Wild post-NHL Draft offseason primer: Trade for Patrik Laine? Free-agency targets for top-6 winger?

LAS VEGAS — The NHL Draft is over, and the Minnesota Wild have added six players to their prospect pipeline. Now the focus turns to Monday’s opening of free agency.

The Wild have more cap space than they did last year — when their biggest move on July 1 was picking up Vinni Lettieri, who was traded Saturday to the Boston Bruins for hard-nosed bottom-six winger Jakub Lauko. Barring trades and assuming Liam Ohgren and Marat Khusnutdinov make next season’s team, the Wild have $5.999 million in room, not including the eventual re-signing of defenseman Declan Chisholm.

They do still have one glaring need.

Even though they’ll be relying largely on better health and internal improvement to turn things around, they may be in the market for a winger to play on the left side of the second line.

Secondary scoring was a significant issue this past season, when it felt like any time the top line of Kirill Kaprizov-Joel Eriksson Ek-Matt Boldy didn’t score, they were in big trouble.

After a disappointing season, Johansson won’t just be given that second-line winger spot he occupied for most of 2023-24, and the Wild will be relying on bounce-back years from him and Freddy Gaudreau and more consistency from Ryan Hartman.

“Nobody knows it more than them,” president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Guerin said Saturday.

If they do pursue scoring help, the Wild aren’t in the market for a long-term deal here. They’ve already got plenty of those on the books. They want a shorter-term stopgap to buy some time for Danila Yurov, who is expected to be a top-six candidate when he arrives from the KHL, possibly next summer, and Riley Heidt, who may still get a chance to make the team in the fall.

After one more year, the Wild won’t have the $14.7 million in dead cap space on the books, which should give them flexibility to make more impactful moves as long as they don’t overspend in on term now.

Any forward acquired, Guerin said, will have help the Wild get back to the identity he feels they lost last season.

“We have guys that can score,” Guerin said. “We just had guys that had off years offensively last year, and we are looking for them to bounce back. But I think playing to our identity really helps guys produce more. So that’s something that we have to get back.”

Acquiring a scoring winger doesn’t necessarily have to come via free agency.

One player the Wild have been poking around on is 26-year-old goal scorer Patrik Laine, who was limited to 18 games last season with the Columbus Blue Jackets and had offseason shoulder surgery. This is a guy who scored his first 100 NHL goals in just 179 games.

Craig Button, the former North Stars exec and Flames GM, is a TSN analyst and thinks it would be worth the risk by Minnesota.

“What does he do as well as anybody? He scores,” Button said. “So he ends up in Columbus. No center. Patrik Laine needs somebody that’s going to get him the puck, right? So now you get disappointed, ‘Oh, he’s not scoring.’ Now he puts pressure on himself and whatnot. If you put players in the right situation, I don’t care where you are, then I think a player can thrive and be successful.

“Patrik is an elite goal-scorer. How many elite goal scorers are there in the National Hockey League? Not that many. I’m talking elite, one of the very best.”

The Wild have been doing their due diligence on Laine, who is under the care of the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. If they don’t sign a free agent in the coming days, this will really be worth keeping an eye on because perhaps they could be saving their cap space in an attempt to execute a trade with the Blue Jackets later this summer.

If the Blue Jackets retained half of Laine’s $8.7 million cap hit for the two years left on his contract, the Wild would likely look at it as a no-brainer pickup.

“Laine needs a playmaking center,” Button said. “Marco Rossi has got all the playmaking abilities. Johnny Gaudreau was one of the top players for years in the league. He ends up in Columbus, and now it’s, ‘Oh, what’s wrong with Johnny Gaudreau?’

“You know what’s wrong with Johnny Gaudreau and Patrik Laine? Columbus. Patrik is 26 years old. We’re not talking a 33-year-old. I just think that he’s got lots of qualities that you want. Big size, he knows how to get space and he’s hungry. I’d be interested in Patrick Laine, big time.”

