trade work steps up to the plate. Minnesota’s deployment of Rossi, particularly this season, has been puzzling. The Austrian pivot finished sixth in Calder Trophy voting in 2023-24 and took strides in 2024-25 to prove his floor as a second-line center, notching a 24-36–60 scoring line in all 82 games despite missing star wingman Kirill Kaprizov for most of the campaign. He averaged north of 18 minutes per game in the regular season but played just 11 minutes per night in the playoffs, although that didn’t stop him from still contributing a pair of goals and an assist in the Wild’s first-round elimination at the hands of the Golden Knights.
With Rossi posting those point totals on a bottom-10 offensive team, it’s easy to see why many clubs are optimistic about his ability to slot into their top-six immediately and, at worst, replicate his performance from last year. From Minnesota’s standpoint, assuming their internal projection of him is as pessimistic as his late-season role reduction indicates, it makes sense they wouldn’t want to commit to a long-term deal that will likely cost north of $7MM per season. For Rossi, it makes little sense for him to sign a bridge deal in Minnesota if he feels he won’t get the minutes there to maximize his earning potential a few years down the line.
If the Wild can’t work out a trade for Rossi, an offer sheet threat looms. A long-term deal for Rossi will likely end up at seven years at around $7.4MM per season, AFP Analytics projects. That would require a team to surrender their 2026 first, second, and third-round pick as compensation if the Wild decline to match. As such, they’ll likely set their price around there in trade talks, at least in terms of comparable value. Considering their increased salary cap flexibility this summer and intact core, it makes sense they’d rather pursue trade options to land a more NHL-ready asset in place of a return largely centered around draft picks.
Of the five teams mentioned by Murphy as having interest in Rossi, all but the Sabres have the picks to acquire Rossi in the $7.02MM to $9.36MM range for an offer sheet. Buffalo would need to reacquire their 2026 second-rounder to do so. They sent it to the Senators in this year’s Dylan Cozens/Joshua Norris swap.
Wild Plan To Start Danila Yurov At Center
The Minnesota Wild have a clear plan for their newly signed prospect. According to Jessi Pierce of NHL.com, General Manager Bill Guerin expects Danila Yurov to be a center to start his professional career in North America.
There’s credibility toward the Wild’s thought process. Over the last two years with the KHL’s Metallurg Magnitogorsk, Yurov spent much of his time down the middle, securing a faceoff success rate of 41.0% in 2023-24 and 47.3% in 2024-25. That success rate would have placed him third among Wild forwards who totalled more than 500 draws this past season, although it’s unrealistic to think Yurov would have been as successful in the NHL.
Wild Sign Danila Yurov To Entry-Level Contract
The Wild have signed top forward prospect Danila Yurov to his entry-level contract, the team confirmed. The three-year deal starts next season and carries a $950K cap hit, Michael Russo of The Athletic reports. Yurov can also earn up to $2MM in performance bonuses each season ($1MM in Schedule A, $1MM in Schedule B) as part of the deal, Russo adds.
Yurov was released from his contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League late last month, so he was free to sign with Minnesota before the KHL contract year ends on May 31. Negotiations between Yurov and Wild general manager Bill Guerin have likely been ongoing for the past few weeks, as with most ELCs, the time between becoming eligible to sign and signing likely hinged on performance bonus negotiations.
The 21-year-old right-winger arrives in Minnesota nearly three years after the Wild selected him 24th overall in the 2022 draft. He was widely regarded as a top-15 prospect in the class but fell to later in the first round due to concerns over his contract status with Metallurg.
With parts of five seasons of pro hockey in the KHL and a Gagarin Cup championship under his belt, Yurov will now focus on making his NHL debut as part of the Wild’s opening night roster in the fall. The 6’1″, 176-lb forward is one year removed from a spectacular 21-goal, 49-point showing with a +22 rating in 62 games for Magnitogorsk to lead them in scoring as the club won its third championship since the KHL’s inception in 2008.
This year was less impressive offensively for Yurov, who battled injuries and was limited to a 13-12–25 scoring line in 46 games (a 0.54 points per game pace). He still finished second on Metallurg with a +15 rating but was limited to one goal in five playoff games as their postseason came to a quick end.
Yurov is nonetheless the crown jewel of Minnesota’s forward prospect pool, Scott Wheeler of The Athletic wrote a few months back. While a natural winger, he has played a fair bit of center in his home country and could eventually slot in for the Wild. His up-and-down production in the KHL indicates that Yurov’s everyday first-line role may be a tad optimistic. Still, he’s got an excellent chance of settling in as a long-term complementary top-six piece for the Wild, even as soon as out of the gate in 2025-26.
Wallstedt Still Has Confidence After Disappointing Season
- Now that Marc-Andre Fleury has shut the door on his playing career, Minnesota Wild netminder prospect Jesper Wallstedt has a clear pathway toward NHL minutes. Still, he’s not coming off a promising season, as injuries limited him to 27 games in the AHL, leading Wallstedt to a 9-14-5 record with a .879 SV% and a 3.59 GAA. In an interview with Joe Smith of The Athletic, Wallstedt reaffirmed his confidence in himself, saying, “I know I’m a great goalie. I know I can save the puck. I’ve done it for so many years. I’ve done it at so many different levels. I’ve done it at the AHL. So it’s more that I’m asking myself, ‘Why am I not doing it right now? What has changed?’ I just need to get a clean slate.”
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