Minnesota Wild
The Minnesota Wild are one of the best teams in the entire NHL this season. They have a 31-14-3 record and have the second best record in the Western Conference by points percentage. The Wilds have not had much playoff success in their franchise history, and have a few reasons ro really try and capitalize this season.
First of all, they are due to give $4 million raises to each of Zach Parise and Ryan Suter next season. Yes, two players that were bought out in the most recent offseason will combine to take up $12.75 million in cap space next season after eating up “just” $4.75 million this season.
That basically rules out re-signing Kevin Fiala or Alex Goligoski next season. Fiala has 42 points in 28 games this season and Goligoski is playing great hockey in the team’s top four on the blue line.
The Wild are also technically third in their own division right now, though they have played a couple less games than the St. Louis Blues. Needing to take out the Blues and the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche just to get half way to the Stanley Cup will give them incentive to buy.
With the enormous amount of cap space eaten up by Suter and Parise’s buyouts, it will be nearly impossible for the Wild to put a better team on the ice next season. Make that the next three seasons while they are basically building a team with $13 million less dollars to use than any other team in the league.
So the Wild have to be all in this season and they need to focus on acquiring rentals.
The Wild are a dangerous offensive team, but sit just below the median when it comes to penalty killing. Perhaps they could be enticed to offer up a first round pick for Artturi Lehkonen to shore up their bottom six and improve their 79% efficiency while shorthanded.
Lehkonen is a RFA at season’s end, but they would have the flexibility to then trade him after the season for a decent return as well, making him a very cheap rental for them, even if they give up a first rounder to get him.