The Wild will also be in the market starting Monday for up-and-down depth players who can provide more veteran presence in Iowa, especially on the blue line to help support the Wild’s young defensemen. It will still be intriguing to see if they eventually trade Filip Gustavsson this summer, too. Guerin reiterated Saturday it’s not a guarantee yet that Jesper Wallstedt will be back in Iowa. There’s still time to trade Gustavsson, even with many teams in search of goalies striking early on the trade market.

“With Wally, who knows?” Guerin said. “There’s still a lot of time between now and training camp, so I can’t promise anything.”

As for free-agent scoring wingers out there, the below list of possibilities includes veterans who might be had on one-, two- or three-year deals. We used Evolving-Hockey for contract projections, keeping them all similar in the two-year target range. 

But first, a depth chart refresher:

Wild 2024-25 depth chart

Forwards

Vying for spots: Khusnutdinov, Ohgren, Heidt ($950,000)*, Shaw (RFA)**, Clark (RFA), Walker (RFA), Raska (RFA), Haight ($897,500), Toporowski ($870,000), Milne ($861,667), Novak ($846,667)

Pending unrestricted free agents: Lucchini, Khaira, Elson, Fogarty, Swaney

* Heidt can only return to the WHL or play for the Wild.

** League sources tell The Athletic the Wild won’t tender Shaw a qualifying offer Sunday and he’ll become an unrestricted free agent Monday.

Defensemen

Vying for spot: Hunt ($828,233), Spacek ($862,500), Lambos ($863,333), Masters ($865,000), O’Rourke ($855,833), Peart ($925,000)

Pending restricted free agent: Chisholm, S. Johansson*

Pending unrestricted free agents: Goligoski, Mermis, Butcher

* League sources tell The Athletic that Simon Johansson won’t be tendered a qualifying offer and will become an unrestricted free agent Monday.

Goaltending

Vying for spot: Wallstedt*

In the system: Hlavaj ($875,000)

Pending restricted free agent: Jones

Pending unrestricted free agent: McIntyre

* Even though Wallstedt is included in the depth chart, his cap charge isn’t included in our tabulation.

Cap space

Salary cap hit: $81,212,754 (including $14,743,488 in dead money, $637,500 in Rossi bonus overages and assumes Ohgren and Khusnutdinov make the team)

Projected salary cap: $88 million

Salary cap space before re-signing Chisholm, signing unrestricted free agents and possible internal additions: $5,999,746*

Free agent targets

David Perron

Projected contract: Two years, $3.8 million AAV

The 36-year-old winger is probably the best fit overall for the Wild. He can play either wing and has size, experience and a Stanley Cup ring. Perron spent the past two seasons with the Red Wings ($4.75 million AAV), and he hasn’t ruled out a return there. But if the Wild want a short-term, top-six stopgap, Perron fits the bill. He had 17 goals last season too.

“A guy like that would be great,” said former NHLer and current NHL Network analyst Mike Rupp. “He’s a gamer and hard to play against. You can slot him in a bunch of different places. That’s what makes him appealing for a team like Minnesota because there’s a bunch of different ways you can use him. Of all the names you mentioned, the Billy-type guy or Minnesota-type player is David.”

Vladimir Tarasenko

Projected contract: Two years, $4.8 million AAV

Tarasenko, 32, isn’t a player the Wild have typically been interested in. But for this type of role, on this kind of term, he could very well be an option after winning his second Stanley Cup last week. The Russian winger isn’t the same scorer he was earlier in his career, but he can still score big ones, as he showed in the playoffs with the Panthers. He’s coming off a one-year, $5 million deal with the Senators (and then Panthers after a trade), so he should be open to a shorter-term deal. There were lots of rumors in Vegas, however, that he could soon be a Golden Knight.

“He feels like that guy who you just know what he is,” Rupp said. “He’s similar in a way to Ruslan Fedotenko, (who) would sign one-year deals all the time and he was very valuable. Tarasenko has more of an upside with scoring. But Tarasenko is in a spot where every year he’ll probably look to be around the one-year, $5 million range. That is someone who could put a band-aid but could bridge the gap until you can develop some guys and figure out what you’re going to do moving forward. Just as important, when the cap hits come off the books in a year, you have a clean slate.”

