The Minnesota Wild nearly stole the Central Division crown with a late-season hot streak, but their offense went cold in time to lose to the rival Dallas Stars in the first round. With several key free agents set to walk and money tight thanks to recent buyouts, the Wild are stuck between a rock and a hard place this summer. Michael Russo of The Athletic joined Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff Live to discuss ways that Minnesota can find financial wiggle room during the offseason.
Michael Russo: In terms of the Wild, you know they have no money. I mean none, and right now they’re in a holding pattern until they get Filip Gustavsson signed.
It’s a complicated negotiation because if they go three years, which they would love to do, they would buy a year that he’s unrestricted, which ups the cap hit. They don’t want to sign him for two because he would come out of that contract as a UFA. One year would not shock me. Kurt Overhardt is trying to maximize the value of his client, and he knows that Jesper Wallstedt is waiting in the wings to become a stud goalie in the NHL. He’s trying to take advantage of a really good year from Gustavsson.
I’ll be interested to see what happens at the draft. The Wild have to create some cap space. They have some RFAs that they will probably trade; Calen Addison might be one of them. The fact that Brandon Duhaime hasn’t been signed yet makes him vulnerable to a trade. So is John Merrill.
The one guy I don’t think is going anywhere is Alex Goligoski. They met a couple weeks ago to see if Alex would be willing to waive his no-move clause, and I do think he made the decision that he’d like to stay here.
Right now, unless there’s a shocking trade coming down the pipe, I just don’t see a lot of room to maneuver.
You can watch the entire episode here…
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