Brock Boeser Reportedly Closing in on Deal With New Team, Fueling Tampering Allegations

The 28-year-old right winger recently had a career-best 40 goals for the Vancouver Canucks and will hit the free agent market July 1. But here's the catch: Boeser is still under contract with Vancouver up to and including June 30.

Any serious negotiations before that with another team could be deemed tampering under NHL rules, which ban communication between teams and players who are contracted to another team.

Contract talks with other teams should not be this far along at this moment in June

Yet since talks seem so far down the road, there are a lot of folks in the league these days thinking that the line was already crossed.

All things considered, Boeser's potential signing would be a coming-home party. Boeser was born in Burnsville, Minnesota, attended college hockey at the University of North Dakota, and worked his way up through the U.S. National Team Development Program.

He's earned 434 points in 554 games in the NHL and could give the Wild a tremendous scoring boost on the wing.

But signing it also raises some questions about the depth down the middle of the team. Restricted free agent Marco Rossi, who had a 60-point breakout year, remains unsigned and far from an agreement with the team on a deal.

If the Wild lose Rossi and add Boeser, they would be dangerously thin down the middle, only having Joel Eriksson Ek as a surefire top-sixer.

However, the opportunity to land a hometown hero in Minnesota may be too great to pass up for the Wild, even if the process is drawing more heat than ever.