Patrick Kane

Projected contract: Two years, $5.2 million AAV

Kane, 35, showed he’s got some of his old magic left, making a strong comeback from a significant hip surgery. He scored 20 goals in 50 games with the Red Wings this past season, having signed a one-year, show-me, $2.75 million deal. The former Hart Trophy winner will likely be looking for more term this time around, and the Wild would probably have to overpay a little bit, as they don’t offer a Stanley Cup-contending roster. Perhaps being connected with a superstar like Kaprizov could help.

“Personally, at this point with Patrick Kane, I don’t think he’s the guy,” Rupp said. “But if you don’t have another option and you can get him at a good price … he’s just not a guy that at this point that I think is going to be a difference-maker. He might be able to help out on your second power play. He’ll be a stop gap a little bit.”

Anthony Duclair

Projected contract: Two years, $3.68 million AAV

Duclair was a solid deadline addition by the Lightning, scoring eight goals down the stretch and bringing some personality into the room. He fit well on a top line with stars like Brayden Point and Nikita Kucherov. Duclair would provide scoring punch and skating ability in the Wild top six, and it would seem he’d be available on a short-term deal. He signed one-year deals with the Arizona Coyotes, Blue Jackets, Ottawa Senators and Panthers before getting a three-year deal with the Panthers in 2021. While Duclair isn’t a play-driver, he can be a passenger who adds a lot of scoring pop off the rush, which is what the Wild need to punch up their offense.

“You can overpay a little bit and sign him for a one-year deal or something like that,” Rupp said. “That’s a guy that he could do a lot. And if a player wants to capitalize to make the most money he can make, he’s got to start playing with some other top players, and he’d probably have that opportunity in Minnesota. Duclair has been a player his whole career that’s been waiting for that payday, and he hasn’t really gotten it. So if you can give him a one-year, pretty good payment and if he does well — the team does — it’s good for both sides.

“He’s a goal scorer. He can flip the game real quick. He plays at the tempo and he’s self-sufficient. There’s some areas of his game that aren’t complete, but he’s also a player that we’ve seen him play on good teams and do well and play on bad teams and do well. He can score goals, and it doesn’t matter who he’s playing with. Can you find a different level of goals for him? That’s going to matter who he’s playing with and maybe that’s the sell.”

Jonathan Drouin

Projected contract: Two years, $3.9 million AAV

Drouin, 29, is expected to want to stay with the Avalanche, where he resurrected his career on a one-year deal. The former No. 3 pick got his mojo back partly thanks to reuniting with buddy and junior teammate Nathan MacKinnon. The 19 goals and 56 points in 79 games should get Drouin a sizable bump from his one-year, $825,000 deal. If the Wild strike out on Perron, maybe another one of Allan Walsh’s clients can be a strong Plan B.

“If I’m him, I’m doing everything I can to stay in Colorado,” Rupp said. “Because of how they use him. I would put him in the same category as Patrick Kane. I wouldn’t love it. You could catch lightning in a bottle with him, if the point is to get a year or so out of him. You could certainly do that. But he’s not a player that does much outside of offense. That’s the way I would characterize Patrick Kane too.”

Alex Wennberg 

Projected contract: Two years, $3.2 million AAV

Wennberg wouldn’t be an exciting option for the Wild in free agency. He racked up just one goal in 19 games after getting picked up at the deadline by the Rangers. But with the Wild in a cap crunch, he might be one they can fall back on. He’s a natural center, so he’d improve their depth in that category. He can be trusted in all situations. The tough part for the Wild is he’s a pass-first player when they need shooters, but his true strength is defensive plays in the offensive zone to extend possession, which wouldn’t hurt to have.

“He’s fine,” Rupp said. “He does everything. But I don’t really know what he is. He’s a serviceable player, but I don’t think he’s going to grab a spot in your lineup and keep it. You’re always going to be moving him around.”

Other possibilities

Jeff Skinner, Anthony Mantha, Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Pacioretty, Jakub Vrana

(Photo of Patrik Laine: Ben Jackson / NHLI via Getty Images)